Rematog wrote: Regarding “pushing” alternative energy. I recently heard a very knowledgeable person who works for a company that owns a large amount of wind energy generating capacity in West Texas speak. When asked about effect of price of electrical power on future of wind power, he indicated that it was not very sensitive to the price, as only 30% of the “revenues” from the project were from electrical sales, the rest being tax credits, incentives, accelerated depreciation, etc.

He also commented that the wind energy field was booming, causing an upward pressure on prices for new wind turbines, as manufactures are having trouble keeping up with demand.

I’d say we are pushing that type of alternate energy as hard as is reasonable, maybe a little bit harder.

By the way, since it’s beginnings, wind energy has mainly been driven by tax incentives, not the value of the energy actually generated. In the very early ninties, I heard a speaker state that wind farms in California could generate a “profit” with zero energy sales. That was how great the tax incentives there were at that time.

Yes, incentives are meant to nurture weak options till they become strong enough to stand on their own, but the beneficiaries would generally rather loll along in the slow lane as long as possible because the money is so much easier. It’s only when some individual contendah finds a way to truly profit from wide open sales that the rest are willing to forgo the incentives and other free money.