Green Power to the People
Today President Obama is in Florida where he will speak at the new DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center, a division of Florida Power and Light. He will be touting the benefits of green energy as he helps kick off the official launch of this $150 Million facility that will provide power for up to 3000 homes.
What? 3000 homes? Do the math. That is $50,000 per home. Who is paying for it? This facility covers (literally) 180 acres as it provides 25 Megawatts of power throughout the daytime. It will save 277,000 barrels of oil (over what span of time?) and reduce emissions of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere.
I am very much in favor of reducing our energy imports to ZERO and if we don't have to pump anything into the atmosphere, that is OK with me, but to create a facility that serves 3000 people for that kind of money is a ruse.
Compare and contrast that with the run-up to the Iraq war. The Bush Administration has been excoriated about saying that there were no weapons of mass destruction and that it was just a pretense for getting into a war of choice. Well... I have always believed that it was a flimsy excuse to start something that needed to be started. (Whether it played out properly is pretty obvious.)
As China brings on line one coal plant every week, and the underdeveloped countries are still burning their way to subsistance, we are castrating ourselves in our efforts to become energy independent.
If I had the money to do it, I would have solar on my house right now and use as much alternative energy as I could to power my low and medium energy appliances and create heat. Plus, I know very well, that there needs to be early adopters to pay for 'new' technology in order for bring the prices down for the rest of us. Fine. Just be honest with us rubes out here and say it like it is.
I think that excusing all new alternative energy efforts under the banner of 'reducing our carbon footprint' alienates the 65% of the public that no longer believe that it is causing 'climate change'.
If they said that they are spending all of that money so that Hugo Chavez, the Nigerian wackos and the all of the Arabs can choke on their own oil reserves, then I would be standing on a soapbox praising them. But every time something like this comes out, the President grabs credit as another of his green initiatives and Al Gore snorts out another smarmy comment about the destruction of the earth.
Give me a break. (Tax break, that is, so I can afford to put solar on my roof!)
What? 3000 homes? Do the math. That is $50,000 per home. Who is paying for it? This facility covers (literally) 180 acres as it provides 25 Megawatts of power throughout the daytime. It will save 277,000 barrels of oil (over what span of time?) and reduce emissions of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere.
I am very much in favor of reducing our energy imports to ZERO and if we don't have to pump anything into the atmosphere, that is OK with me, but to create a facility that serves 3000 people for that kind of money is a ruse.
Compare and contrast that with the run-up to the Iraq war. The Bush Administration has been excoriated about saying that there were no weapons of mass destruction and that it was just a pretense for getting into a war of choice. Well... I have always believed that it was a flimsy excuse to start something that needed to be started. (Whether it played out properly is pretty obvious.)
As China brings on line one coal plant every week, and the underdeveloped countries are still burning their way to subsistance, we are castrating ourselves in our efforts to become energy independent.
If I had the money to do it, I would have solar on my house right now and use as much alternative energy as I could to power my low and medium energy appliances and create heat. Plus, I know very well, that there needs to be early adopters to pay for 'new' technology in order for bring the prices down for the rest of us. Fine. Just be honest with us rubes out here and say it like it is.
I think that excusing all new alternative energy efforts under the banner of 'reducing our carbon footprint' alienates the 65% of the public that no longer believe that it is causing 'climate change'.
If they said that they are spending all of that money so that Hugo Chavez, the Nigerian wackos and the all of the Arabs can choke on their own oil reserves, then I would be standing on a soapbox praising them. But every time something like this comes out, the President grabs credit as another of his green initiatives and Al Gore snorts out another smarmy comment about the destruction of the earth.
Give me a break. (Tax break, that is, so I can afford to put solar on my roof!)
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