Posted on 03/13/2012 10:15:47 AM PDT by null and void
Wow. Just wow. Just when you thought Rush Limbaugh couldn’t possibly be any stupider (as most of you know, his vile, disgusting and misogynistic comments on Sandra Fluke have worked out so well for him), he decided to double down on the dumb.
On his March 5 program, Limbaugh said the following about the wind and solar energy markets (emphasis added):
The problem with the Chevy Volt [the reason Limbaugh started his alternative energy rant in the first place] is just like all of Obama’s green energy, there’s no business there yet. There’s no solar energy business yet. There’s no wind energy yet. It’s not there yet. But we can’t have more oil. We can’t have cheaper gasoline prices.
Don’t believe me? Here’s the actual clip of the remarks for your listening pleasure (it’s only 16 seconds, but you’ll be gobsmacked at the amount of stupid packed into such a short time):
Now those of us who have listened to Rush practically at the beginning know that he has made his living being mendacious, angry and crude, but the fictional Snerdley should have warned him how ridiculous the above statement was.
Let’s start with our personal passion, the solar energy industry.
1. There’s no solar energy business yet.
Really, Rush? Really? Did Snerdley not alert you to this study by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Greentech Media? Or this announcement by Rhone Resch? Or this report from The Solar Foundation, which reports that there were more than 100,000 jobs in the American solar industry as of August 2011? Is that enough evidence for you that not only does the solar industry exist, but that it’s one of the few bright spots in an otherwise painfully slow recovery?
How about these facts from our friends at SEIA:
• The U.S. solar market grew to a $6 billion industry in 2010, up 67% from $3.6 billion in 2009.I don’t know about you, but that sure as heck sounds like an industry (and a thriving one at that) to me.
• Solar electric capacity installations reached 956 MW in 2010, more than double the installations from 2009.
• At year end 2010, the U.S. had 2,593 megawatts (MW) of installed solar electric capacity. This included about 2,086 MW of photovoltaics (PV) and 507 MW of utility-scale concentrating solar power.
• Solar water heating capacity grew 5% in 2010, as 2.4 million square feet of solar water heating capacity was installed at homes and businesses throughout the country.
Rush, you should have done some homework so you didn’t sound like quite such an idiot.
2. There’s no wind energy yet.
My colleagues over at Windpower Engineering and Development could probably speak to this more effectively than I can, but here are some of the stats on Limbaugh’s “non-industry,” courtesy of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA):
• The fourth quarter of 2011 saw 3,444 MW of wind power capacity installed, bringing total installations in 2011 to 6,810 MW.
• The U.S. wind industry now totals 46,919 MW of cumulative wind capacity through the end of 2011. • There are over 8,300 MW currently under construction involving over 100 separate projects spanning 31 states plus Puerto Rico.
• The U.S. wind industry has added over 35% of all new generating capacity over the past 4 years, second only to natural gas, and more than nuclear and coal combined.
• Today, U.S. wind power capacity represents more than 20% of the world’s installed wind power.
• The U.S. wind industry represents not only a large market for wind power capacity installations, but also a growing market for American manufacturing.
• More than 400 manufacturing facilities across the United States. make components for wind turbines, and dedicated wind facilities that manufacture major components such as towers, blades and assembled nacelles can be found in every region.
Add to that the nearly 75,000 jobs currently in the wind industry, and you can see that Rush yet again proves to the world that he won’t let facts get in the way of a good lie.
3. But we can’t have more oil. We can’t have cheaper gasoline prices.
This is a common complaint amongst conservatives: If we just opened up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the U.S. coastline (which Obama has, in fact, done) or processed shale oil, we could rid ourselves of the scourge of being dependent of foreign nations for our energy supplies.
This, of course, is a straw man and ignores the central fact of oil production (and, by extension, gas prices). When the United States or any other country extracts oil and puts in on the market, it doesn’t stay in the country of origin. So no matter how much oil the United States produces (unless we happened to be sitting on oil reserves like Saudi Arabia or Venezuela — the evidence suggests we are not), it wouldn’t lower the price of gas one bit.
Our oil would be swept up into the international oil market, where the prices are still controlled (in large part) by OPEC and speculators on the commodities markets. Extracting more oil wouldn’t bring down gas prices, no matter how much Limbaugh and his friends want it to — and there would be significant environmental dangers instead (as we found out to our own detriment two years ago).
So what have we learned from this, apart from the fact that Senator Al Franken may have been right? We’ve learned that we need to be ever-vigilant as the solar industry, and when people lie about us, we need to fight back — and fight back hard.
I would request that all of you take a minute of your time to email Rush (his email address is the ever-so-modest ElRushbo@EIBnet.com) or post a comment on his Facebook page, letting him know (rationally and politely, please) that the solar industry not only exists, but is alive and well in this country — and we won’t take his lies lying down.
And it makes no mention of the horrible uglyness of the landscape.
1 kW generated by solar costs $0.22-0.30 AFTER SUBSIDIES.
The average price per kilowatt in the US is about $0.11.
Frank 'The Slut' Andorka can horselaugh all he wants at Limbaugh but Rush is right.
Ding Ding Ding.
I’ll bet the mean of actual production isn’t 20% of nameplate capacity.
That's true. If you don't need much electricity and are not dependent on it for survival, solar energy would work just fine for you. Make sure you keep plenty of wood handy for the winter. You'll need something for light and heat. on those clougy days and long nights. :o)
I can quantify that request with three words...zip, zero, nada.
“....these people do not seem to tie economy with ecology....”
.
They DO, they DO! These socialists use ecological arguments in order to justify their destruction of the US economy.
Sheesh people, wake up.
“I have a solar array on my roof. It’s also good at reducing my PG&E bill. A bit.”
How long till your ROI is realized?
Good idea. You should see the comments over on the Solar Power World site. LOL!
WE could control our own energy costs, as opposed to our enemies controlling our costs.
And as a benefit, we wouldn’t be funding our enemies with our hard earned dollars.
March 10, 2012|By Kevin Spear, Orlando Sentinel
The mirror-covered behemoth that constitutes Florida's largest, and one of the nation's most ambitious, ventures into solar energy has been producing a small fraction of the power promised by its owner.
An Orlando Sentinel review of production data on file with state regulators reveals that, during its first year of operation, the Florida Power & Light Co. solar plant in Martin County has not come close to producing enough electricity to meet the demand of 11,000 homes — the output that FPL continues to claim for its one-of-a-kind facility.
Instead, it generated enough power last year for only 2,056 homes, according to the Sentinel's analysis of monthly reports filed by FPL with the Florida Public Service Commission.
This is an excerpt. Full story here:Click for story
BTW - This thing covers 500 acres.
Yes, I’m hella proud of our FReepers who have responded to this dork.
I'm pretty tired of the rest of the world transporting all manners of products around the globe with the satisfied assurance that the US taxpayer is protecting their investment. It's well past time that the US government began assessing other nations for the services of protecting their exports in transit.
>> I’d bet virtually all the growth in the solar industry was due to government(taxpayer) subsidies.
I’d bet you’re right, because I only bet on sure things. :-)
And not US government subsidies either: it was mostly the Germans (and a few other euro countries), and the Canadians.
What’s more, as the subsidies dried up, so did the growth.
It would be funny to remind this clown of the front page of the daily tradeshow rag at Intersolar last year — lamenting the *lack* of real solar business. (Of course they always predict a rosy *future* no matter how bleak is is today, because after all it IS a tradeshow.)
Like the people we buy oil from are delighted with our continued existence now...
Like we’re supposed to believe there is an actual magazine called Solar Power World. (if they exist at all it’s only because Obama has subsidized them)
I'm not an expert (but I stayed at a...). Anyway, OPEC manipulates production. But not just for the money. 1) Opec has a pact that is equivalent to price fixing. They do this in order to dissallow a competitive environment and drive costs down. It sounds like the same thing as keeping costs inflated. It is. But not to get rich, it's more to maintain consistent revenue. Their economies depend on it so they all stick to their agreements. In the US, this is illegal. They call it collusion. But international law is so much nicer (sarc). 2) American and European companies are private and are thus driven by profit and wealth. They'll produce as much as they can and lowball the competition to increase sales. Guess what that does to the members of Opec? In order to have an impact and break Opec, we actually have to start taking business from them, you know like private companies in the USA. 3) The cost of shipping is a part of the expense associated with bringing gas to market. Their is little to no shipping cost from Alaska (pipe). The shipping from the gulf is negiligable. Trucking is cheap (comparitively). Americans become an attractive customer for oil companies because they can sell at the same rate and make more profit. Those buyers switch suppliers and OPEC starts losing customers. Here's the problem with our current situation. We have to produce A LOT MORE OIL to make the difference. And we have the capacity and resources to do so. It's our government that has the plug stuck in our economic engine that is stopping us. The regulations and legal BS won't allow us to move. Drill Baby, Drill! The key is actually profit. Private companies aren't going to have some 2-bit OPEC jackwagon tell them how much to produce and who to sell it to. Suddenly, OPEC will have to start competing for customers. Either they will compete as a group and continue to collude by increasing production and brining prices down, or they will split and compete against each other. Supply and demand works. We just need the millstone cut loose and to let the horse run.
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