Posted by
Gray Ghost on Monday, March 23, 2009 10:46:11 AM
The New York Times and the National Society of Professional Engineers are reporting that cities and states across the United States are beginning to embrace systems similar to Europe's "feed-in tariff" method, which mandates utilities pay above-market rates for green electricity. Gainesville, FL, became the first city in the nation to offer higher payments for solar power, which is otherwise prohibitively expensive for many homeowners and businesses to install; California, Oregon, Hawaii, Washington, and others have introduced similar legislation as well.
The surge in interest in the new payment system, which would shift the "green" burden away from general taxpayers to electricity ratepayers, recognizes the failure of current "green" incentives. However, opponents of feed-in tariffs, like Marcel Hawiger (staff attorney for the Utility Reform Network) claim that such programs would unfairly burden the poor, as much of their income goes towards paying utility bills. Furthermore, Germany and Spain, world leaders in renewable energy, found that the government subsidies became so popular, they had to limit the number of homes and businesses switching to "green" electricity.
For the moment, proponents of renewable energy concede they do not have enough votes in Congress to adopt a national feed-in tariff system and are pushing for Congress to mandate that a certain percentage of electricity come from renewable energy.
Come on Liberals. Get this passed in the US Congress! The minute it does pass, the "Gray Ghost 'Green' Electric Power Co." will go into business. I feel sure that I can easily design a 50 kw solar and wind generating facility. With "up-front", labor, and maintenance costs, I stand to make a very healthy profit from this foolishness.