by Larry Beahan
Solyndra, the failed solar panel manufacturer, is a name that fossil fuel and nuclear energy enthusiasts have kept in the headlines. The Obama administration lost $500 million by guaranteeing Solyndra’s loans as part of the $700 billion, 2009 stimulus package.
Solyndra and Solyndra-like projects must stay in the spotlight because supporting clean renewable energy is exactly the direction we must follow if we are to survive the triple threat of climate change, dependence on foreign fuel and the pollution of our air, lands and waters.
In Silicon Valley, multi-million dollar companies fail every day. It takes risk of capital to develop new industries. Without federal guarantees, funding for solar and wind projects comes at usurious rates.
The U.S. began energy subsidies with a 10% tariff on British coal in 1789. The nuclear industry has been the recipient of hundreds of billions of federal dollars and still does not charge rates that pay its costs. Federal subsidies to fossil fuels are estimated to be currently $52 billion a year.
“What Would Jefferson Do,” a review of the history of federal subsidies produced by DBL Investors, a venture capital firm, concluded: “...the federal commitment to O&G [oil and gas] was five times greater than the federal commitment to renewables during the first 15 years of each subsidy’s life, and it was more than 10 times greater for nuclear.”
Vastly more money has been spent on fossil fuels and nuclear power than on clean energy. And these charges do not include the cost of the damage they do to our climate and our health:
• The National Academy of Sciences estimates that health costs from fossil fuels totals $120 billion annually. This includes, for example, uncounted thousands of children and adults who suffer from fume-induced asthma caused by diesel oil.
• Governor Cuomo is asking the federal government for $30 billion toward New York City’s recovery from Superstorm Sandy. Sandy fits the pattern of climate disruption that scientists blame on global warming induced by the burning of gas, coal and petroleum.
• The U.S. Department of Energy estimates the cost of cleaning up New York’s West Valley nuclear waste site at between $10 billion and $13 billion. If the site is not cleaned up before a hurricane the size of Sandy dissolves its glacial-gravel plateau into Cattaraugus Creek, cleanup is estimated at more than $200 billion.
Solyndra failed because China beat America to the punch by subsidizing its solar panel industry with $30 billion. They flooded the market with inexpensive solar panels. Our $500 million loan guarantee to Solyndra was too little, too late.
Tell your senators and congressman to stop wasting money on coal, oil, gas and nuclear energy. Insist they support clean energy programs such as “Clean-FIT,” proposed by Sierra Club and the United Steel Workers (http://newyork.sierraclub.org/documents/Clean-fitreport.pdf#).
And have some of those underpriced Chinese solar panels installed on your house. Or you can have a solar power system installed free, at no upfront expense—by leasing a system available through the Atlantic Chapter’s solar initiative.
Larry Beahan, a member of the Niagara Group, serves on several Chapter conservation committees. An earlier version of this article appeared as an op-ed in the Buffalo News.