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NATIONAL CENTER FOR POLICY ANALYSIS HOME / DONATE / ONE LEVEL UP / ABOUT NCPA / CONTACT Why Renewable Energy Is Not Cheap and Not Green |
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| Robert L. Bradley, Jr. | |
Notes |
151 Margaret Kriz, "Dueling Over Dams," National Journal, December 11, 1993, pp. 2935-37; "Environmentalists Fault Clinton Promotion of Hydropower," Water Policy Report, October 27, 1993, p. 30.
152 "[Hydro] would grow in the next few decades in our sustainable future, but . . . growth would be constrained by resource limitations." Christopher Flavin and Nicholas Lenssen, Power Surge, p. 286. Elsewhere (p. 41) they characterize hydro as "essentially static."
153 The Alliance to Save Energy, American Gas Association, Solar Energy Industries Association, An Alternative Energy Future, April 1992, p. 3:5. For a summary of environmental concerns with hydropower, see Thomas Johansson et al., Renewable Energy: Sources for Fuels and Electricity (Washington, DC: Island Press, 1993), pp. 94-107.
154 Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Annual 1995, vol. 1, table 10.
155 DOE Task Force: Annexes 2-4, p. 183 (emphasis added).
156 Ibid., Annex 1, p. 68.
157 Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Outlook, 1996, p. 31.
158 CEC, 1994 Electricity Report, p. 104. AB 1890 in 1996, however, defined hydro under 30 megawatts as one of seven renewable energies eligible for subsidies. See CEC, Policy Report on AB 1890 Renewables Funding, Docket No. 96-REN-1890, March 1997, pp. ES-11 to ES-12.
159 The hydro system of the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) was derated from 9,918 MW to 9,258 MW in 1995, a 660 MW (7 percent) decline, to account for increased environmental (nonpower) management of river flows. Conversation with Perry Gruber, BPA spokesperson, February 12, 1996. BPA has charged its ratepayers an estimated $450 million per year for its fish programs. Lon Peters, "Power, Politics, and Salmon -- Restructuring the Northwest Power Industry," Cascade Policy Institute, February 1996, p. 6. Under a new federal arrangement, salmon recovery will be capped at $435 million annually, but BPA is obligated to spend $1.5 billion on river restoration over six years and set aside another $352 million in a contingency fund. Portland Oregonian, September 13, 1996, p. 1. Meanwhile, a glut of salmon in Alaska has reduced its wholesale price to five cents per pound. Bill Richards, "Fishermen in Alaska, Awash in Salmon, Strive to Stay Afloat," Wall Street Journal, September 4, 1996, p. A1.
160 John Cushman, "Ex-Im Bank Refuses to Back Big China Dam," New York Times, May 31, 1996, pp. C1, C6; Helene Cooper, "Ex-Im Bank Snubs Chinese Dam Project," Wall Street Journal, May 31, 1996, p. A3.
161 The DOE estimate of between $1,850 and $2,180 per kilowatt (1991 dollars) was provided by Perry Lindstrom, economist with the EIA's Office of Integrated Analysis and Forecasting, conversation of February 7, 1996. The estimate from the California Energy Commission (1991 dollars) of between $1,700 and $3,400 million per kilowatt was provided by Tom Tanton, Advisor to Commissioner David Rohy, communication of February 7, 1996. The dated estimates reflect the absence of new projects for actual data information.
162 In 1987 congressional hearings an executive with the nation's largest solar firm testified: "Increasing the size of solar facilities . . . to 80 megawatts . . . is the key to making solar thermal electric generation competitive in the immediate future." Testimony of Patrick Francois, executive vice-president, LUZ International Limited, Solar Power, Hearing before the Subcommittee on Energy and Power of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, House of Representatives, 100th Cong., 1st sess. (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1988), p. 12.
163 "The consensus as far as I can see it is after the year 2000, somewhere between 10 and 20 percent of our energy could come from solar technologies quite easily." Statement of Scott Sklar, executive director, Solar Energy Industries Association, p. 26.
164 Scott Sklar, "Solar Industry Appears Poised to Contribute," Forum for Applied Research and Public Policy, Summer 1992, p. 84.
165 Also see Nevada Power Company, 1995 Annual Report, pp. 3, 6, 10.
166 Black & Veach, Assessment of New Utility Power Plants: Final Report, September 1986, pp. 15-5, 19-3. The aforementioned 1,875 megawatt Teesside project in the United Kingdom was built on 23 acres.
167 DOE Task Force Study: Annex 1, pp. 57-61.
168 Referring to a 1978 study by K.A. Lawrence of the Solar Research Institute, Beckmann states: "To construct a 1,000 MW solar plant needs an excessive amount of materials: 35,000 tons of aluminum, 2 million tons of concrete, 7,500 tons of copper, 600,000 tons of steel, 75,000 tons of glass, 1,500 tons of chromium and titanium, and other materials. . . . The energy that goes into the construction of a solar thermal-electric plant is, in fact, so large that it raises serious questions of whether the energy will ever be paid back." Petr Beckmann, Why "Soft" Technology Will Not Be America's Energy Salvation (Boulder, CO: The Golem Press, 1979), p. 6.
169 For a methodological overview of total fuel cycle environmental impacts, see National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Summary and Recommendation: Total Fuel Cycle Assessment Workshop (Golden, CO: NREL, 1995). The "upstream" environmental problems of solar would presumably have to be revealed and addressed in the "extended product responsibility" proposal of the President's Council on Sustainable Development. See PCSD, Sustainable America: A New Consensus (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1996), pp. 38-43.
170 Communication from Tom Tanton to Robert L. Bradley, Jr., December 29, 1995. Another source of incremental CO2 emissions concerns the production of soda glass for mirrors, according to Tanton, although this was not quantified by him.
171 Conversation with Mark Skowronski, former project director, Solar One Project, Southern California Edison, January 19, 1996.
172 Paul Gipe, Wind Energy Comes of Age, p. 351.
173 Linda Kanamine, "Experimental California Solar Plant `Bottles' Energy for Later Use," USA Today, June 4, 1996, p. 2A.
174 Murray Silverman and Susan Worthman, "The Future of Renewable Energy Industries," p. 25.
175 Linda Kanamine, "Experimental California Solar Plant," p. 2A.
176 Christopher Flavin and Nicholas Lenssen, Power Surge, p. 143.
177 Michael Lotker, "Solar Generation Flowers, Fades," Forum for Applied Research and Public Policy, Summer 1992, p. 94. Luz's bankruptcy has left Southern California Edison ratepayers with a $5.8 million liability for an unfinished transmission project. See J.A. Savage, "CPUC Lets CalEnergy Off Kramer Substation Hook," California Energy Markets, September 6, 1996, p. 11.
178 Elaine Fletcher, "Can Solar Shine Again?," San Francisco Examiner, February 21, 1996.
179 Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Outlook, 1996, p. 32.
180 DOE Task Force Study: Annex 1, p. 60.
181 Allen Myerson, "Solar Power, for Earthly Prices," New York Times, November 15, 1994, pp. C1-C2. For a review of the special tax and subsidy treatment under consideration for the Nevada Solar Enterprise Zone, see Libby Brydolf, "Solar Power Proponents to Form Independent Power Authority in Solar-Energy Effort," California Energy Markets, December 9, 1994, pp. 17-18.
182 Myerson, "Solar Power, for Earthly Prices."
183 DOE Task Force Study: Annex 1, p. 58.
184 Ibid. The California Energy Commission puts the estimate at nine acres per megawatt. Paul Gipe, Wind Energy Comes of Age, p. 406.
185 Communication from Ray Bransfield, Wildlife Biologist, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Ventura, California Branch, January 29, 1996.
186 Deroy Murdock, "Eco-Dilemmas: How `Green' Policies Hurt Mother Nature," National Minority Politics, October 1995, p. 27.
187 Prepared Statement of Karin Sheldon, president, The Wilderness Society, California Desert Protection Act of 1993, Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Public Lands, National Parks, and Forests of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, United States Senate, 103rd Cong., 1st sess. (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1993), p. 208. An extreme position of nonuse has been forwarded by Paul Ehrlich: "In a country like the United States, there is not the slightest excuse for developing one more square inch of undisturbed land." Quoted in Jonathan Adler, Environmentalism at the Crossroads (Washington, DC: Capital Research Center, 1995), p. 116.
188 Roderick Nash, quoted in Paul Gipe, Wind Energy Comes of Age, p. 257. Also see ibid., p. 444.
189 DOE Task Force Study: Annex 1, p. 57.
190 Ibid.
191 Robert L. Bradley, Jr., Energy Choices and Market Decision Making, pp. 19-20.
192 DOE Task Force Study: Annex 1, p. 73.
193 Utility PhotoVoltaic Group, "Solarex & Utilities Unite to Bring Solar Electric Power into the Mainstream," Press Release, February 27, 1997.
194 Ibid. For a range of PV system costs without the subsidies, falling between $5.27 and $11.76 per watt, see "Return on Federal Cost Share in Team-Up Exceeds Expectation," PV Vision, Winter 1997.
195 Utility PhotoVoltaic Group, Program Summary, April 1997.
196 Ibid.
197 CEC, Policy Report on AB 1890 Renewables Funding, p. 5.
198 DOE Task Force Study: Annex 1, p. 63.
199 Christopher Flavin and Nicholas Lenssen, Power Surge, p. 180.
200 Christopher Flavin, Slowing Global Warming: A Worldwide Strategy (Washington, DC: Worldwatch Institute, October 1989), p. 41.
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