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Opinion
Alternative to alternative energy
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Repeatedly I fly to Ulysses, Kansas for business. During the past winter I watched with interest as an "alternative energy" project was constructed west of Scott City. The operational result is 19, I think I counted, of those huge electricity generation wind mills. These are the ones that utilize the huge turbine blades that we often see transiting McCook on Highway 83.
What has surprised me in watching the completed "free" energy project are the many times that I fly by and see the propeller blades standing at attention, nary a single one of the 19 turning. It makes me wonder how inefficient that source of electrical power really is. Having electricity only during the times that the wind blows, with enough but not too much velocity, would be a positive irritation.
Yes I know that wind energy is only supplemental energy, the electrical utilities have to have adequate generating power from other, more reliable sources, to cover their loads on a 24-7 basis. And then checking in to it farther I've been told that the payback on a wind farm project is something like ten years. In other words it takes 10 years to produce and sell enough electrical power to pay back the original investment. Couple that with an expected production life of eight years and it looks to me a rather poor place to invest one's money. Voila, it is the government subsidy, our tax money at work, which makes the wind projects such a popular investment scheme.
The Scott City wind farm is small in comparison to the multitude of windmills south of Sidney, Neb. If you have driven to Wichita recently you also have seen the huge wind farm north of Salina with what seems like hundreds of the slowly turning giants along the interstate. East of the Las Angeles basin in California the highway traveler is treated to miles of wind turbines which seem to be turning more reliably than the ones I see in this part of the United States.
Wind generated electricity shares the same vulnerability as ethanol as a source of energy. Both depend upon unreliable monetary subsidies from government to be profitable. Ethanol has been a boon to farmers by raising prices for those that produce corn. Cattle feeders, however, aren't quite so enthusiastic about the higher price. If one doubts the efficacy of the ethanol industry he only has to visit with the good people in Cambridge about their now idle, barely used, ethanol plant especially the employees who signed on to work there.
All this silliness about pursuing "alternate" energy is the dream of our current crop of politicians and their insatiable thirst for power -- political power that is. They perceive that this country's dependence on foreign oil is a bad thing and envision a way to change. Never mind that it might be a good idea to use up the cheap foreign oil and save our own for the future. In the minds of those same all-knowing politicians, clean, safe, nuclear power is anathema -- no reason, they just don't understand it and thereby fear it. The USofA has the largest reserves of coal in the world but the visionaries perceive coal as polluting and will do all they can to shut that industry down. Again the USofA has huge untapped reserves of oil but by decree, stemming from environmental dreams, our visionary politicians won't let further development of the petroleum industry happen either.
Politicians do understand that energy responds to what economists term elastic demand. If the price of a commodity increases, the demand for it decreases. In their world, there is too much demand for energy so if they can increase the price we Americans will use less thereby attaining their goal of decreasing our dependence on foreign oil. Adding taxes to anything related to energy is one way to raise the price and decrease the demand. Added taxes carry the bonus of more money for those same politicians to spend never mind the havoc wreaked on our economy. Higher taxes less energy use, it is a liberal marriage made in heaven.
It will be interesting to see how our own Sen. Ben Nelson votes on Cap-and-Trade, which will be the source of money to fund President Obama's reworked Health Care System. In my opinion, a vote in favor of either of those legislative monstrosities will be all the more reason to turn our favorite Senator out of office.
That is the way I see it.