Solar Tax credit extension: it's only fair

To those who abhor subsidies for solar or wind...surprise: I agree!  However, the current playing field is not level.  Oil & gas, nuclear (especially nuclear - huge direct & indirect costs to our government), coal and other forms of energy get subsidies too (including biomass, hydroelectric, geothermal and even energy efficiency).  So why would you want to pick winners & losers by removing subsidies for solar but retaining even larger subsidies for fossil fuels?

So until Congress gets their heads out of the Saudi Arabian sand and creates a real, thoughtful energy policy, it would be really unfair (and unwise) to remove "subsidies" for solar (Note: "subsidies" for solar are really just tax benefits and not any cash from the government).

All forms of energy receive incentives.  Some are direct cash from the government (like cash to the Black Lung liabilities under the 1969 Coal Mine Safety Act [see here] and related costs for coal, and cash for nuclear waste disposal), but most are indirect (like the massive nuclear insurance guarantees and the highly lucrative oil & gas depletion credits [which allow the driller to write off more than the capital cost of the drilling operation; see here] and related tax benefits).  I say, remove all forms of incentives for energy to level the playing field.

On that field, I know solar & wind will win - and win big - over any form of energy that requires mining or drilling to replenish the fuel.  When the sun & wind are free, and the operating costs are very low due to no fuel costs and related supply chain (think trains for coal delivery), there is really no way that coal, gas or nuclear can ever compete with solar & wind on a level playing field.

I vehemently disagree with those who call for letting the ITC (Investment Tax Credit) expire.  While I agree that solar can survive without the ITC, the aforementioned argument stands: why remove an incentive for one form of energy without removing the rest?  Just because solar weaned itself off of the government dole sooner than anyone expected doesn't mean that it should be penalized while fossil fuels continue to enjoy subsidies of $18.5 Billion from the USA (see also total US subsidies & Forbes' suggests it's $13 Billion & IRS production-only subsidies) and $500 Billion per year worldwide.

I say, kill all energy incentives and bring it on!  Let the market decide, but don't let coal, oil, gas and nuclear continue to get a free ride nursing off the teet of Uncle Sam. 100 years of government handouts is plenty of time for fossil fuels to be self-sufficient, don't you think?

For more information, Google fossil fuel subsidies or see this article here.

Are You A Caveman?

Are You A Caveman?

A blog series by Troy Helming, including excerpts from the upcoming book Caveman Country

Are you a Caveman (or Cavewoman) or Enlightened?

America's strength has always come from our people.  Starting with brave explorers, pioneers and a hard-working drive to improve our lives, America is the greatest country on Earth.  I intend for America to never lose that title.  The leaders of our great nation have been, in my humble opinion, substantially influenced over the years by men who dig stuff up from the ground and burn it.

Cavemen, I call them: short-sighted men who rape and pillage our mountaintops and lands, scraping, drilling, and cutting the Earth with little to no regard for the negative long-term consequences.  Just like cavemen, these men (and some women) see only what's right in front of them: rocks, sludge and gas that can be captured for money.  They are not yet evolved enough to realize that society has recently figured out how to be civilized without clinging to the Stone Age methods of our Neanderthal ancestors.  Instead, these Cavemen (that includes cavewomen, too) choose to use physical force to beat the hell out of Mother Earth, slicing deep gashes in her skin with ever larger machines, digging out her innards until nothing’s left, and drilling her over and over again.  These barbaric people refuse to evolve to using their brains to find a better way, and they will soon become extinct.

So I ask you: are you a Caveman?  Or are you an “Enlightened” gentleman or lady?

Because for the first time in history, it really is just as easy as a choice.  Here's why:

1.     Solar energy is now cheaper than new coal, nuclear and natural gas plants, and cheaper than many (but not yet all) existing nuclear, coal and gas peaker plants.  California, the most populous state in America and the world's 5th largest economy if it were its own country, has added so much solar energy (on rooftops and on arid deserts or non-farmed pastureland) that it generates 10% of its  total electricity needs [Source], and is well on its way to achieving 50% powered by renewable energy by 2025.

2.     Wind energy is now cheaper than new and existing coal, nuclear and natural gas plants for the generation of electricity.  There are now 9 US states powered by 10% wind or more (with 2 more expected to hit 10% in 2015), and 3 states (IA, KS, SD) at about 20% or more and wind now generates about 5% of the nation's electricity [Source].

3.     Electricity generated from wind and solar has dropped by 60% and 85% respectively in just the last few years.  As a result, renewable energy now generates more electricity in America than oil and nuclear combined (16.63% vs 13.08%) [Source], and accounted for about 50% of all new electric generating capacity in 2014 and a significant share (about 40% on average) since 2012 [Source].

4.     Even if oil was as cheap as $40/barrel, electricity is cheaper than gas (or diesel) to run your vehicle on a cost per mile basis.

5.     In America's history, the US government has subsidized energy for 100+ years.  Powerful cavemen influenced members of Congress and the White House over the decades to extract over $630 Billion of federal subsidies for coal, nuclear, oil and natural gas industries.  Meanwhile, renewable electricity generation sources (such as wind, solar, geothermal and biomass) have enjoyed a scant $50 Billion in all that time, with more than half of that unfortunately going to biofuels such as ethanol [source].  Worldwide, fossil fuels get $550 Billion per year of subsidies, 4x what renewables get at $120 Billion [source].  Even today, according to the CBO (Congressional Budget Office), fossil fuels (including transportation fuels) get twice (2x) the federal dollars that renewables receive, or 4x what renewable electricity receives [Source].  Conclusion: America's policies and direction have been shaped, for too long, by men who dig stuff up from the ground and burn it (hence this blog title Caveman Country).  

a.      Reagan didn't cause the Soviet Union to break up.  Cheap oil did.  The USSR got the vast majority of its hard currency and GDP from selling oil to the world.  When oil prices crashed by 50% to $14 / barrel in 1988 [Source], the Soviets steadily ran out of money and everything fell apart.  Despite many who wanted to heap praise on Ronald Reagan and his SDI & DOD initiatives, the real story is the transition to a civilized society, away from cavemen like those in the Russian oil complex.

b.     Cavemen kept digging up dinosaur sludge while the Enlightened in the US and around the world aggressively switched to other forms of energy and reduced energy consumption overall through efficiency efforts started during the oil shocks of the 1970s.  The US moved from 17% of our electric generation from oil in 1978, 7% in 1982, 4% by 1988 and only 1% by 2010 (mostly in Hawaii, Alaska, and US island territories) [Source and Source].  This reduced demand substantially, while supply kept increasing, causing the markets to crash.  This is one of the early examples of how the transition from a Caveman Country to an Enlightened Society wreaked havoc on the Cavemen and created a whole new breed of human beings: Enlightened ladies and gentlemen who began the Clean Power Revolution.  Sadly, Reagan was a Caveman and cut off the funding and support for the Enlightened, so they were weakened, but fortunately didn't die.

6.     Finite natural resources cannot compete with technology.  This is because technology rapidly improves while costs rapidly drop (think flat-screen TVs and the cost of long-distance phone calls, if you're old enough to remember what a "long distance call" actually is).  While technology also improves the efficiency and yield of physical natural resource extraction (oil, gas and; coal), there will always be a natural limit in the quantity of physical resources available. 

7.     There is no such limit with solar and wind generation, or energy storage (in batteries, etc.).  Think about this for a moment: the cost of solar panels continues to drop (solar panel prices dropped over 80% in just 5 years from 2008-2013 [Source and Source], similar to Moore's Law of semiconductor cost reduction with manufacturing scale over time).  At some point they will be so cheap that people will think it quite strange for any rooftop to not have solar panels on them.  

8.        Solar can be ubiquitous placed anywhere and everywhere energy is needed, to power homes, business, and factories, charge batteries in EVs (electric vehicles), and charge up energy storage systems.  Did you know that today, in 2015, solar on a home is now cheaper than utility electricity in 42 of the largest 50 cities in America? [Source]

9.     Lithium ion battery costs have dropped substantially in the last 2 years (2013-2015) [Source and Source] and are expected to drop even more as a result of the Tesla Gigafactory [Source].  This is due to the same principles that cause the price of technological products to drop with manufacturing volume and steady Research & Development efforts by manufacturers competing with one another to become more efficient and drive down costs.

10. EVs are already cheaper to operate than ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicles, due to vastly reduced maintenance costs and fuel costs (even with cheap oil).  Did you realize that EVs have no transmission, no spark plugs, no oil, no radiator, timing belt, starter, or alternator?  With far fewer parts to fail, they're more reliable, cheaper (and easier) to operate, and will last far longer than the ICE vehicles driven by cavemen.

a.      I know this, because I’ve been driving an electric vehicle (Tesla S) for some time now.  We used to spend nearly $600/month on fuel and $2,000/year+ on maintenance for our BMW and diesel Jeep.  Now we spend zero on fuel and nearly zero on maintenance, and our electric bill has only increased by $80/month.  Even with cheaper gas (at the moment), the savings are compelling over 5 years or more, especially after a few years due to the steadily increasing maintenance costs of ICE vehicles over time.

b.     Eventually, EV cars will be cheaper than ICE vehicles to buy up front (that gap narrows each year), in addition to cheaper to operate.  

c.      Finally, who wants to drive around in a conveyance that burns a fuel, dug up from the ground, at such a high temperature inside a metal chamber that it literally explodes every microsecond?  How barbaric!  Only a caveman or cavewoman would feel good about driving around in an exploding, belching machine that eats sludge found in rocks as its food.  Yuck! Be a lady or a gentleman, not a caveman: drive an EV or PHEV.

To quote George (not his real name), a west Texas oil industry executive (caveman) talking about the state of affairs in Texas in 2015, with cheap oil crashing the oil economy (again) and wind power being the fastest growing source of new energy in the conservative state:

"We drilled the hell out of everything and now we're in the shits, and now they're building the hell out of wind towers to put the coal & gas utilities in the shits.  What the hell is the world coming to?"

Well George, you're a Caveman, and your kind deserves to go extinct.  It's only a matter of time.  Welcome to the new world, where the Enlightened will rule.

So here's a little shout-out to Jeff Foxworthy of "You might be a redneck" fame:

You might be a caveman if...

1.     You think filling up at the pump is good for America (your clan).

2.     You're okay with men & women getting killed or maimed defending access to oil on the other side of the world.

3.     You think the world should heal itself, and it's okay if you take what you need when you need it.

4.     You believe some "higher power" will clean up the mess we've made of our planet.

5.     You think we can just move to new planet after we rape & pillage the natural resources of this one.

6.     You wonder "what's so bad about the planet getting warmer?"

7.     You idle your car on purpose to help warm the planet.

8.     You enjoy burning wood or charcoal.

9.     You like the smell of gasoline.

10. It doesn't bother you knowing multiple roughnecks are drilling Mother Earth.  Over and over again, until she trembles (earthquakes) with weakness, gets sick with fever (warms up) and begins to die (1,390 square miles / 889,600 acres of land turns to desert each year worldwide).  

So again I ask:

Are you a Caveman or an Enlightened?!

www.TroyHelming.com