







The Shepherds Flat Wind Farm will be completed in 2012. 

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RE: I wonder
By nafhan on 4/19/2011 1:16:13 PM , Rating: 2
"Energy giants" building wind and solar installations means one thing: they can make money at it. The reason that they can make money at it could be that wind and solar are incredibly efficient and superior to other power generation methods, or it could be that a national government is giving them piles of cash to build the solar and wind installations...

I disagree that things which artificially lower the cost of an inefficient power generation method are immaterial. Money saved now could, for example, go into paying off the national debt.

RE: I wonder
By Harinezumi on 4/19/2011 1:48:52 PM , Rating: 2
It takes time and money to develop new technologies and make them profitable. Often a lot of time and a lot of money. While free enterprise is excellent at quickly coming up with the most efficient and profitable applications for available or soon-to-be-available technology, it doesn't have a particularly good record investing for the long haul. When you invest a significant portion of your capital into projects that won't start paying off for 20-30 years while your competitors focus on the short term, you're not likely to survive as a company long enough to reap the benefits of those projects.

That's where the government comes it. It makes perfect sense for the government to invest taxpayer money into long-term projects that are likely to provide good long-term returns to the taxpayers if such projects cannot be profitably pursued by companies in the short-term. It makes even more sense to provide incentives and subsidies that would allow companies to overcome their vulnerability to taking long-term risks and get them to shoulder part of the cost in exchange for a proportional part of the benefit.

RE: I wonder
By JediJeb on 4/19/2011 2:48:56 PM , Rating: 2
Government investing in the R&D of these technologies makes sense, but government subsidizing the installation of these systems before they have matured just for the sake of installing them does not.

Any company who is installing large solar or wind systems just for the tax write off even if it really doesn't impact their energy budget are only gaming the system and sucking tax revenue out of more important things like getting rid of our debt. I am ok with government financing the Research, but let commercial groups handle installing the working systems when the technology is mature enough to support itself.

RE: I wonder
I am ok with government financing the Research







RE: I wonder
By nafhan on 4/19/2011 5:18:00 PM , Rating: 2
It certainly does take time and money to make things profitable, and that's an argument to keep things at the R&D stage until they can be deployed profitably. I don't think this is a good long term investment for taxpayers in any way. Put the money into materials science if it has to be spent.

RE: I wonder
By room200 on 4/19/2011 10:17:10 PM , Rating: 2
So I guess you are also against other subsidies also? It's not like the oil companies need them.

RE: I wonder

God, I'm getting old.

RE: I wonder
By nafhan on 4/20/2011 1:32:27 PM , Rating: 2

