An experiment by a central Illinois community college explains why green energy is such a bust.
Four hundred years after Cervantes penned Don Quixote, fighting windmills seems to make more sense, than the windmills themselves.
Well, they make no sense for the consumer. If you’re General Electric, you’re bringing in $6.3 billion a year from the sale of wind turbines, thanks to generous government subsidies. It’s strange that people so adamant about making GE pay their all taxes, have no qualms about giving them large bundles of cash to put up these Bird Processors.
The idea is, that government subsidies will expand the industry, improve the technology, and make wind power viable. It’s expected that eventually “sustainable” energy can sustain itself. But that doesn’t seem to be happening.
According to the Daily Caller, Lake Land College, in Matoon Illinois, took almost a million taxpayer dollars to put up a couple windmills that have produced only $8500 in electricity over the past four years.
They also spent another quarter million dollars in parts and labor, to keep the turbines working. And after one was hit by lightning, another $100,000 will be needed to get it working again. It’s strange that you wouldn’t have insurance on these things, especially in Illinois where lightning often triggers insurance claims, sometimes when there hasn’t even been a storm.
But I guess when you get something for nothing, you don’t pay attention to those kind of details. So rather than repair the turbines, they’ll tear them down.
Lake Land College has academic programs in Agriculture; Business; Technology and Social Science & Education. They should also teach a course in Irony. Because according to Kelly Allee, Director of Public Relations: The turbines “are not a good teaching tool if they are not working.”
Actually, they have been a marvelous teaching tool. Because they’re teaching young people an important lesson about crony capitalism. Perhaps the Windmills should be shifted from their Technology program, over to their Business school. (Or Education.)
Because according to Andrew Follett, these wind turbines produced a negative 99.14% return on investment. You’d actually be better off betting on the Cubs to win the World Series, because that bet pays off at least once every hundred years.
Initial projections that the turbines would save the college $44,000 annually. And apparently, college administrators are hard to teach. Because rather than writing off Green Energy entirely, they’re embarking on an optimistic new project:
Lake Land plans to replace the two failed turbines with a solar power system paid for by a government grant. “[T]he photovoltaic panels are expected to save the college between $50,000 and $60,000 this year,” Allee told the DCNF.
Don Quixote would be proud.
In just 22 short years they will recoup the losses on their wind turbines…if all goes well…good luck!
Lord, posting this makes it seem like you’re against wind produced energy.
Hopefully you’re just against the bs $ deals that surround it.
Surely we can agree that we need to create / lead an alternative energy industry push in the US, monetary semantics aside.
Shirley?
Rather than investing in wind, I think we need to find a way to make cars run on Unicorn Pellets. It’s just as achievable
We should let markets determine what energy system is best…government money always drives up costs and hurts innovation. Look at health care and college costs…skyrocketing due to easy available government money
The government should not be in the energy business, period, nor should it be in the healthcare business, college business.
Look at the tobacco business..the government spends millions supporting tobacco farmers and millions advertising against tobacco use…stop all welfare from the federal government to everybody!!!
“the government spends millions supporting tobacco farmers and millions advertising against tobacco use.”
It’s not unlike the Dr. Seuss story about the Star Bellied Sneeches, Sylvester McMonkey McBean made money both ways.
I don’t feel our government needs to be despised and reduced to zero. It serves a useful purpose. It’s the referee for this capitalist full court game we’re playing.
A game with no ref
is rarely a fair one. Eventually it’s chaos.
Even worse with a bought ref. But we definitely need one.
Why are we acting like we need as little ref as possible?
“But They’re awful.”
So if the ref is awful, get a new one.
Don’t hate the playas, hate the game.
The Government is not an impartial ref. Especially when there are billions in subsidies to hand out. The money doesn’t go to the best ideas, it goes to the best connected.
There is a legitimate place for government regulation… Here is what they are…
“The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;
To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;
To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;
To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;
To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;
To establish Post Offices and post Roads;
To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;
To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;
To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;
To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;
To provide and maintain a Navy;
To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;
To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;—And
To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.”
…and to pardon Turkeys. The President gets to pardon Turkeys.