NC Media Watch

Prop 23 Update: Green Job Explosion a Pipe Dream

Russ Steele

During the Prop 23 debate our local left told us that an explosion of green job were going to bring California out of the recession and voting for Prop 23 was going to destroy that dream of green wealth. Now reality has set in and the pipe dream has exploded, and even the über-liberal New York Times has taken notice.

In the Bay Area as in much of the country, the green economy is not proving to be the job-creation engine that many politicians envisioned. President Obama once pledged to create five million green jobs over 10 years. Gov. Jerry Brown promised 500,000 clean-technology jobs statewide by the end of the decade. But the results so far suggest such numbers are a pipe dream.

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A study released in July by the non-partisan Brookings Institution found clean-technology jobs accounted for just 2 percent of employment nationwide and only slightly more — 2.2 percent — in Silicon Valley. Rather than adding jobs, the study found, the sector actually lost 492 positions from 2003 to 2010 in the South Bay, where the unemployment rate in June was 10.5 percent.

Federal and state efforts to stimulate creation of green jobs have largely failed, government records show. Two years after it was awarded $186 million in federal stimulus money to weatherize drafty homes, California has spent only a little over half that sum and has so far created the equivalent of just 538 full-time jobs in the last quarter, according to the State Department of Community Services and Development.

The weatherization program was initially delayed for seven months while the federal Department of Labor determined prevailing wage standards for the industry. Even after that issue was resolved, the program never really caught on as homeowners balked at the upfront costs.

Oh my, now what?  We told our local lefties, who were supporting the full implimentation of AB-32, that going green would be a job killer.  It did in Spain, which was often cited as a model for California to follow by our former RINO Governor. As the study demonstrated,  "Rather than adding jobs, the study found, the sector actually lost 492 positions from 2003 to 2010 in the South Bay, where the unemployment rate in June was 10.5 percent."

Exit Question:  How are we going to recover from this lefty driven green pipe dream?

PG&E and SmartAC - - Reading the fine print

Russ Steele

The good folks at PG&E have sent us yet again another offer to join their SmartAC program, so I can help the citizens of California keep over 84,000 homes powered up in the event of an a supply emergency.  They are offering a $50.00 reward if we let them control my AC power.  According to PG&E over 145,000 customers have already accepted their bribe.

Here are some the benefits of the SmartAC program:

• PG&E will install the control device -  No indications what the charges will be.

• The device will control the power to the compressor - just hold open the relay for a while, what could possibly go wrong?

• We get to control the thermostat, but they control the compressor- house will never warm more than 4 degrees, well maybe it all depends says the small print.   

• Control event will not last more than six hours - really,  who determines which six hours if we are having a Texas hot spell lasting 30 days above 80 degrees at night?

• I can decline to participate on a day to day basis with out penalty says the letter - unless there is a real extreme emergency says the small print.

Bottom line, read the small print in this offer, as there very few advantages for the home owner and a desperate need for PG&E to control the load when they are totally dependent on 33% renewable power. They have no control over when the wind blows and clouds roll over the solar farms, or the out of state distribution grid crashes. They are desperate to control the load, to control your AC.

 My solution, return the empy form. I can do with out the $50.00, and welcome the peace of mind that I am in control of our AC. 

 

 

Yet again, another green business throws in the towel

Russ Steele

Here is another green business that cannot succeed in the US.

Solar module manufacturer Solon Corp will lay off 60 local workers as it shuts down its production facility in Tucson, the company said Monday. Solon, part of German-based Solon SE, said it will seek lower-cost sources of solar modules for utility and commercial photovoltaic systems in Asia.

Tucson Sentinel, 15 August 2011

Obama promise of green jobs was more rhetoric than reality.

Prop 23 Update: Oh No! Not another Green Company down the tubes

Russ Steele

Another one of Obama's green pets files for bankruptcy.  Details in the Boston Herald here.

Evergreen Solar Inc., the Marlboro clean-energy company that received millions in state subsidies to build an ill-fated Bay State factory, has filed for bankruptcy.

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

Now you can see why investors are turning way from renewable energy.  These companies are build on a soft government subside foundation, a foundation that is crumbling in real time while we watch.  Run Bertha, Run

Prop 23 Update: Renewable Energy Money Pit is Almost Empty

Russ Steele

During the Prop 23 vs AB-32 debate conservative bloggers warned the once the subsidies ran out the corporate interest in wind and solar would decline and than vanish. This morning P. Gosslin at The NoTricksZone blog has a English tranlation of a German language article in the German Technology Review.

The article starts with this introduction:

Companies of the finance-intense sector of renewable energy are getting their supply of cash cut off. Investors are opting for lower risk projects.

Gosslin's post continues: 

Almost everywhere globally governments are scaling back programs that support renewable energies.”
And so it’s only normal that venture capital companies are now opting out. Investment strategies are changing. Technology Review writes:

Germany, Italy and Spain are reducing subsidies, in America the money from the 2009 stimulus package is slowly running out.”

According to Technology Review, people want quicker returns and less risk. Well who doesn’t? Technology Review writes:

During the last years many finance companies began, however, to invest in long-term projects with high capital requirements. That only worked mainly because they were able to expect subsidies from the state. Thus hundreds of millions flowed into start-ups in solar technology, which first had to build expensive plants to get the technology ripe for the market. The profits came later, if at all.”

Now the state subsidies are shrinking and new startups will have little chance of competing against the already established companies – too risky. The bubble has nowhere to go but to implode. So watch the politicians soon scramble and start blaming “speculators” and “greedy finance companies” for the mess they themselves created, and then start calling for more financial regulation.

It is no wonder that Al Gore has "gone postal" his dream of huge profits have collapsed along with the flight of investors. We warned this would happend, but the proponents of AB-32 assured voters that it would not happen.  Now what?  Obama is killing coal power, the EPA is trying to stop the development of shale gas with the banning of proven drilling techniques, and now investors are running from renewables. One has to ask, What Now? 

An Essay on Posh Anti-Capitalism

Russ Steele

When in came to countering global warming in California, our former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger often exhorted Californian's to observe the British model.  A model that has not worked out well in England.

Martin Durkin a British documentary film director and TV producer has launched a blog to look at the politics of global warming in the UK.  Martin was recently given the Free Enterprise Award by the Institute of Economic Affairs. Previous winners include F.A. Hayek and Margaret Thatcher. 

Here is the introduction to his latest blog essay: The Secret of Global Warming - Posh Anti-Capitalism

Poor Al Gore.   Global warming is fast turning into a joke.  From the jolly Hockey Stick (remember that one) to the topsy-turvy ice core data (what a howler), from the laughable computer models, to the dodgy temperature records … not a single scrap of global warming garbage has escaped the blistering, excoriating scrutiny of McIntyre, Lindzen, Christy, Spencer, Singer, Carter & Co.  The awkward-squad army of sceptics have kicked and trampled this theory to death, not once, but a hundred times over.  

And yet, for all the onslaught of reasoned, scientific argument, the global warming beast refuses to lie down.  Like some beleagured, maniac cyborg from the future, it just goes on and on.  We all know the reason.  The edifice of global warming is built not on science, but politics.

But what kind of politics?  This is the first in a series of blog pieces to explore the green politics behind global warming .....

The next time you’re forced to attend a dinner party, keep an eye out for the global warmer.  Then ask him what he thinks about supermarkets (wicked), ‘consumer society’ (soulless), world trade (cruel) and government regulation (more needed).  Global warmers are, in short, anti-capitalist.  But – and here’s the really important thing to understand – it’s a very specific form of anti-capitalism.  We might call it posh anti-capitalism.

You can read the rest of Durkin's essay here.  My question is, are the promoters of posh anti-capitalism California?  Is the sustainability crowd in Nevada City just promoting posh anti-capitalism? 

Oh Crap, we are doomed by climate change acording to the NRDC.

Russ Steele

According to KQED Climate Watch:

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) released an interactive tool today that maps climate-related health risks across the country, including extreme heat, poor air quality, drought, flooding, and infectious diseases. The maps present a snapshot of current health vulnerabilities using recent data at the state and county levels.

I typed in my zip code, and discovered that we highly vunerable to 20 days of extream high flow by the water shed, but less than 15 days of drought,  no vulnerability to Dengue Fever, and only 9 to 13 days of more that expected extream heat, but oh my god and more than one day of unhealthy ozone exposure.

All this scary crap is brought to you by the NRDC here, Type in your own zip code and get scared.

Exit question: Do you feel that climate change is a threat to your health? Really? Why?

Windmills slaughter almost half a million birds every year

Russ Steele

I have written about these eagle shredders before, and our environmentalist left just keeps ignoring the issue. Meeting the Democrats mandated 33% renewable energy is more important than saving the birds from destruction. The Polipundit has this post:

According to Louis Sahagun at the L.A. Times, windmill farms have been decimating bird and bat populations nationwide for over a decade.

Nationwide, about 440,000 birds are killed at windfarms each year, according to the (Federal) Wildlife Service.

Finally federal Fish and Wildlife Services authorities are investigating the deaths of golden eagles at the Pine Tree Wind Project in the Tehachapi Mountains outside Los Angeles. Unlike the logging industry in the Pacific Northwest, whose activities were seriously curtailed to protect the spotted owl, or the Alaskan oil pipeline, whose construction was delayed by the propaganda generated by the New York Times in the interest of protecting caribou herds, environmentalist wackos have remained silent about the slaughter of birds by dangerous and unproductive windmill farms.

Wind farms have been killing birds for decades and law enforcement has done nothing about it, so this investigation is long overdue (said Shawn Smallwood, an expert in on raptor ecology and wind farms.) Its going to ruffle wind industry feathers across the country.

Golden eagles are big birds, weighing up to 40 pounds and their large size and wing speed make it difficult for them to navigate amongst wind turbine blades spinning at up to 200 mph, especially when in pursuit of prey. 6 golden eagle deaths have been reported at Pine Tree and an average of 67 golden eagle deaths annually are reported at the larger Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area in Northern California. All told, it is estimated that 1,595 birds die each year at the Pine Tree Wind Project.

Local authorities seem inclined to downplay or disregard the deaths as they seek to reach Los Angeles’s goal of 35% of its energy generated by renewables by 2020.

Exit question: Why are the environmentalist interested in saving the spotted owl,  but not the golden eagles?

Oppose clean energy and you will be crushed by Jerry Brown

Russ Steele

In April of this year Governor Brown signed legislation requiring the states utilities to obtain one third of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020.  This is huge challenge given the need for these renewable projects to go through the CEQA process and deal with all the environmentalist organizations who are opposed to turning large segments of pristine desert into solar farms and the building of high tension distribution networks to deliver the power from the desert collection sites to where it is needed. These organizations are creating friction to the rapid roll out of the solar farms and transmission networks and Governor Brown is growing anxious. 

The Sac Bee Capitol Alert has the story: Jerry Brown pledges to 'crush' opposition to clean energy

Gov. Jerry Brown said this morning that his administration will "crush" efforts to block renewable energy projects in California, intervening in local disputes to overcome opposition.

"In Oakland, I learned that some kind of opposition you have to crush," Brown, the city's former mayor, said at a renewable energy conference in Los Angeles. "Talk a little bit, but at the end of the day you have to move forward, and California needs to move forward with our renewable energy."

ooo

Brown took a shot at Texas, saying that "whatever amount of oil they have over there in Texas, we have a hell of a lot more sun right here in California." Brown said "oil is just a bunch of fossilized vegetation that over time has become rather valuable."

The sun, he said, is more abundant and powerful.

"At the end of the day, it's more secure, more sustainable," he said. "It's more Californian, more American."

Brown's plans for renewable energy range from putting solar panels along state highways to fast-tracking permits for renewable energy projects. [editor's emphasis added]

Wow, that is just what California needs -- more visual clutter along our scenic highways.  Solar panel roadside clutter to go along with the bird shredders on the ridge tops,  creating a stunning memorial to Democratic stupidity.

The Democrats are determine to turn California is to a visual eyesore to save the planet from global warming. Warming that has vanished over the last 15 years. Scientist are telling us that sun is going quiet, and the last time that happened the earth cooled. And, it will again.  California will be left with an eyesore collection of ineffective renewable energy that can not keep up with the demand to keep people warm during frigid winters.  Days are shorter and there are more clouds in the winter. We are creating a man made disaster.  If you oppose it, Jerry Brown will crush you! 

Another green company bumps into economic reality

Russ Steele

The city of Salinas invested $534,000 in a company called Green Vehicles Inc. to get the city into the high-tech car manufacturing business.

Green Vehicles founder and president Mike Ryan announced Monday that the company had collapsed, and was closing the companies operation at the old Firestone Tire & Rubber business park in East Salinas. It appears they had not paid the rent for months.

Ryan had promised Salinas city officials that the company would generate some 70 new jobs and that it would pump an estimated $700,000 in sales tax revenues into city coffers annually. However, reality over came the promises.

Reason for the collapse?  Green Vehicles ran out of other people money. In addition to the grants from the the City of Salinas, they received  nearly $2.8 million from California Energy Commission,  but could never get any investors to match this funding.