Between 2010 and 2013, the American taxpayer spent a lot of green to fund green renewable energy under the Obama administration.
A new report from the
Energy Information Administration (EIA) found that spending on green energy sources — chiefly wind and solar power — nearly doubled, from $4.5 billion to $8.2 billion, during those two years, while tax subsidies rose from $1.9 billion to $3.8 billion during the same time period, the report states.
This occurred despite overall energy subsidies dropping by 25 percent between 2010-2013, from $38 billion in 2010 to $29 billion,
the Daily Caller reports.
"Green energy subsidies have played a key role in Obama's efforts to curb U.S. carbon dioxide emissions to build support for an international agreement on global warming. Aside from piling on regulations on fossil fuel combustion, the administration has spent billions of taxpayer dollars to help green energy companies," the Daily Caller notes.
However, solar and wind power make up only 4.36 percent of the U.S. energy needs, the EIA report states, while, according to the Daily Caller, "solar and wind power have been at the backbone of Obama's effort to push green energy production. Both of these energy sources have received loan guarantees, tax subsidies and grants to make them more mainstream."
The push is on to have wind power replace much of the retiring coal-fired and other electrical generating plants, but the Electronic Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) warns that the switch likely will result in lowered electrical capability, because wind and solar power, which vary with changes in the weather, are not consistently dependable.
"The anticipated retirement of up to half of the existing coal capacity in the ERCOT region will pose challenges to reliable operation of the grid in replacing the dispatchable generation capacity and reliability services provided by these resources,"
ERCOT warned in an analysis last year.
"Integrating new wind and solar resources will increase the challenges of reliably operating all resources, and pose costs to procure additional regulating services, improve forecast accuracy, and address system inertia issues."
Other Obama administration energy initiatives have failed, such as A123, a company making batteries for electric cars, bankrupt after receiving a $249 million stimulus grant, solar firms Solyndra and Abound Solar, energy company Beacon Power and battery firm Ener1,
The Washington Post reported in 2012.
ERCOT warns that electricity costs could rise by 20 percent by 2020, the Daily Caller reports.
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