Originally Posted by BMWTurboDzl
Originally Posted by JOD
Originally Posted by SubieRubyRoo
Don't get me wrong; I completely believe that there are benefits to "personal" photovoltaic systems if done properly (and not focused on charging your EV as its primary goal)... wiring it so that the system is able to supply the residence during times of grid power loss is great and will prevent much individual suffering and loss. But some of the interconnects make this difficult to impossible. Grid-tied systems do benefit the local power company, and in a small way the end owner (as JeffK has shared his results). Small wind turbines are likely a boost as well, as there is a private one amidst the wind farm on my way to work, and it is always humming away at probably 80-100rpm every time I see it. My problem is with the subsidies/tax breaks and handouts- if a technology is good enough to stand on its own merit, taxpayer dollars should not be required. Is that not the true basis for capitalism? Invent something, make it better and more inexpensively than others, provide a valuable good to the community, and then reap the benefits of your invention?
New technologies should not have to be forcibly implemented at the end of a carrot stick, which is alternately used to tease and terrorize those under it. Technology is about the only place where Darwinism really applies in my head- it should be survival of the fittest, and worthwhile ideas will evolve rapidly on their own until they are truly feasible on their own merits, and the weak ones shall perish and fade on their own.
how do you feel about the 20 billion a year in subsidies to the fossil fuel industry? (and that's a conservative estimate--which doesn't even touch the military budget used in part to assure stable oil supply from the middle east).
When you're talking about something the scale of energy production and transportation, it seems that governments can accomplish some things that even the largest company can't on its own. It seems like public/private partnerships have some value here.
This is a complex subject but the "20B in subsidies" are not really directly related to oil imports because he US imports almost no oil from the ME. In actuality the subsidies make everything we buy in the US cheaper than it otherwise would be.
Basically without US dollar hegemony everything we buy would be more expensive, whether that be solar panels, EV's, ICE vehicles, etc. etc. Basically the rest of the world finances
New technologies should not have to be forcibly implemented at the end of a carrot stick, which is alternately used to tease and terrorize those under it
Based on his response he fully supports a $20 billion dollar oil subsidy since oil is a corporate legacy product but fully opposes the $200 million dollar EV credit because its new and benefits individuals and not corporations
I guess why do we need an oil subsidy any more than an EV subsidy, non-market is non-market and one dwarfs the other
What's more amusing is that there really isn't an EV tax credit when the state taxes the living $$$$ out of a plug in every year,
$665 title + registration vrs $85 which do you choose?
And there is talk of doubling it again, your $7500 loan will get paid back in no time.
Then we have the $1 a gallon biodiesel subsidy that came out of the EV credit fund, good trade.