Your Questions About Green Living

what is the U.S.’s take on alternative energy?

A little insight before i state my question: There have been broad speculations as to weather or not alternative energy is going to take off within the following years, many people believe alternative energy such as the photovoltaic industry to be at its infant stage in a 30-50 year run. Analysts say the global credit recession will hit the industry hard. On the other hand, others say its just a phase in which people are scared of taking the first step to changing to alternative energy (ex: from electricity to photovoltaic energy) as “No one wants to be the fish biting a naked hook and paying dearly for it.” Amidst all the speculations, location and politics has a lot of effect on an industry such as this. The photovoltaic industry running in a country that has a lot of policies aiding green-energy politics would do far better than the same industry in a more fossil fuel structured country.

With all that being said, my question is quite clear. What is the United State’s stand on renewable energy, the Photovoltaic Industry per say, is the U.S. policy makers keen on aiding these industries? Or is hoping for a growth in renewable energy companies a helpless cause(in the U.S. in the present day)?

Does anybody realize Obama’s proposed energy plan will cost families $1,000’s?

Obama’s proposed energy plan, cap and trade tax on energy, was originally projected to cost $646 billion over 8 years. One of Obama’s top staffers, Jason Furm, now states that the plan will cost the industry over $2 trillion, an average of $20 billion annually.

The Heritage Foundation originally projected a $467 a year increase in utility bills for the average family, but with the additional costs it is now projected that this plan will cost American families an average of $1,800 more a year! And that’s an average that includes many families that don’t even have A/C. Not included in this is his plan to subsidize “green energies” to forcefully replace cheaper power which will raise energy costs even higher.

The Obama administration claims that the $800 a year “Making Work Pay” tax credit will offset this, but anyone that can do math can see the error in that. I am all for finding renewable energy, but does this make sense at a time when Americans are struggling? All to combat a “Global Warming” theory that 34,000 American Scientists have concluded there is no credible evidence that human release of greenhouse gas is causing it?

In what Economics class did the President learn that ending the tax credit for Big Oil will lower gas prices?

Everyone that studies economics knows that ending the tax credits will put pressure on supply, driving prices up and it will ultimately affect GDP in that it will go down, because there will be less money to spend, less jobs, more unemployment.

However I love that he counters it by saying that the subsidies should go to green energy, and it makes me laugh because don’t we subsidize the renewable energy programs already in the US, just look at ethanol. So question becomes, it is going to go to small renewable companies or is the money going to GE?

As a student of Economics, the best solution will be to continue the tax credits for now, and increase tax credits for smaller renewable energy companies, not GE (bureaucracy kills innovation), and eventually phase out oil subsidies once renewal energy becomes the largest source. We can’t punish Oil and Gas companies right now, because it will be detrimental to our economic recovery.

What does popular tax provision means?

I’m trying to translate this part :

The change in course by the House was prompted by fears of a global economic meltdown, and by old-fashioned political inducements added by the Senate: a portfolio of $150 billion in popular tax provisions, including credits for the production of solar, wind and other renewable energy, and an adjustment to spare middle-class families from paying the alternative minimum tax.

I don’t really understand the idea could somebody try to explaine please