(Photo of solar panels from Flickr and photographer kqed quest.)
Washington Report: The House of Representatives voted 263-160 Wednesday to approve yet another bill extending tax incentives for renewable energy such as wind and solar. But the White House is threatening to veto the $59 billion tax package, not so much on the credit extensions as the means to pay for them. The vote was largely along party lines. Renewable energy industries are eager to see extension of the incentives, due to expire in December, in order to maintain momentum. A House bill that included extensions paid for by repeal of oil and gas breaks, passed late last year but stalled in the Senate. Then earlier this year the Senate attached renewable incentives to a housing bill, but without any means to pay for them. The House, whose leaders want all expenditures paid for, added revenue from tax changes for offshore and multinational businesses to this bill. And that is the part President Bush objects to most. The bill extends production credits for wind till the end of 2009 and for geothermal and biomass for 3 years, as well as investment credits for solar for 6 years. It includes a $4,000 credit for residential solar power and $3,000 or more for buying plug-in cars. House Dems and Republicans disagree about the bill’s chances in the Senate. Meanwhile, House Republicans unveiled their own energy agenda, which would increase incentives for domestic production of fossil fuels, alternative fuels and nuclear energy, in addition to renewables and efficiency. (Sources: Greenwire, E&E News PM)
2 comments:
I’ve often wondered how many megawatts of solar energy would have to be converted into electricity before we would seriously diminish the life giving heat which our sun provides to our planet. How many solar panels would be required to plunge our planet into some super Ice Age even more profound than the Ice Age we’ve been in for at least the last 2.5 million years?
I should pose that question to my favorite science and Climate Change blogger. As a Ph.D. Physicist, he should be well equipped to do the math.
Environmental Extremists are infamous for putting their blinders on, embracing tunnel “vision” and utterly ignoring “unintended consequences”.
Note: We are currently in one of the three most severe Ice Ages in the last 600 million years. The reason that comes as a surprise to most lay persons is because we also happen to be at or near the apex (aka Climactic Optimum) of the most recent Interglacial Warming Period. Even the IPCC admits that warmer temperatures than today are evident some 8-10 thousand years ago than we see today. That fact is clearly evident in this chart. My guess is that the Climactic Optimum for the current Interglacial Warming Period took place back then and that we will not exceed that level during the current warming period.
Chances in and for the senATE and the rest of this planet are summmed this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LubuSAgB5s
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