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U.S. Reports a Major Milestone in Wind and Solar Power

poweRob

poweRob

USMC 1988-1996
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What a big jump in production. This is awesome!

Last year solar and wind accounted for 6.6% of total electricity generated. Now almost double that in a year. Wow.


U.S. Reports a Major Milestone in Wind and Solar Power

Ten percent of all of the electricity generated in the U.S. in March came from wind and solar power, marking the first such milestone in U.S. history, according to a new U.S. Energy Information Administration report.

The EIA estimates that wind and solar farms likely generated 10 percent of America’s electricity in April as well, which would be another first, according to the report.

This year’s milestone shows that renewables are becoming a major source of electricity in the U.S. and can no longer be considered “alternative” energy, said Christopher Clack, CEO of the power grid modeling firm Vibrant Clean Energy and a former National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researcher.​

So as the electric car sales start heating up its nice to know more of the electricity they get will be from these sources.
 
It'll be even better when the industry doesn't need to be propped up by the government.
 
apdst said:
It'll be even better when the industry doesn't need to be propped up by the government.
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If only you had the same gripe with all the fossil fuel tax-breaks and kickbacks from the government.
 
apdst said:
It'll be even better when the industry doesn't need to be propped up by the government.
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You mean like oil and gas was propped up by energy subsidies, since forever?
 
poweRob said:
If only you had the same gripe with all the fossil fuel tax-breaks and kickbacks from the government.
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At least the oil and gas industry can stand on it's on two feet, without government cash to prop it up. If the government cash supporting the wind and solar industry ever dries up, they'll fold up like a cheap lawnchair. And, you know it.
 
Winston said:
You mean like oil and gas was propped up by energy subsidies, since forever?
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The oil and gas industry doesn't receive cash subsidies.
 
apdst said:
At least the oil and gas industry can stand on it's on two feet, without government cash to prop it up. If the government cash supporting the wind and solar industry ever dries up, they'll fold up like a cheap lawnchair. And, you know it.
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Oil and gas are being propped up. Always have been. And solar and wind prices have dropped so much they are viable no matter what happens with the subsidies. In fact... solar is subsidizing other states' energy.

California is generating so much solar energy, it's paying other states to take it
 
apdst said:
It'll be even better when the industry doesn't need to be propped up by the government.
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Millions of consumers will benefit from the development of alternative and renewable energy. Eventually it will be very cost efficient, we will be energy independent and the money saved can be used for other necessities, even tax breaks and tax cuts.
 
poweRob said:
What a big jump in production. This is awesome!

Last year solar and wind accounted for 6.6% of total electricity generated. Now almost double that in a year. Wow.


U.S. Reports a Major Milestone in Wind and Solar Power

Ten percent of all of the electricity generated in the U.S. in March came from wind and solar power, marking the first such milestone in U.S. history, according to a new U.S. Energy Information Administration report.

The EIA estimates that wind and solar farms likely generated 10 percent of America’s electricity in April as well, which would be another first, according to the report.

This year’s milestone shows that renewables are becoming a major source of electricity in the U.S. and can no longer be considered “alternative” energy, said Christopher Clack, CEO of the power grid modeling firm Vibrant Clean Energy and a former National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researcher.​

So as the electric car sales start heating up its nice to know more of the electricity they get will be from these sources.
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Pathetic. At what cost? And how much of that cost was absorbed by taxpayers? :roll:
 
Energy subsidies

A 2011 study by the consulting firm Management Information Services, Inc. (MISI)[28] estimated the total historical federal subsidies for various energy sources over the years 1950–2010. The study found that oil, natural gas, and coal received $369 billion, $121 billion, and $104 billion (2010 dollars), respectively, or 70% of total energy subsidies over that period. Oil, natural gas, and coal benefited most from percentage depletion allowances and other tax-based subsidies, but oil also benefited heavily from regulatory subsidies such as exemptions from price controls and higher-than-average rates of return allowed on oil pipelines. The MISI report found that non-hydro renewable energy (primarily wind and solar) benefited from $74 billion in federal subsidies, or 9% of the total, largely in the form of tax policy and direct federal expenditures on research and development (R&D). Nuclear power benefited from $73 billion in federal subsidies, 9% of the total, largely in the form of R&D, while hydro power received $90 billion in federal subsidies, 12% of the total.

The three largest fossil fuel subsidies were:

Foreign tax credit ($15.3 billion)
Credit for production of non-conventional fuels ($14.1 billion)
Oil and Gas exploration and development expense ($7.1 billion)​

The three largest renewable fuel subsidies were:

Alcohol Credit for Fuel Excise Tax ($11.6 billion)
Renewable Electricity Production Credit ($5.2 billion)
Corn-Based Ethanol ($5.0 billion)​
 
Last edited:
poweRob said:
Energy subsidies

A 2011 study by the consulting firm Management Information Services, Inc. (MISI)[28] estimated the total historical federal subsidies for various energy sources over the years 1950–2010. The study found that oil, natural gas, and coal received $369 billion, $121 billion, and $104 billion (2010 dollars), respectively, or 70% of total energy subsidies over that period. Oil, natural gas, and coal benefited most from percentage depletion allowances and other tax-based subsidies, but oil also benefited heavily from regulatory subsidies such as exemptions from price controls and higher-than-average rates of return allowed on oil pipelines. The MISI report found that non-hydro renewable energy (primarily wind and solar) benefited from $74 billion in federal subsidies, or 9% of the total, largely in the form of tax policy and direct federal expenditures on research and development (R&D). Nuclear power benefited from $73 billion in federal subsidies, 9% of the total, largely in the form of R&D, while hydro power received $90 billion in federal subsidies, 12% of the total.

The three largest fossil fuel subsidies were:

Foreign tax credit ($15.3 billion)
Credit for production of non-conventional fuels ($14.1 billion)
Oil and Gas exploration and development expense ($7.1 billion)​

The three largest renewable fuel subsidies were:

Alcohol Credit for Fuel Excise Tax ($11.6 billion)
Renewable Electricity Production Credit ($5.2 billion)
Corn-Based Ethanol ($5.0 billion)​
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Not a single cash subsidy for the oil and gas industry?

Try this on for size...

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-bl...energy-cant-survive-without-massive-subsidies
 
poweRob said:
So it only matters to you what name you call taxpayer money. Interesting.

Do Oil Companies Really Need $4 Billion Per Year of Taxpayers’ Money?

How come I get the feeling you wouldn't like solar or wind power even if it didn't get subsidized?
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That sum includes all local, state, and federal subsidies as well as federal loans and loan guarantees received by companies on the American Wind Energy Association’s board of directors since 2000. (Most of the federal grants have been awarded since 2007.) Of the $176 billion provided to the wind-energy sector, $2.9 billion came from local and state governments; $9.4 billion came from federal grants and tax credits; and $163.9 billion was provided in the form of federal loans or loan guarantees.

https://www.google.com/amp/amp.nati...sidies-billions-and-billions-your-tax-dollars
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.....
 
I wonder how much treasure has been spent and US military blood has been spilled propping up or knocking down dictators in the Middle East over oil? What is that worth to you? I'm pretty sure none has been shed over solar or wind.
 
countryboy said:
Tax deductions are NOT subsidies. But you already knew that.
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First, a reduced tax payment is extra money going to the industry as opposed to the government. If oil and gas paid taxes at a certain level, and then the government decided to reduce the amount they pay, that is still extra money going to oil and gas. And oil and gas should pay into a society, enough to fund the EPA, largely necessary, because of the oil and gas industry.

Then, you're going to tell me that oil and gas has never, ever going back to the 1950's, received a subsidy from U.S. dep't of treasury? You are wrong. See poweRob's post #12.

You have been tricked by right wing media into thinking that "ALL THINGS LEFT" mooch, siphon, steal, cajole, and pilfer the tax payers dollar. Whereas, "ALL THINGS RIGHT" replenish the diminished coffers from those bastard leftists. And if it wasn't for the leftists, and their concern for the environment, then everybody would have enough to go around.
 
apdst said:
.....
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At a time when gas prices exceed $4 a gallon, these profits are coming out of ordinary people’s pockets, and not just at the pump. American families are also padding the oil companies’ enormous profits with their tax dollars. In effect, U.S. taxpayers wrote a collective $7 billion bonus check to the oil industry when they filed their taxes...

linkypoo...​


I still haven't heard a peep from you on this. Why just whine about renewable tax credits and subsidies?
 
OMG, what are those poor bastards in the coal, oil, and gas industries gonna do with all of their gazillions?
 
cuban smokes said:
OMG, what are those poor bastards in the coal, oil, and gas industries gonna do with all of their gazillions?
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Fund politicians to push through another tax break for them.
 
poweRob said:
At a time when gas prices exceed $4 a gallon, these profits are coming out of ordinary people’s pockets, and not just at the pump. American families are also padding the oil companies’ enormous profits with their tax dollars. In effect, U.S. taxpayers wrote a collective $7 billion bonus check to the oil industry when they filed their taxes...

linkypoo...​


I still haven't heard a peep from you on this. Why just whine about renewable tax credits and subsidies?
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You're confusing revenue on goods and services with taxes. We choose to buy gas. We don't get to choose when we pay taxes and how much.
 
apdst said:
You're confusing revenue on goods and services with taxes. We choose to buy gas. We don't get to choose when we pay taxes and how much.
Click to expand...

Still wrongly denying fossil fuel companies get subsidies I see.
 
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