Are windpower researchers "welfare queens in white coats?"
(first 4 paragraphs:)
Bill Gates has recently stated in an interview that
"The irony is that if you actually look at the amount of money that's
been spent on feed-in tariffs and you properly account for it--tax
credits, feed-in credits in Spain, solar photovoltaic stuff in
Germany--the world has spent a massive amount of money which, in terms
of creating both jobs and knowledge, would have been far better spent on
energy research."
This opinion is fairly often heard when discussing renewable energy. But
would it really be a good idea to spend public money financing research
on renewables? Would it produce breakthroughs, jobs and new products,
or would it just create more "welfare queens in white coats?"
The way scientific research is managed by governments is by means of
"research grants." Governments decide the themes on which research
should be performed and invite scientists from academia or private
research centers to apply for funding by presenting proposals. In many
cases, research grants contain provision that should insure that the
results of the research are aimed at obtaining some kind of marketable
product, which is also the way of creating jobs. But that is a very
difficult task. Not that scientists are not good at what they do. They
are - usually - hard working, competent and dedicated. The problem is
that awarding grants to scientists is a little like voting for
politicians: you pay for promises, not for results.
Scientists may not be so bad at maintaining their promises as some
politicians are; but the way to be sure to keep a promise is not to make
it or - at least - to word it in such a way that you can always say
that you have kept it. In the case of research grants, that means that
the objectives are always very conservative. That makes both awarders
and awardees happy, since neither one wants failure. But it is not the
best way to obtain breakthroughs or innovations of the marketable kind. ....
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Maine as Third World Country:
CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power
Click here to read how the Maine ratepayer has been sold down the river by the Angus King cabal.
Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT
******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********
(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/
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Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law
Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future
"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."
https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/
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