Saturday, November 12, 2011

Government Subsidies for Energy

My business is booming. The companies I work for supplying energy to utility companies that are responding to state mandates for renewable energy. Renewable energy is generally considered to be wind, solar, tidal, geothermal, and biomass. There are others, but they are pretty minor.

An article in the Seattle Times today talked about the crazy way government subsidies have screwed up the energy business when it comes to things like solar energy in California. A $1.6 billion project to install solar panes has been installed, and this will serve some 100,000 homes. That is a trival amount of power for so much money expended. Not to mention that fact that it doesn't help them at night!

I have a series of project sactive in CA just now to convert coal power plants to biomass. Just to mention it in passing, coal is cheap, abundant, and available. Still, coal is OUT for the USA, and biomass in IN.

Anohter segment of my business is in building ship loaders at ports. That part is booming, too. I'm working on bidding a coal loading facility in Louisiana currently. I don't know where the coal will come from, specifically, but I beleive it will come down the Mississippi River from Ohio, Kentucky, Missouri, and elsewhere. Plants in these states are changing from coal to other things, and the coal companies are trying to find markets for their product.

Here is Washington there is a plan to export coal from Wyoming and ship it to China and Korea. There is a opposition from locals who object to coal trains, and perhaps to coal in general. Washington has one coal burning power plant, and it has signed an agreement to convert to natural gas by 2025. Until then, the coal trains will roll.

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