By <a class="post-author" href="/about#aepstein">Alex Epstein</a> -- October 25, 2011
On Thursday, October 13, 2011, I participated in a debate (on behalf of my
Center for Industrial Progress) against a Greenpeace representative on the topic, “Green Energy: Economic Savior or Economic Suicide?” Sponsored by
CFACT, the event took place at the University of Texas at Austin, and was streamed on the Web. (The full debate will be produced professionally for general release, but for now a 90% complete version of the Livestream is available
here. Also, my talk at Texas A&M on the same subject is available
here.)
The debate covered a wide range of topics, including:
- The economics of solar and wind.
- The “green” opposition to nuclear power.
- A free-market, individual rights approach to pollution.
- Free-markets vs. central planning in energy.
- The true meaning of “green energy.”
…
By Donald Hertzmark -- September 7, 2010
My post last week evaluated the claim that wind generation can save money for power pool customers. It was found that the supposed savings could be realized only if the elephant in the room – the above-market feed-in tariff – was ignored. In other words, consumer payments for electricity from a power pool was half of the story; the real price had to include the consumer-qua-taxpayer funding of the feed-in-tariff (FIT).
And with this two-part scheme, games are played. Wind generators can bid a low price into the pool only to receive a higher FIT, which gives them an incentive to underbid. This might reduce the pool price but not overall cost to Germans for electricity.
Investing in New Generation: What Makes Sense?
If a generation resource is a good investment for its developers then it must return a profit to them. …