Ron wrote: > Of course, some policies such as feed-in-tariffs put the > cost of migrating to green energy on the poor.
The battle around Feed-in tariffs is especially fierce in Germany because Germany has now so much renewable energy that it seriously cuts into the profits of the fossil fuel companies. Due to the "merit order effect", solar electricity keeps electricity prices down during the day when the fossil fuel industry usually made the highest profits with expensive peaking electricity. Feed-in tariffs raise the electricity bills of families by about 4 cents per kWh (Oekostromumlage), but I have seen studies saying that at the same time renewable energy keeps fossil electricity prices down by a similar amount simply because it prevents the fossil fuel generators from charging their exorbitant peak electricity prices. Feed-in tariffs also are sources of income for many private households in Germany, and they have spawned a vibrant renewable energy industry which has created many jobs. The claim that it "puts the cost of migrating to green energy on the poor" is a talking point of the fossil fuel lobby and you will also find it in some economic papers, but many experts disagree with this. Hans G Ehrbar _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
