There are two general aspects to the economic costs of wind energy – the micro aspect of how much wind energy costs, and the macro aspect of what effects higher energy costs have upon the country as a whole. As with most economic topics there’s lots of room for differences of opinions. Sadly, those opinions tend to be more determined by self-interest than any rational thought. One thing is for sure – wind energy is several times more expensive than conventional energy. Anyone who says it is cheaper is flat-out lying to you. Games can get played about who the burden falls upon, but somebody has to pay the extra fare. Given our reliance on cheap energy to support our life-style, the effect of this price rise will be widespread, but in ways that are probably not fully predictable.
References
- Carr Article, a heavyweight’s thoughts on the mindless rush to green energy.
- Tom Adams, another heavyweight’s thoughts on the Carr article.
- Treblicock Letter, a critical look at Ontario’s rush into green energy.
- Mad Max Monbiot provides some interesting commentary on UK foolishness.
- A nice article from the American Thinker. Unfortunately the commentary leans to hate-the-liberals, which just confuses the main issues.
- German Econmonic Impacts (0.5mb), a critical look at the German experience with their renewable energy subsidies.
- CEPOS Report (2.7mb), on Denmark and how the money flows, among other topics.
- London Economics (0.1mb), an summary analysis of the Green Act’s costs and benefits.
- Peter Huber, a well-thought-out analysis of the futility of our pursuit of green energy.
- Spanish study of the effects of public subsidies in renewable energy on jobs.
- Lodge Paper, 0.5mb, a major report from England.
- Moriss Paper, 0.2mb, a study by 4 professors that challenges many of the rosey projections of green jobs.
- Too Good To Be True, 0.1mb, by David White, it presents an analysis of Denmark’s operations.
- Schleede Paper, a good paper on the “True Cost of Electricity from Wind Power”.
- Berkeley Cost 2006 Paper, 2.9mb
- REPP Subsidy Paper, 1.6mb
- Suzuki Energy Paper, 2.4mb
- Utility Wind Integration Group Report, 0.1mb
- CANwea Task Force Report, 1.0mb
- Stelling report, 0.3mb, covers many issues, including costs
- Schleede link on aweo.org
