GREEN DEAL TURNS SOUR

I am essentially a selfish, sanctimonious person.  I want my life to be as comfortable as possible, and damn if “preserving” the environment gets in the way.  Because I have no progeny, I really don’t care about the next generation when it comes to things like recycling (which is just a sham) or solar energy.

                                                          

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, solar energy was first put to use way back in the 1830’s when British astronomer John Herschel “used a solar thermal collector box (a device that absorbs sunlight to collect heat) to cook food during an expedition to Africa.”   So if solar energy and renewable energy sources are so fabulous, how come Americans only supplied about 8% of their energy needs with those sources in 2009?  Because solar energy is VERY expensive!

According to a 2009 Energy Information Administration study, “While solar energy is inherently free, the cost of capturing it and turning it into electricity makes it two to three times more expensive than electricity from coal, natural gas or nuclear fuel. Only wind turbines built offshore are more expensive.”

I read through the 317 page report that the Department of Energy issued this past April  on state electricity profiles, and while it was very boring, I discovered that in Illinois we pay an average retail price of 9.08 cents/kWh (cents per kilowatt hour), while our neighboring alphabetical state Idaho only pays 6.51 cents/kWh.  Just an interesting fact to remember when stories appear about potential electrical rate hikes.  If the electricity companies in Idaho can supply product for so much less than in Illinois, maybe Illinois should get a price reduction, not an increase.

This ties into a solar energy story that the Better Government Association (BGA) recently released that was printed in the Sun-Times.  According to the story, “In March 2004, then-Mayor Richard M. Daley announced a deal that promised to save taxpayer money, reduce natural gas consumption and bring “green” jobs to Chicago.”   The report had a lot of information that discussed how seven years later, the deal had turned sour.  The initiative has now been suspended.  But only one section of the story really caught my eye, and that was about financial details that did not seem to make sense.

One paragraph read, “The city agreed to spend up to $5 million on the eco-friendly systems, and install them on more than 100 public buildings, such as firehouses and police stations, yielding an estimated $7 million in energy savings over 30 years.”  Study the sentence carefully--the city was spending $5 million to save $7 million over 30 years.  That makes no fiscal sense at all!  The city would not actually be “saving” $2 million.  It would be losing millions.  Think about it.  When you adjust for inflation, the difference of what $5 million is worth in 2004 versus what $7 million is worth over a 30 year period, it becomes clear that this plan is a bust!  Also, at least some accountant finally realized that the cost of installation of the solar panels is so high, it would wipe out any savings the city would recoup on its natural gas bills.  Therefore, they ended the program.

I am all for progress, but if 180 years have gone by since the first recorded capturing of solar energy, and only 8% of the country’s needs are supplied by renewable sources, just give up on the idea already!  Fossil fuels!  I am all for the dinosaur.