Blaze Spinnaker <[email protected]> wrote:
> We need to be installing these solar panels without subsidies (and > including all install costs, labor etc) and still paying less than general > utility fees over 10 years or so. > I would agree to the no subsidy plan, but only after we level the playing field: 1. We stop subsidizing coal, oil and nuclear power. Oil subsidies should include a large fraction of the cost of wars in the middle east. 2. We start reimbursing the families of people disabled and killed by coal smoke particulates. I would say $1 million per death, and $100,000 for each disabled person. That would add about $30 billion to the cost of coal-fired electricity. Right now the power companies pay nothing to the victims. They literally get away with murder. 3. We factor in the likely future cost of global warming, to start paying it down now. That is likely to be trillions per year. A modest $100 billion surcharge on gas and coal would begin to address it. 4. We repeal the Price Anderson act. That means nuclear plants would have to shop for accident insurance. Under this act, they are protected against lawsuits. Uncle Sam pays the victims of a nuclear disaster. Removing this protection will probably make nuclear power uninsurable and untenable. It will certainly make it far more expensive than the alternatives, given the accidents at TMI and Fukushima. After we implement these reforms, I am confident that wind and solar will be cheaper by far than these other energy sources, and will need no subsidies. In short, we should let the free market work its magic. There is no chance these policies will be implemented. Conservatives would fight them tooth and nail. - Jed
