Amid Solar Bankruptcies And Red Ink – David Suzuki Insists Solar Power “Is Free, Man, It’s Free!”

Amid all the solar bankruptcies and exorbitant subsidies being paid out and causing electricity rates to skyrocket, see previous post, here’s hippie David Suzuki in the following video (3 min. mark) insisting “It’s free, man, it’s free!”

With idiots like that advising governments, we’re not surprised everything is going bankrupt.

It may be an alternative, but it’s lightyears from being free. Just ask the poor people in Germany.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,810370,00.html

 

35 responses to “Amid Solar Bankruptcies And Red Ink – David Suzuki Insists Solar Power “Is Free, Man, It’s Free!””

  1. nofreewind

    When I take the cost of a solar farm, amortize it over 25 years and then divide by the expected output of kWhrs I always come up with about 40 cents per kWhr. That compared to generation costs of a bout 6-8 cents which we pay here in Pennsylvania/USA. So it is FREE, but only about 5x expensive. It’s actually more than that, because if you are on the grid, you are still paying for all the capital costs of the generation and grid structure you need when the sun isn’t shining. It’s about 10x more expensive than traditional. Now, no one actually pays this. ALL of the countries, simply add much of this cost to our debt and figure we’ll let our children worry about paying later for our folly now.

  2. BargHumer

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OwIo05nsNA
    You might be interested in the attitude that follows failure in this business. See this from Solyndra.

  3. Ike

    ot/

    This is nice to read:

    “Da der Klimawandel die Häufigkeit der zentralpazifischen El Niños wahrscheinlich erhöhen wird, könnte auch die Wahrscheinlichkeit für kalte Winter in Europa steigen, schreiben die Autoren.”

    http://www.focus.de/wissen/wissenschaft/meteorologie/tid-24832/wetter-achterbahn-warum-das-winterwetter-so-verrueckt-spielt_aid_704597.html

    1. DirkH

      The authors assume that climate change will increase the frequency of “central pacific El Niños” (El Niño Modoki) .

      But it doesn’t look at all like that. All the ENSO indices stay negative.

      http://wattsupwiththat.com/reference-pages/enso/

      So they’re wrong. and Der Focus is wrong.

  4. Larry Sheldon

    My opinion of Mike Holmes has been irreparably damaged.

    1. George Alexander

      My sentiments exactly.

  5. Climate Capers | Cranky Old Crow

    […] Amid Solar Bankruptcies And Red Ink – David Suzuki Insists Solar Power “Is Free, Man, It’s Fre… from NoTricksZone by P Gosselin […]

  6. DirkH

    I wanted to see whether the German Greens still support the ill-fated German energy market distortion. Yes they do. From the solar lobby, utterances from a German Green, the “speaker” for renewable energies of the German Watermelons :
    http://www.solarserver.de/solar-magazin/nachrichten/aktuelles/2012/kw03/gruenen-sprecher-fell-roesler-will-das-erneuerbare-energien-gesetz-abschaffen.html

    He continues the meme that it creates hundreds of thousands of jobs.

    By now, I have not once seen the counterargument that a redistributive scheme must by definition kill more jobs than it creates as it re-allocates money from where it produces the most value to a less efficient activity; and that re-inforces my impression that all German journalists including Handelsblatt are useless morons with less than half a brain.

  7. kramer

    I liked this comment of Suzuki’s from the video:

    “The thing about sunlight that’s wonderful, is that every country in the world has access to the sun, so it’s not a matter of a few rich countries that happen to have a few big deposits of coal or oil, now this is about equity, all the countries have access to this.”

    Equity, justice, equalization of all economies, and a redistribution of wealth from the North to the South is to me, what AGW (Apportion Global Wealth???) is all about. Oh and I forgot to add its also about the control of the people as well as control of all natural resources by some supranational agency run by czars, wizards, or whatever…

  8. matti

    Yes I agree the video participants are making totally false or incomplete statements. Nothing is free when it comes to energy production and delivery, except the sunshine itself , but the man who supplies the solar panels free mentioned that he gets paid by a FIT price by the Ontario government . This is as I understand it is a “feed-in tariff “compensaton of about 80 cents per kilowatthour in Ontario. The consumer pays about 6-7 cents per kilowatthour when he buys any power for his home depending on the time of day he takes it.. So the government of Ontario picks up the difference and then charges back to the consumers at ever rapidly rising higher electricty rates which are now doubling in Ontario. In Ontario subsisdies for wind green energies are estimated to go up to 8 billion $’s in 20 years. I don’t know how much the total bill is for subsisdies for solar. Ontario government is having serioud deficit problems and some of these subsisdis will have to be cut or they will bankrupt the province . Now where have we heard this story before ?

  9. matti

    Pierre
    Pierre
    My understanding is that this Ontario green plan was conceivd and blessed by a German specialist and also consulted with and blessed by David Suzuki . The Premier used this message during the last election where he lost his majority government . All subsidies are now under review with the new minority government and the betting is that the subsidies will have to be drastically reduced as they have serious deficit problem now in Ontario. Apparently the Premier entered into agreements or contracts with these foreign green energy equipment suppliers completely in secret not involving the normal government proces and review and did not do any normal justification or evaluation analysis of alternative options . These green supporters and green parties have no concept of financial accountability or responsibilty. They can totally bankrupt a nation, province or local municipality if left to their own devices . This waste has been happening all over the free world .

  10. matti

    Pierre

    Here is news clipping from the Hamilton Spec that expands on what I said earlier

    http://www.thespec.com/opinion/article/619065–energy-file-a-challenge-for-bentley

  11. matti

    This article points out the discrepency between the video participants claiming free solar energy and the reality of what is really is happening and which the video fails to mention ,the smoke and mirror solar energy costs us a lot more than we realize.

    http://www.thespec.com/opinion/editorial/article/641122–mcguinty-must-fix-costly-flaws-in-the-green-energy-act

  12. matti

    Here are the real facts about “free “solar energy
    http://www.yourhome.ca/homes/articlePrint/777492

  13. matti

    In the video itwas mentioned that each homeowner who installs solar panels will receive up $ 1200 per year for 20 years . On the surface that may look attractive but if your purchased hydro bill doubles in cost because of the FIT subsidies paid by the government[ 80 cents per kWh] and charged back to the consumer in higher hydro bills , the owner will have gained nothing .

    The typical home[US in 2010] uses 920 kWh per month or 11,o40 kWh per year . The average cost is $103 per month or $1236 per year. So if this cost doubles because of green energy subsidies your $1200 revenue is quickly wiped out .

    If you have bigger home say 1600-2000 sq ft , your power usage would probably be closer to 1500 kWh/month and your monthly bill would be clser to $ 200/month or $2400 per year and your costs would be $1200 more a year even with the $1200 paid to you annually

    It is a devious game, this free solar energy game . We are asked to pay for all this extra energy cost to solve a greenhouse gas problem that does not even exist as global temperatures have now been flat for 10-14 years in North America

    1. DirkH

      The German wikipedia has a surprising bit of information – surprising because I thought they would keep stuff like this under the rug.
      http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erntefaktor

      Energy payback time for PV (in southern Germany): 7 years.
      Modern gas power plant: 9 days.
      Nuclear power plant: 2 months.

      Given that life expectancy of a PV installation is about 20 years, you get an EROEI of about 3. In the past of human civilization, cultures collapsed when the EROEI dropped below 3. 😉

      PV – the great exterminator.

      Ok, I’m being sarcastic; if they can bring down the energy needed for production it becomes more viable; placing it nearer to the equator also helps.

  14. Ulrich Elkmann

    Or you could erect these PV arrays on Venus – so much closer to the Sun … and the whole investment couldn’t be that much costlier. Of course, you would have to sell the idea first. I wonder if anybody in the Green business learned something from The Space Merchants?
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Space_Merchants
    http://pulparchive.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Galaxy_06-52-tammy.jpg

    1. DirkH

      Pohl was a socialist. His future Earth was generally identical with Ehrlich’s ideas; overpopulation and pollution being his dearest ideas. Well, maybe Ehrlich got his ideas from Pohl.

      “During 1936, Pohl joined the Young Communist League ”
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederik_Pohl

      In “merchants”, he describes corporations selling addictive food to maintain their profits; would he have decried the current crop of PV rent seekers as greedy bastards or as planet-savers? Probably the first; he had only negative visions, not positive ones, so he would have seen the negative aspects first.

      Basically he had the same dystopian ideas as Günther Schwab, the father of CAGW.
      http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%BCnther_Schwab

      1. DirkH

        Excerpt from Schwab’s “Dance with the Devil”:
        “If the present rate of industrializa­tion continues,
        then in a hundred years’ time the air will contain twice the present quantity of carbon dioxide.”

        “And what do you expect from that?” asked Sten.

        “A great many kinds of plants that are necessary for human life will simply die out.
        There will be more sickness, both for man and beast; harvests will grow smaller,
        and the quality of food will deteriorate. The carbon dioxide in the air will absorb
        and hold fast the warmth given out by the earth. This will cause the climate to become milder
        and the Polar ice will begin to thaw. As a result,
        there will be a rise in the level of the ocean and whole continents will be flooded.”

        The Devil turned to his visitors. “As you can see, we are ensuring that the seeds of Death
        in the air will be in plentiful supply.””

        Maybe Hansen read it when he was a boy.

  15. Ulrich Elkmann

    Most of the ideas in “Merchants” seem to come from Kornbluth: he had the really mean streak (just take a look at “The Marching Morons”). With the “Futurians” – Pohl, Donald Wohlheim, but not Asimov – being a Communist in the 30s was a rebellious vicious fad – paralleling the K-Groups of the 1970s; as editors and literary agents, they proved to be as nastily Capitalist later on as you please. Pohl’s bugbear was always “overpopulation” – in that, he always was a dyed-in-the-wool Malthusian; I suspect he still is (he is still blogging at 92 – and he “updated” “Merchants” last year in a way of which the less said the better):
    http://www.thewaythefutureblogs.com/2012/01/newt-gringrich-as-was/

    1. DirkH

      If I’ve ever seen a boilerplate leftist blog it’s his. Look at the posts about OWS and anything to do with class warfare.

  16. matti

    The attached source shows the cost of producing electricity via various means . The so called David Suzuki “free energy “or solar pv is the third most expensive way of producing electricity . Only solar thermal and wind offshore cost more. So we are subsidizing the most expensive methods of producing electricity to solve a greenhouse gas problem that does not even exist today . You go and figure . This is not saving the planet . To me it seem more like taking money from the ordinary Canadians to bank roll special interest groups .

    http://205.254.135.24/oiaf/aeo/electricity_generation.html

  17. DirkH

    Funny thread on dailykos (American leftist blog)
    http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/01/24/1058100/-AWESOME-News-on-the-Solar-Power-front!

    Poster falls all over himself describing a solar rooftop project in a school. Commenters fall all over themselves wishing they could have Germany’s energy policy in the US.

    Remember: these are LEFTISTS – they are supposed to be for equality. Not one of them notices the ultrahigh electricity prices in Germany and the degressive effect it has.

    They really can’t think one step ahead.

    1. Ed Caryl

      They can’t think.
      They read the Daily Kos every morning to get their marching orders.

  18. Neil Wilkin

    Question: The OPA consistently has to purchase electricity for the province of Ontario from Ohio and other US producers at peak times. They routinely must pay spot prices well over $2.00 per kW/h. Given that 95% of the new solar inputs onto the Ontario domestic grid occur precisely at these peak demand moments and are available at an average of .46 cents per kW/h, do you not think this is a sensible alternative to expensive importation?
    This forum seems suspiciously anti-solar without any economic basis.

    1. DirkH

      What, there’s a moment during the day where solar power makes economic sense? Now that’s a surprise! I have to find out more about how solar power saves the Canadian ratepayer from price increases…
      http://opinion.financialpost.com/2012/03/22/ontarios-power-trip-not-a-fit-review/

      Looks like a hockey stick.

    2. DirkH

      Neil, why is there a FIT in Ontario when your economic analysis says that it’s not necessary? And, you say solar power is available at .46 cents per kW/h – what does that mean? Is the owner of a solar plant paid 0.46 Canadian cents per kWh? It’s kWh, not kW/h, BTW, look it up. kW/h makes no sense. Don’t confuse it with km/h.

  19. Neil Wilkin

    Singling out OPA’s solar purchasing budget as the core driver behind escalating consumer rates, is misleading and naive. It’s politically expedient for the opposition party in Ontario, while at the same time, keeps the special interests of existing energy suppliers to the province at the fore. The endless criticism of Ontario’s solar program in multiple conservative newspapers and talk radio shows is occurring not out of journalistic timeliness, but because there are millions of lobbying dollars being spent each month to try and kill public support for renewables in this province. The Canadian Petroleum Producers Association appear to be leading much of the public “perception management” campaign underway in Ontario, but alongside them are The Power Workers Union, The American Coal Industry and a handful of Natural Gas and Nuclear Power proponents. Given how extraordinarily miniscule the solar component of Ontario’s current energy diet is, these attempts to demonize the sector are largely pre-emptive and an indication how worried certain groups are about the status quo being altered out of their favour.

    1. DirkH

      You didn’t answer my question. Why is a FIT necessary if according to your “economic analysis” solar is already economically viable?

      Let me guess. You’re a Canadian solar crony fighting for his privilegues. You’re not good with numbers or physical units. You wouldn’t know whether an energy technology is viable if it bit you in the nose. Happy going under in the real world.

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