“It makes absolutely no sense to claim that we need an ‘all of the above’ energy policy to wean us from ‘climate damaging’ fossil fuel plants by subsidizing a source of energy that can only replace a small fraction of that fossil generation but at a snail’s pace and very high price.”
My name is Kevon Martis. I am the volunteer director of the Interstate Informed Citizen’s Coalition, Inc. We are a bipartisan non-profit based in southeast Michigan.
I speak today at the IER/AEA Wind Policy Luncheon on behalf of citizens living on the front lines of Production Tax Credit (PTC)-driven industrial wind development in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana.
I will get right to the point: Why do we preferentially subsidize wind energy?
… Continue Reading1. Is it to free the U.S. from Middle Eastern oil?
“The wind PTC is not a financial leg-up to an equivalent quality source to make it price competitive with conventional sources. The wind PTC rewards a misfit technology for its lack of control over its fuel source – a fuel that will continue to behave badly no matter how ‘price competitive’ our subsidies make it.”
This post reproduces my extemporaneous and prepared comments given at the Institute for Energy Research Panel on Wind Electricity, December 3, 2013.
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There are basic things about the electricity system that everyone needs to know as a starting point. For those who may not, let me retrace a simple concept: Electricity supply sources are of two basic types – those designed to be used nearly all the time and at a fairly steady and high percentage of their capabilities (base load sources), and those with greater flexibility, designed to be used less because at every instant year round there is a need for the sum of all electricity produced to precisely match demand fluctuations. …
Continue ReadingThe Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions (AWED) is an informal coalition of over 10,000 individuals and organizations interested in improving government energy & environmental policies. Our basic position is that technical matters like these should be addressed by using Real Science. It’s all spelled out at WiseEnergy.org, which is an exceptional collection of helpful resources.
A key element of AWED’s efforts is public education. Towards that end, every 3 weeks we put together a newsletter to balance what is found in the mainstream media about energy and environmental matters. We appreciate MasterResource for their assistance in publishing this information.
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Greed Energy Economics:
A More Realistic Cost of Wind Energy
Parasitic Wind Killing its Host
Battle brews over new energy mandates
Estimating the State-Level Impact of Federal Wind Energy Subsidies
Turbine Health Matters:
Good news for Falmouth: Judge orders limited use of wind turbines
ZBA Rules that Turbines are a Health Nuisance
Waubra Foundation – Explicit Warning Notice
IOA good practice guide, excess amplitude modulation and the failure of wind farm noise controls
Prairies, Wind Turbines, Solar Panels, and Fried Birds…
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