Monday, February 28, 2011

The Wages Of Green

Britain is about 5 to 10 years further on than the U.S. in the insane push for green energy. Besides putting their economy on the path to destruction with outrageous prices for inefficient, highly subsidized energy, the push is, according to British economists, costing 3.7 jobs for every one job it creates. This from the BBC:

Government support for the renewable sector in Scotland is costing more jobs than it creates, a report has claimed.

A study by consultants Verso Economics found there was a negative impact from the policy to promote the industry.

It said 3.7 jobs were lost for every one created in the UK as a whole and that political leaders needed to engage in "honest debate" about the issue. . . .

The report, called Worth the Candle? The economic impact of renewable energy policy in Scotland and the UK, said the industry in Scotland benefited from an annual transfer of about £330m from taxpayers and consumers elsewhere in the UK.

It said politicians needed to recognise the economic and environmental costs of support for the sector and focus more on the scientific and technical issues that arose.

Richard Marsh, research director of Verso Economics and co-author of the report, said: "There's a big emphasis in Scotland on the economic opportunity of investing in renewable energy.

"Whatever the environmental merits, we have shown that the case for green jobs just doesn't stack up."

Co-author Tom Miers added: "The Scottish renewables sector is very reliant on subsidies from the rest of the UK.

"Without this UK-wide framework, it would be very difficult to sustain the main policy tools used to promote this industry. . . ."

The Executive Summary of the report is here. The BBC, which has made an industry of global warming alarmism, actually reports this story in order to attack it, as noted at Biased BBC. Be that as it may, this report comports with reports from both Spain and Germany, showing that this insane push into green energy negatively impacts both jobs and the economy. Germany has recognized this and has resumed building coal fired power plants. Spain, upon whom Obama modeled his push into green energy, touting its employment benefits, is an economic basket case teetering on national bankruptcy. Nonetheless, Obama is pushing us down this same path at break-neck speed, between massive subsidies for green energy and his extra-constitutional assault on our energy infrastructure and domestic production of coal and oil. If he wins reelection in 2012, our nation will likely never recover, at least during our lifetime.

5 comments:

Ex-Dissident said...

Maybe something good can emerge from the ashes.

William Stout said...

It is well known that the green economy is a job killer. For each new green job created 2 to 4 people are put out of work. Green energy is inefficient, unreliable, and expensive. Three qualities that do not bode well for a troubled economy. But since green is the new red, we have to have it and the apparatchiks are pushing it as hard as they can. Whatever happened to good old American common sense

Lisa G in NZ said...

good post!

nothing will change in the USA until current usurper is either ousted or when new potus starts in 2013...

it will be along wait

until then, be safe, smart and protect your own family from the infiltrator's march of communism

Ian R Thorpe said...

Thanks largely to the efforts of libertarian bloggers the British public are waking up to the realities of 'renewable' power. It is not reliable and it is not very clean.
As the planet cannot make oil, gas and coal as fast as we can consume it we need nuclear power, which in terms of deaths per terawatt generated is also much safer than coal or oil despite what the scaremongers say. I have not yet heard of any deaths related to renewables but the amount of power we really get from them is negligable.
To eliminate all risks from electricity generation we would have to return to a medieval 'cow dung' economy.

OBloodyHell said...

The [British] Empire Strikes Out:

"The era of reliable electricity is over".