Michigan: Microcosm of the Myopia

PoliticalChic

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1. In 2009, then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm touted the $725 million Wixom renewable energy park project as “symbolic for Michigan in what we’re going to become.”

2. ...solar power companies were supposed to create 4,000 jobs in a closed auto assembly plant and provide a vivid example of Michigan’s economic transition from automobiles to green energy. In return the state approved a $100 million tax credit.

3. ...of the nine solar power companies that were approved for state tax credits...[m]any have fizzled with reports that the companies are laying off employees at a time they were supposed to have been adding jobs.

4. ...companies that have been approved for state tax credits for four different projects that were supposed to add about 5,700 jobs...companies announced layoffs this year. Evergreen Solar opened a solar plant in Midland in 2009. The company announced in August it was filing for bankruptcy.

5. Gov. Granholm touted Suniva and Evergreen Solar in a Feb. 25, 2010, Huffington Post column in which she wrote, “Last May, I first posted here about how Michigan would lead the green industrial revolution. Some folks scoffed at that idea. They said I was too optimistic. They said Michigan would never lead in a green economy. We're working to prove them wrong.”

6. “Despite over a decade of subsidizing solar projects, the state has little to show for it,” said James Hohman, assistant director of fiscal policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.
Sun Not Shining on State Solar Subsidies [Michigan Capitol Confidential]

Another day....another Democrat endorsing solar power projects....another flop.

Could it be...it's not a good idea???

Callling Barack Obama...calling Barack Obama.


Good thing we elected "the best and the brightest!"
 
Yes. That is a true statement. And, with competition for new industries and jobs, there are some pretty faulty decisions being made. At the same time, a few astute ones, also. But those don't get the publicity of the poor decisions.
 
1. In 2009, then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm touted the $725 million Wixom renewable energy park project as “symbolic for Michigan in what we’re going to become.”

2. ...solar power companies were supposed to create 4,000 jobs in a closed auto assembly plant and provide a vivid example of Michigan’s economic transition from automobiles to green energy. In return the state approved a $100 million tax credit.

3. ...of the nine solar power companies that were approved for state tax credits...[m]any have fizzled with reports that the companies are laying off employees at a time they were supposed to have been adding jobs.

4. ...companies that have been approved for state tax credits for four different projects that were supposed to add about 5,700 jobs...companies announced layoffs this year. Evergreen Solar opened a solar plant in Midland in 2009. The company announced in August it was filing for bankruptcy.

5. Gov. Granholm touted Suniva and Evergreen Solar in a Feb. 25, 2010, Huffington Post column in which she wrote, “Last May, I first posted here about how Michigan would lead the green industrial revolution. Some folks scoffed at that idea. They said I was too optimistic. They said Michigan would never lead in a green economy. We're working to prove them wrong.”

6. “Despite over a decade of subsidizing solar projects, the state has little to show for it,” said James Hohman, assistant director of fiscal policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.
Sun Not Shining on State Solar Subsidies [Michigan Capitol Confidential]

Another day....another Democrat endorsing solar power projects....another flop.

Could it be...it's not a good idea???

Callling Barack Obama...calling Barack Obama.


Good thing we elected "the best and the brightest!"

Only fools and conservatives doubt the need and viability of green energy efforts - but I repeat myself.
 
1. In 2009, then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm touted the $725 million Wixom renewable energy park project as “symbolic for Michigan in what we’re going to become.”

2. ...solar power companies were supposed to create 4,000 jobs in a closed auto assembly plant and provide a vivid example of Michigan’s economic transition from automobiles to green energy. In return the state approved a $100 million tax credit.

3. ...of the nine solar power companies that were approved for state tax credits...[m]any have fizzled with reports that the companies are laying off employees at a time they were supposed to have been adding jobs.

4. ...companies that have been approved for state tax credits for four different projects that were supposed to add about 5,700 jobs...companies announced layoffs this year. Evergreen Solar opened a solar plant in Midland in 2009. The company announced in August it was filing for bankruptcy.

5. Gov. Granholm touted Suniva and Evergreen Solar in a Feb. 25, 2010, Huffington Post column in which she wrote, “Last May, I first posted here about how Michigan would lead the green industrial revolution. Some folks scoffed at that idea. They said I was too optimistic. They said Michigan would never lead in a green economy. We're working to prove them wrong.”

6. “Despite over a decade of subsidizing solar projects, the state has little to show for it,” said James Hohman, assistant director of fiscal policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.
Sun Not Shining on State Solar Subsidies [Michigan Capitol Confidential]

Another day....another Democrat endorsing solar power projects....another flop.

Could it be...it's not a good idea???

Callling Barack Obama...calling Barack Obama.


Good thing we elected "the best and the brightest!"

Only fools and conservatives doubt the need and viability of green energy efforts - but I repeat myself.

Then why aren't they working even with huge subsidies?
 
1. In 2009, then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm touted the $725 million Wixom renewable energy park project as “symbolic for Michigan in what we’re going to become.”

2. ...solar power companies were supposed to create 4,000 jobs in a closed auto assembly plant and provide a vivid example of Michigan’s economic transition from automobiles to green energy. In return the state approved a $100 million tax credit.

3. ...of the nine solar power companies that were approved for state tax credits...[m]any have fizzled with reports that the companies are laying off employees at a time they were supposed to have been adding jobs.

4. ...companies that have been approved for state tax credits for four different projects that were supposed to add about 5,700 jobs...companies announced layoffs this year. Evergreen Solar opened a solar plant in Midland in 2009. The company announced in August it was filing for bankruptcy.

5. Gov. Granholm touted Suniva and Evergreen Solar in a Feb. 25, 2010, Huffington Post column in which she wrote, “Last May, I first posted here about how Michigan would lead the green industrial revolution. Some folks scoffed at that idea. They said I was too optimistic. They said Michigan would never lead in a green economy. We're working to prove them wrong.”

6. “Despite over a decade of subsidizing solar projects, the state has little to show for it,” said James Hohman, assistant director of fiscal policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.
Sun Not Shining on State Solar Subsidies [Michigan Capitol Confidential]

Another day....another Democrat endorsing solar power projects....another flop.

Could it be...it's not a good idea???

Callling Barack Obama...calling Barack Obama.


Good thing we elected "the best and the brightest!"

Only fools and conservatives doubt the need and viability of green energy efforts - but I repeat myself.

Then why aren't they working even with huge subsidies?

Wry is one of the Left who doesn't understand economics....or is that redundant?


(Trying to teach Wry a new word....)
 
They are working wonderfully here in Oregon. Both wind and solar. Over a 1000 jobs just in the one Solar World plant. Many more jobs in the wind turbine industry. Good paying jobs.
 
They are working wonderfully here in Oregon. Both wind and solar. Over a 1000 jobs just in the one Solar World plant. Many more jobs in the wind turbine industry. Good paying jobs.

Remedial:

A basic tenet of American capitalism is that supply precedes demand, as can be see in the case of all airports being closed down: the long lines of people unable to get to their destinations is the demand that cannot be fulfilled. This is why entrepreneurs must be given a free hand to produce, to speculate, as the building of more and more airports will lower prices, increasing demand. This is especially true in the case of new technologies.

Both high taxation and over regulation place a damper on this freedom.
“The proceeds from these speculations? the capital paid for stocks and bonds ? may seem misspent. In the long run, the results are called infrastructure, and they are what economies are built on.”
“Many European postal systems, telegraph lines and railroads were built with government money, and sometimes with insufficient capacity. But in the United States, instead of burdening taxpayers, we sell investors the equivalent of high-priced lottery tickets each time one of these technologies arrives.”
On the Contrary - In Technology, Supply Precedes Demand - NYTimes.com


The socialism to which you subscribe has hardly worked out as well as capitalism...

...have you seen Greece recently?


Further, I would hope that the crossroads at which you and I find ourselves will lead to a discussion of Article I, section 8, and what authority is accorded the federal government.

See, Rocks....unlike the majority, I believe that you actually can learn.
 
Historically, from the Corps of Discovery to the cross continental railroad, our government has had a leading role in establishing new infrastructure. Who built the great hydroelectric system that powers the West Coast.

What speculators are capable of building a large airport? Where has it been done before? What were the results?

Oil, natural gas, and coal all get subsidies, even as the companies make billions in profits. Wind is at the point that it can get off the government tit. And I favor it doing that, at least as soon as the coal and oil companies are taken off the government tit.

Who would have built the great dams on the Columbia prior to WW2 had not the government done it? And what would have been the result of the failure to build those dams on the war effort? You are aware of the amount of electricity that refining aluminum requires.
 
If the freaking stuff actually worked everything would be solar or wind powered. The dirty little secret is that solar power is crap. It is expensive technology that produces little return. Windmills are expensive to make and maintain and the energy produced is laughable. America is in hock to China because China produces fossil energy and doesn't give a damn what Al Gore has to say. The longer we stay on the green glide path the closer America will come to extinction.
 
Renewable energy in the People's Republic of China - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Renewable energy is helping the People's Republic of China complete its economic transformation and achieve "energy security". China rapidly has moved along the path of renewable energy development.[1] About 17 percent of China's electricity came from renewable sources in 2007, led by the world's largest number of hydroelectric generators.[2] China had a total installed capacity of hydropower of 197 GW in 2009.[3] Technology development and increased amounts of investment in renewable energy technologies and installations have increased markedly throughout the 2000s in China, and investment in renewables is now part of China's economic stimulus strategy.[4] Researchers from Harvard University and Tsinghua University have found that the People's Republic could meet all of its electricity demands from wind power by 2030.[5]
 
Renewable Energy in China

CHINA 2005 RENEWABLE ENERGY LAW
In February 2005, China passed a groundbreaking law to promote renewable energy. (See "Government to promote renewable energy sources" from China Business Weekly March 17, 2005.) Implementation of the law started January 1, 2006. The law provides a feed-in tariff for some technologies and establishes grid feed-in requirements and standard procedures. It establishes cost-sharing mechanisms so the incremental cost will be shared among utility consumers. It also creates new financing mechanisms and supports rural uses of renewable energy. The law also provides for a long-term development plan, R&D, geographic resource surveys, technology standards, and building codes for integrating solar hot water into new construction.
 
Renewable energy in the People's Republic of China - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Renewable energy is helping the People's Republic of China complete its economic transformation and achieve "energy security". China rapidly has moved along the path of renewable energy development.[1] About 17 percent of China's electricity came from renewable sources in 2007, led by the world's largest number of hydroelectric generators.[2] China had a total installed capacity of hydropower of 197 GW in 2009.[3] Technology development and increased amounts of investment in renewable energy technologies and installations have increased markedly throughout the 2000s in China, and investment in renewables is now part of China's economic stimulus strategy.[4] Researchers from Harvard University and Tsinghua University have found that the People's Republic could meet all of its electricity demands from wind power by 2030.[5]

Makes a communist like you VERY proud, doesn't it?

Unfortunately for you Maoists, your "model" society also has the worst environmental record of ANY industrialized nation on the face of the earth. We won't even delve into the oppression and human rights violations and population control program and complete government manipulation of their currency and deplorable working conditions, etc., etc., etc.

As for Oregon being some sort of "model of success" for the government-subsidized "alternative energy" SCAM, I would like to see some links, or at least a few FACTS, to fortify your lofty (and more than likely, completely bogus) claims.
 
They are working wonderfully here in Oregon. Both wind and solar. Over a 1000 jobs just in the one Solar World plant. Many more jobs in the wind turbine industry. Good paying jobs.





Maybe..... seems that a lot of investors are bailing on green energy all of a sudden...

Huge new discoveries in gas, oil and rare mineral deposits see major investors and governments bail out of a collapsing green energy market.



Suggesting to readers that stories about any impending ‘peak energy’ crisis is just hot air Dr. Benny Peiser of the Global Warming Policy Foundation (January 20, 2011) presents a swath of news reports making uncomfortable reading for environmentalists and green investors.

European Governments Signal End to Renewable Energy ‘Bubble’

Peiser shows the rush away from green energy began in earnest in December 2010 when first a pro-green Spain slashed funding for wind projects by 35% and declared photovoltaic plants would be cut by 45%.

France then announced a four-month freeze on all solar projects. Then Germany announced it might discontinue the solar industry’s sweetheart tariffs in 2012. The German Energy Agency, the country’s official advisor on renewables called for Germany’s drive toward solar to be “cut back quickly and drastically.”


Investors Abandon Green Energy after Huge New Gas and Oil Finds | Suite101.com
 
Renewable energy in the People's Republic of China - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Renewable energy is helping the People's Republic of China complete its economic transformation and achieve "energy security". China rapidly has moved along the path of renewable energy development.[1] About 17 percent of China's electricity came from renewable sources in 2007, led by the world's largest number of hydroelectric generators.[2] China had a total installed capacity of hydropower of 197 GW in 2009.[3] Technology development and increased amounts of investment in renewable energy technologies and installations have increased markedly throughout the 2000s in China, and investment in renewables is now part of China's economic stimulus strategy.[4] Researchers from Harvard University and Tsinghua University have found that the People's Republic could meet all of its electricity demands from wind power by 2030.[5]


Homework, Rocks:

Watermelons: The Green Movement's True Colors [Paperback]
James Delingpole

From Amazon:
"British author James Delingpole tells the shocking story of how an unholy mix of junk science, green hype, corporate greed and political opportunism led to the biggest - and most expensive - outbreak of mass hysteria in history.

In Watermelons, Delingpole explains the Climategate scandal, the cast of characters involved, their motives and methods. He delves into the background of the organizations and individuals who have sought to push global warming to the top of the political agenda, showing that beneath their cloak of green lurks a heart of red.

Watermelons shows how the scientific method has been sacrificed on the altar of climate alarmism. Delingpole mocks the green movement's pathetic record of apocalyptic predictions, from the "population bomb" to global cooling, which failed to materialize. He reveals the fundamental misanthropy of green ideology, "rooted in hatred of the human species, hell bent on destroying almost everything man has achieved".

Delingpole gives a refreshing voice to widespread public skepticism over global warming, emphasising that the "crisis" has been engineered by people seeking to control our lives by imposing new taxes and regulations. "Your taxes will be raised, your liberties curtailed and your money squandered to deal with this 'crisis'", he writes.

At its very roots, argues Delingpole, climate change is an ideological battle, not a scientific one. Green on the outside, red on the inside, the liberty-loathing, humanity-hating "watermelons" of the modern environmental movement do not want to save the world. They want to rule it."

I bet Rocks knows that solar power is used, basically, to heat swimming pools.
 

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