Sunday, July 24, 2011

Crazy Politically-Driven Energy Decisions

I'm all for conservation. But I get bugged when "Greens" preach conservation. Why?
  • First, not that many practice what they preach (witness the multiple gigantic homes of "end-of-the-world global warming" Al Gore including expensive outdoor lighting run to show off his mansions).

  • Second, I especially get bothered when others mandate that I practice their private morality. This is especially annoying. I have nothing against environmental nuts practicing "being green" but when they mandate by law that I dance to their tune, I get very angry.

  • Third, a lot of the "save the world" stuff is run by rich bored offspring of billionaires and centi-millionaires who won't suffer one whit if the GDP is slowed down or even shrunk by their idiocies. But I feel for the world's really poor living on $1/day. Every penny counts for them.
Here's an example of "green idiocy" from Canada's Financial Post newspaper:
During the spring months in Ontario, the winds blow a lot. For companies in the wind-power business, that’s good news. For the province’s electricity consumers, though, it’s another financial disaster that, on an annual basis, drains up to $400-million out of consumers’ pockets. But that money doesn’t directly fund green electricity for Ontarians who pay for it. Instead, the bulk of wind power is essentially surplus power that is exported to the United States and out of province at rock-bottom prices. Ontarians are paying $135 for units of power that are dumped on the export market at prices as low as $20. Sometimes, Ontario has to pay other jurisdictions to take the surplus off its hands.

This past May, Ontario’s wind producers generated 284,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity. For each MWh, the producers collected $135, for a total of $38-million. That money is paid out of the churning slush fund that is now the Ontario electric power system. The system, through its byzantine structures, sold that same power into the electricity market at market prices. The average market price for electricity in May was about $25 a MWh. Wind power, however, rarely gets even the average price.
This is complete economic insanity: mandate production at $135 and sell at $25. This is green eco policies designed to beggar the public. This should be a crime.

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