Obama’s green economy is about to cost you a fortune [Reader Post]

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Barack Obama has spared no effort attempting to shove the US towards a so-called “green economy.” The same green economy nearly bankrupted Spain and has been nothing but a miserable failure here.

China is now in the process of changing the sticker price of Obama’s green economy and they are sending it skyward. They are tightening control of rare Earth metals.

The kind used in pretty much everything Obama is trying shove down our throats.

BEIJING — In the name of fighting pollution, China has sent the price of compact fluorescent light bulbs soaring in the United States.

By closing or nationalizing dozens of the producers of rare earth metals — which are used in energy-efficient bulbs and many other green-energy products — China is temporarily shutting down most of the industry and crimping the global supply of the vital resources.

China produces nearly 95 percent of the world’s rare earth materials, and it is taking the steps to improve pollution controls in a notoriously toxic mining and processing industry. But the moves also have potential international trade implications and have started yet another round of price increases for rare earths, which are vital for green-energy products including giant wind turbines, hybrid gasoline-electric cars and compact fluorescent bulbs.

General Electric, facing complaints in the United States about rising prices for its compact fluorescent bulbs, recently noted in a statement that if the rate of inflation over the last 12 months on the rare earth element europium oxide had been applied to a $2 cup of coffee, that coffee would now cost $24.55.

An 11-watt G.E. compact fluorescent bulb — the lighting equivalent of a 40-watt incandescent bulb — was priced on Thursday at $15.88 on Wal-Mart’s Web site for pickup in a Nashville, Ark., store.

Wal-Mart, which has made a big push for compact fluorescent bulbs, acknowledged that it needed to raise prices on some brands lately. “Obviously we don’t want to pass along price increases to our customers, but occasionally market conditions require it,” Tara Raddohl, a spokeswoman, said. The Chinese actions on rare earths were a prime topic of conversation at a conference here on Thursday that was organized by Metal-Pages, an industry data firm based in London.

The cost of everything related to the green economy is going to go up.

Soaring prices are rippling through a long list of industries.

“The high cost of rare earths is having a significant chilling effect on wind turbine and electric motor production in spite of offsetting government subsidies for green tech products,” said one of the conference attendees, Michael N. Silver, chairman and chief executive of American Elements, a chemical company based in Los Angeles. It supplies rare earths and other high-tech materials to a wide range of American and foreign businesses.

But with light bulbs, especially, the timing of the latest price increases is politically awkward for the lighting industry and for environmentalists who backed a shift to energy-efficient lighting.

It seems that everything Obama does benefits China. Barack Obama not only has zero business sense, he had to have failed physics.

Especially Newton’s Third Law.

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The 4 billion$ loophole for huge oil companies is a complete lie. The majors are out of the oil depletion loop and the middle to small companies do the secondary and tertiary recoveries. Congress spends 4 billion daily. There’s the problem!
Do you folks know that mini fluorescents on a grand scale causes your power to go inductive? Costs a fortune to balance the phase angle with capacitance. Up goes the power rates as usual as more equipment is needed.
Its unbelievable the lies that are being spewed out on a daily basis. Obumma can’t justify his incompetence.

We should not forget, we can thank Bush for this fluorescent light debacle. He signed the bill in 2007.

We are now about to pay for our legislators bowing to hysterical hype, rather than listening to real science.

China now has the ability to steal even more of the wealth of America at an unprecedented rate and they are laughing at the stupidity of our politicians who facilitate their rise to economic superiority.

There is an advantage to this lunacy by US policy makers: China has learned that fighting us in a war is expensive and risky, but defeating us in the economic arenas of Green Energy, trade, and finance with a dimwits like Obama and our Congress is embarrassingly easy.

Even here in ObamaLand of fruits and nuts, CA the most lefty of the left are throwing union workers under the bus in favor of cheap labor from China!

http://www.npr.org/2011/09/16/140515737/california-turns-to-china-for-new-bay-bridge
California is spending more than $7 billion building what it says will be an architectural marvel: the new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. But the state saved a lot of money sending some of the construction work overseas.

…..

[T]he massive cable, key sections of the iconic tower and deck were all made in China.
…..

There was a $400 million differential in that bid [between China and unionized Americans.]

Solyndra’s CFO and CEO will be invoking the 5th at a Congressional hearing this Friday.

There are THREE major scandals brewing against Obama.
Gunwalker,
Solyndra and
the one where a general was pressured to change his testimony.

So, naturally Obama wants as many good defenders of him on the Dem lineup of the House Judiciary Committee.
So is it a surprise that today, for no reason at all, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Florida Democrat, submitted her resignation as a member of the House Judiciary Committee?
Apparently Obama pegged her correctly: a smile is all she had.
See:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/watercooler/2011/sep/20/picket-wasserman-schultz-resigns-house-judiciary-c/

DrJohn,
“It seems that everything Obama does benefits China”

Got that right. GM, that paragon of union ingenuity, is now about to hand China its crown jewels, . . . Here you go China, here are the keys to our safe.

Perhaps these geniuses haven’t been paying attention for the past few years, but China has been stealing technology, and whole companies, left and right.

How much worse can these people, who are in Obama’s pockets, make America? None of this will turn out well.

I fail to see anything environmentally “green” in a bulb that uses rare earth minerals and is difficult to recycle due to the toxic mercury content. However, the “green” lining the pockets of those forcing us to swallow this argument is enough to make me see red!

Our current Governor in Maine gave the middle finger to the wind turbine scams ongoing here. Wholesale power purchase agreements of starting at 18 cents a Kilowatt hour when 1 out of 3 people here receive government assistance to live.

Wind farms that do not generate energy during the daytime when energy demand is peak.

In Maine, they blow up mountains and clear cut forest to place “a” turbine. Sections where the trees would offset carbon dioxide far more than a turbine operating at 16% efficiency.

Worst, our little corrupt newspaper is run by the friend of the ahole who is creating this destruction.

Obama calls Illinois his home.
Illinois’ share of the weatherization program in 2009 was $242 million.

The goal was weatherizing 27,000 homes for $9,000 each.

October 2010, Gregory H. Friedman, Inspector General at the Department of Energy, issued a scathing report on Illinois’ weatherization program funded with stimulus dollars.

Among his findings were that 14 out of 15 “weatherized” homes failed final inspection because of poor workmanship and 12 out of 15 homes contained substandard work that could have “resulted in significant property damage or injury to the homeowners.”

In one weatherized home, 11 out of 14 items the weatherization contractor installed failed inspection. Another home had an improperly installed exhaust system that turned out to be a potential fire hazard.

The audit also found that the number of gas leaks discovered was “alarming.”

Worst still, Friedman reported that contractors hired to weatherize homes charged homeowners prices significantly higher than market value for the items they installed.

“For example, CEDA’s published prices for smoke alarms, fire extinguishers, and thermostats ranged from about 120 percent to 200 percent over the average retail price.

Contractors also would over-charge for services that were never carried out.

Example in the report:
“A contractor had installed one carbon monoxide detector, but had billed CEDA for 3; another contractor had installed 12 light bulbs, but had billed CEDA for 20; and, yet another had failed to install a gas shut-off valve, but had billed for the work. In addition, a contractor had billed for almost four times the amount of drywall actually installed.”

One member of the advisory board overseeing the state program, Republican state Sen. Dan Duffy, resigned from the non-voting position in March 2011 because he so incensed at what he saw to be an obvious waste of taxpayer money

“The more questions I asked, the more I was told ‘Dan, you don’t really have a vote,’” Duffy said.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/09/21/energy-dept-weatherization-programs-rife-with-waste-fraud-inspector-general-audits-show/#ixzz1YcUs26tP

Gee looks like all you guys aare wrong again Gas is 2 bucks and solar costs are dropping fast

@oil guy from Alberta: First my Canadian friend sorry about the pipeline why the prez would intentionally harm such a nice neighbor and ally is beyond comprehension. They are going to ruin prime farming land in Minnesota for a solar farm. These people pushing the green agenda are a$$hole$ the last election many were sent packing, this election I hope proves the same trend. If not, do you have a room for rent? must be pet friendly.

@john: Quit blowing smoke you know why gas prices are low and whats the payback time for solar I live in a northern state with pesky things called trees.

I have solar panels on my roof with battery backup that is enough to only run my computer room, I have solar heat for the winter, convection solar water heater tied into my electric water heater, my home is 100% LED lit except for the lights in my ceiling fans, (can’t find LEDs to fit), an air-gap roof with an extra 3″ of insulation, and as I add paneling I am adding extra sheet foam insulation behind the paneling.
All of my appliances are replaced with energy savers when they become unrepairable.
Even though everything except the solar electric system is hand-made, I will never get my investment back.
My electric bills are about 30% lower, on average. I would love to get off of the grid, but it’s just not feasible. For the same reasons that commercial alternative energy is unfeasible- too unreliable.
And I still drive my two-ton, 17mpg Cadillac.
(I have a woodburning stove as well, kind of like secondhand solar energy, as is coal and oil… God’s own solar energy storage units!)
So if I’m doing all of this, why am I a Libertarian?
Because I believe in satisfying my desires with my own money.
Liberals believe in doing it with other people’s money.

As a side note, one of the things that Jimmy Carted did right was to invest in solar energy… not production, but research. During his tenure, solar panel efficiency almost doubled due in large part to taxpayer sponsorship of research.
Which the Chinese immediately used to outproduce and underbid USA companies.

Good morning Petercat, solar has come a long way since Carter, but as a super spoiled American Female, I like my appliances. The energy police will get my Kitchen-Aid mixer when they pry it from my dead cold hands. I am looking into a composting toilet ,an electric one, for our weekend cottage. LED is the way to go the 100 watt equal used to be 100 bucks but now around 10 bucks but last for so much longer than the alternatives.

@kitt: well payback time is always getting shorter and shorter
Of course trees will block sunlight and if you live inside a deep cave they are not much of an option
I live in NY ConEd says payback time here is 6 years giving a ROI of about 16%
That us gir a typical installation
Panel cost is expected to fall another 30%. In the next 2 years
The end of fossil fuel dependency is on the horizon
The Stone Age did not end because people ran out of stones
It ended when supplanted by a superior technology
Some people still use stones

When we purchased our little 4 acre chunk of paradise we lived off grid while cutting in a driveway and clearing up many fallen trees. While fun and quaint for awhile living in a camping trailer, the day the electric co-op guys hooked us up was a day of celebration. Not having to fire up the generator to make a pot of coffee and recharge the batteries was sooo nice. I have no intention of cutting down my 100 year old oaks to make way for an ugly solar array the area cleaned I would like to reserve for a veggie garden, a 6 string electric fence required as to not feed the deer and bear. I would be long dead to see the payback of solar as it is intended to be a summer and weekend get away. My next goal running water.

Well Kitt doesn’t sound like solar is going to work for you although on o 200,00sqft lot I am surprised you couldn’t find SOMEPLACE to put a 300sqft aray.
Perhaps you might consider putting one on your primary residence?
And starting the gen set just to make coffee? Maybe you should have gone with a propane camping stove. They are quick and clean

@John: 16% is the best I have ever heard about. The Air Force Academy cleared about 10 acres of pines to install their solar farm. It saves $230,000 per year. It has a life of 20 Years. The cost? Over $40,000,000. It will never pay for itself. We all paid for it! The Navy is paying more than $4/gal of biofuel for their fleet instead of the $.75/gal of the heavy fuel. We pay for it out of our defense budget. I would bet that your 16% ROI includes a hefty subsidy! Right?

@Randy: #18
And that subsidy is just another example of Greenies wanting someone else to pay for their dreams.
Wonder what will happen to the cost of solar panels now that China is restricting exports of their rare-earth metals?

@john: When in the northwoods if you work on something you need power, I just cant find a solar powered chainsaw or log splitter. I have purchased a propane range its so steam punk from the 1920s weighs a ton, would still like a wood cookstove, but I splurged a mini skidsteer.

a skid steer??? I thought you didn’t want to cut any of those trees down to allow sunlight for sunlight? No at this time solar charged electric chainsaws are not really practical in the woods
With all that equipment I AM a bit surprised you didn’t take down at least 2 of those oaks and use them for wideplank flooring
When i lived i AK for 9 months I din’t see much solar but that was 30 years ago since then prices have fallen 90% my friends in northern Vermont are using more and more
Remember my posting about what the Saudi oil minister said? He said ” The end of the age of oil is on the horizon. The stone age ended not because people ran out of stones, but becaus e a superior technology appeared”
The Saudis are pumping as fast as they can, better a dollar in their pockets now rather than oil in the ground that is going to decrease in desireability
Residential solar has a payback of about 6 years now and it is dropping each year. http://www.solarreviews.com/solar-power/top-states-for-solar-fall-2014-facts/

@john: You missed a word sweetie MINI it has 600lb weight limit, I have been skidding out the fallen trees that can be salvaged and stacking them, those that have been down too long are destined for firewood. The mini is very capable of negotiating through the woods. No will not drop a live tree my science teacher told me it eats carbon pollution. My property doesnt have any stones been looking its sand, so no stone-age 4 me.

@kitt: #14
I agree completely. I also like clean stuff, which is why I will keep repairing my old clothes and dish washers until they are rusted scrap.

@Petercat: I have myself a fix-it man, he started very young grabbing curb stuff and repairing it. His mom wanted a new vacuum and warned him as she left with his father to get one, dont you fix that, pointing at the broken one. A good thing too am a bit limited in repairing things.

@kitt: #24
Sometimes the newer stuff can be better, like vacuum cleaners. Sometimes the older stuff, such as washing machines.
A quick and general rule of thumb is: Did a Government agency write the specs? “Yes” probably means less effective.

@Petercat: I really like what today are considered antiques, built to last, as word of mouth was more important than mass media advertising. Just finding parts when they are worn is a pain. Vacuums today are for the most part nuthin much to brag on. Expensive hepa filters, poorly designed and awkward to use, designed to be disposable. Government regulations on products only makes them more expensive and less desired prime example low flow toilets. Designed to be green if you mean the inner bowl.

@kitt: #26
Yes, I’d have to agree with you on the disposable bit. My reference to vacuums being better was meant as “more effective”.
They (often, not always) are more powerful, more efficient at picking up dirt, and, because of the HEPA filters, allow less fine particles to return to the room air than the older paper bag kind.
Of course, we eventually reach a point where the levels of efficiency
are enough, and we don’t need more.
Of course, they don’t last as long as the older models.

@Petercat: Ahh the good old days when the phone didn’t need an upgrade every six months, was tied to the wall and not an extension of our hands, forced us to memorize phone numbers and actually talk with people. Todays landfill generation will never know what they missed cause they were busy sending a text.
Darn it I feel old I think I will break out the Pong game, or play frogger.

@kitt: #28
When people actually had conversations while dining…
When children went outside to play…
(and often came home after dark, with cuts, scrapes, and bruises)
When if you saw an interesting stranger you could strike up a conversation because they weren’t yapping away on a cell phone?
Yeah, the good old days.

@Petercat: How long will it be before the parents are bragging about babys first text, and then block it for spamming.