Solar, and Thanks For All the Fish!

I am writing this primarily with the view of having liberal heads 'splode, so hopefully the rest of you will bear with me: I'm going solar.

That's right! Another conservative who doesn't care a fig about the environment, according to liberals (who are wrong about most other things, too), is going to help save the planet by going green! Hm. It's already starting to sound a little bit like thunder! Anyway, To borrow another one of their memes, I am taking money out of their pockets to pay for it, because I am receiving a (drum roll, please!) government subsidy!

At this point, a few liberals, smug in the warmth and comfort of their tiny little minds, might bleat that I am being "hypocritical" for accepting a "government handout". But the action I am taking is precisely that which this subsidy was designed to produce, i.e. producing more 'green' energy. Will they argue against that which helps save the planet? Argue against those subsidies they concocted and then pushed through the legislature?? Berate me for merely doing what they asked of me??? Besides, most of the "subsidies of corporations" and "tax cuts for the rich" of which they complain, are simply deductions that, allow a person or business to keep a little more of what they themselves make, if they do the things that government proscribes. Remember too, that most of the "loopholes" that demagoguing politicians rail against are those very deductions that they wrote into the law for themselves and their rich friends. We will pause here a moment to consider the dilemma of liberals trying in vain to balance this train of thought, nicely illustrated here:


Greenness, however, you may have guessed, was not the primary motivating purpose of the endeavor. Nor the fact that I am helping out a beleaguered utility company, forced to accept foolish, ever higher quotas for solar energy production by our notoriously wacky California legislature. With the invisible hand gloved in a subsidy, the proposal penciled out pretty well. My monthly payments will be approximately what I have paid for a combined bill of gas and electricity, averaged over the last 24 months. Yet, the solar array will produce a little over twice my annual consumption, or, in layman's terms, 1.21 jiggawatts.


Therefore, it will be visible from outer space.

Producing twice the energy I require (you are welcome, California!) should both offset my gas bill and generate a small profit from the remainder of the buyback. In addition, it is a hedge against the cost of inevitable energy increases for the foreseeable future. Also, I believe it will also add value to my home when it is eventually sold, though again, not in the foreseeable future.

The solar company also provides you with a gizmo where you can monitor the output of the array, so I can sit like Scrooge McDuck on the bags of money in my vault, and actually watch the solar dollars roll in! Plus, it enables me to act upon my dislike of my utility company, (even though I am helping them out), and stop sending them a check every month.

It's good to own your own power company. I'll keep you posted if that should ever change.
Cross posted at LCR

There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch

There was an article in my local dead tree paper a while back which brought that to my mind. In keeping with good journalistic practice, I invited one of the parties quoted to respond to what I thought was a very simple question. Having received no response, I will let you draw your own conclusions, along with me, as to the veracity of those statements.

The story was a "puff piece". It was not part of any breaking story, merely a down home look at the "wizbang, golly jeeper" happenings around our fair city*.

"(Catherine)Kearney's Nissan Leaf is refueled each day while it sits in a parking spot near her desk at the San Joaquin County Office of Education, which recently installed five charging stations for plug-in electric vehicles. They are among the first free public chargers in the county."

There's that "free" word. Now, were I a big city reporter and not just a lowly blogger, I might have asked a few questions. Maybe something along the lines of "Exactly how much did these stations cost?" or "In tough economic times when there are school cutbacks and teacher layoffs, which part of the county Office of Education budget did this come out of?" and, "Was this the best use of your limited resources?"

And, while it is a nice "perk" for Ms. Kearney to have her electric car charged at no cost to her while she is at work, I wondered not only what it cost to install the charging stations, but what the upkeep on them would be? What are the operating costs?

Here the plot really thickens.

The county Office of Education chargers are attached to a new solar array helping to power the complex. So on a sunny day, when Kearney charges her car, that fuel is direct from the sun - rather than some polluting power plant.

On a sunny day, a solar array charges her car without all that nasty, smelly pollution (unless you count the pollution of manufacturing the array, disposing of the toxic waste by products, the energy it took to manufacture, ship and install the solar array. But, why worry about that? It's free lunch time, right?) That would presume that on less than sunny days, her Nissan Leaf is suckling at the teat of some "polluting power plant"... paying for power from Pacific Gas & Electric, with tax dollars, out of the county's education budget.

Maybe the key word is "helping". We teach that to our kindergarteners as a virtue. But,for the math impaired among us...

The $2.5 million (solar array) project was financed mostly through low-interest loans. Energy savings will eventually pay it off, said Barry Scott, the county office energy coordinator.

"Energy savings will eventually pay it off..." Is this like that lottery for stupid people, where you win a million bucks and they promise to pay you a dollar a year for a million years? I pulled one of my PG&E bills at random to see what I'm being charged for electricity. Depending on what percentage of my "baseline" usage it is, it looks like about 12 to 29 cents per kilowatt hour. Let's assume for the moment that charging electric cars pushes the school district to the maximum residential** rate. (If they get a lower rate, the breakeven takes longer.)

Even rounding the rate up to .333/kwh, to make the math simpler, that solar array would have to generate 7.5 million kilowatts of electricity, plus whatever it would take to pay the interest on the "low interest loans". That's 7.5 Billion watts of electricity for the array to "eventually" pay itself off. (At 12 cents/kwh, make that 20 Billion.)

I asked Mr. Scott about "eventually":

"Would you mind sharing details as to exactly what time frame that is, given the projected and actual output of the system and the current and projected savings against the cost of purchasing power from PG&E?"

Mr. Scott declined to answer. And I don't blame him. I have no idea how much power a $2.5 million dollar solar array puts out on a sunny day. Or how many sunny or partly sunny days they base their return. But, given the fact that solar cells have a limited life span, (Nothing lasts forever, not even your free lunch!), I suspect that even assuming a twenty year life, which I believe is overly generous, that solar array would need to produce 375,000 kwh/year to break even on the principle. Add interest, maintenance and repair, and either that is one honking big solar array (possible visible from space) or the free lunch bunch are pursuing a "green" agenda that will likely never pay for itself, (Gee! Just like "high speed rail"!) and hoping that the education system they are administering will produce enough math impaired people, so as not to question their benevolent overlords.

One criticism of today's reporting, and perhaps part of what is causing the decline in dead tree newspapers, is that we have too few real reporters and too many who just rewrite the press releases given to them. I really would have hoped that a reporter, even one assigned to a "puff piece" would have enough curiosity to ask a few questions, do a little analysis of the numbers and dig a deeper than this. Who knows? Maybe there's even a story in there somewhere? *Sigh*

And finally, if enough of your tax dollars weren't being squirreled down the rat hole, the electric chargers are "free" to anyone who wanders by.

Kearney hopes people driving on nearby Highway 99 will stop by and plug in - if not for a complete charge, at least to "top off" for a few minutes. The office has a café, she said with a smile. "They can have a sandwich, get a few electrons and be on their way," Kearney said.

I wonder if the café offers a free lunch as well?





*Not to be confused with a short story by Robert A. Heinlein with the same name.

**The county may get a break on this, but I was growing old waiting for a reply.


Cross posted at LCR, Lady Cincinnatus , Say Anything

Solyndra is an Anagram...

I just realized that "Solyndra" is an anagram...for "Sold Nary".

or Nary Sold...

It's Only a Cover Up if they Catch You, Mr. Obama

There may have been a reason to update future press releases, but to edit press releases issued in the past is flat out dishonest. And with this administration, not all that surprising.

More at Say Anything

Obama: "Kiss of Death" to Yet Another "Green" Company

Remember when Barack Obama told us that "Green" energy was the wave of the future, providing the jobs the economy needed while keeping the air cleaner and enabling us to clone unicorns?? Okay. I may have made that last part up!

But, another company that Obama visited, hyped and funneled large amounts of federal money to, is going belly up. I know! Big surprise!

“Regulatory and policy uncertainties in recent months created significant near-term excess supply and price erosion,” Solyndra's CEO said.

A California-based solar company that received a $535 million loan guarantee from the Obama administration announced Wednesday that it will shut down.

The company, Solyndra Inc., said Wednesday it would suspend its manufacturing operations and lay off 1,100 employees effective immediately. The company said it intends to file a petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

“Regulatory and policy uncertainties in recent months created significant near-term excess supply and price erosion,” Solyndra CEO Brian Harrison said in a statement. “Raising incremental capital in this environment was not possible. This was an unexpected outcome and is most unfortunate.”

Oh, really? "Regulatory and policy uncertainties"? Would those be the regulations and policies generated by the Democrat controlled legislature and governor's mansion, or the would those be the regulations and policies generated by the Democrat controlled Senate and White House?

The mind reels!

Solyndra received the $535 million stimulus loan guarantee from the Energy Department in 2009 to help finance the construction of a new plant to manufacture solar panels.

A half a billion here, a half a billion there...pretty soon it adds up to real money!

What are the odds that the current resident of the White House will take this as a sign that "Green" technologies are not necessarily the engine to drive the economy out of this recession, or do you think he will double down on stupid?

Yeah. Me, too.

H/T Memeorandum

Another "Green" Company Goes Belly Up in the Age of Obama

This time in the land of liberals, Taxachusetts.

Evergreen Solar Inc., the Massachusetts clean-energy company that received millions in state subsidies from the Patrick administration for an ill-fated Bay State factory, has filed for bankruptcy, listing $485.6 million in debt.

Evergreen, which closed its taxpayer-supported Devens factory in March and cut 800 jobs, has been trying to rework its debt for months. The cash-strapped company announced today has sought a reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware and reached a deal with certain note holders to restructure its debt and auction off assets.

Getting a sense of déjà vu yet? Just last month, we heard that an electric car company in Salinas padlocked their doors after half a million dollars from state and local governments.

A month before that, electric car company Think Global AS filed for bankruptcy, too.

Think Global AS plans to liquidate its assets, according to a statement from its exclusive battery supplier, Ener1 Inc.

Ener1, which engineers and makes its batteries in the Indianapolis area at its EnerDel subsidiary, notified investors Wednesday that the company would take a charge of more than $32 million on unpaid loans and accounts receivable from Think Global.

Green cars, batteries for green cars, solar panels...all the industries that people like Obama tout as the hope for American and for jobs seems to be illusory at best. Particularly, after the public money runs out.

In May of 2010, Obama visited Solyndra Solar, in Fremont, California.

President Obama toured the Solyndra plant in Freemont, (sic) Calif. and gave an address before the press and state officials, including California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, outlining his vision for a thriving U.S. alternative energy sector buoyed by government funding.

"The promise of clean energy isn’t just an article of faith,” Obama said, “It’s not just some abstract possibility for science fiction movies or a distant future or 10 years down the road or 20 years, it’s happening right now. The future is here.” – President Obama, speaking at Solyndra Solar.

And just how did that work out, Mr. President? According to Jane Jamison:

Solyndra Solar Panel plant in Fremont, California has wasted a billion dollars, $535 million of those a direct bailout from U.S. taxpayers, and it is going “bust.”

The Solyndra Solar panel plant in Fremont, California served as the convenient “backdrop” for Barack Obama’s “green economy” speeches in California, and other campaigning Democrats.

So, for those of you without a score card, there are two types of "green" energy companies in the Age of Obama: Plants that produce expensive energy and cars no one wants to drive, that are only kept afloat by the massive infusion of government subsidies, and plants that produce expensive energy and cars no one wants to drive, that could not keep their doors open despite a massive infusion of government subsidies.

Got it? Now if only someone in this administration could!

Cross posted at LCR, Say Anything.

Deflation Hits Another Government Program

A $150million U.S. Army airship crash landed in woods today after it could only reach half of its expected altitude on a test flight. The unmanned solar-powered airship was only in the air for less than three hours after it launched in Akron, Ohio, on Wednesday morning. It ascended as planned up to 32,000ft but the Lockheed Martin airship then encountered problems and was not able to get up to 60,000ft.

A hundred and fifty million for a solar powered blimp? I guess all those years of subsidizing the strategic helium reserves has finally paid off!

H/T Support Your Local Gunfighter