Renewable Energy An Oxymoron?!

Scientist define energy as the ability to do work. There are principally two categories of energy; kinetic and potential. Energy makes changes; it does things for us. It lights our homes, powers our cars and reheats our left over meatloaf. When we use energy it doesn’t disappear it becomes another form of energy but the total amount of energy in the universe remains the same. Explain to me how we have renewable energy when it never changes in the amount available to use? Why do the president and other eco-terrorist think that this country can quickly and economically switch to some form of a renewable energy source? And thereby create millions of “Green” jobs?

During the campaign of 2008, Big "O" indicated that he wanted 10% of electricity to come from clean renewable energy sources by 2012 and 25% by 2025. This would include producing electricity from wind. Iowa governor, Chet Culver, says that a whopping 2,300 'Green Jobs' have been created in Iowa over the past two years. I guess the governor was chumming up to the then presidential candidate Obama and learning how to speak Obama and mislead with job creation numbers.

Turbines for the wind towers are being built by Trinity Tower Structures in Newton, IA that once housed a Maytag manufacturing facility. Let me do the math for you. At it's height the Maytag facility employed over 4,000 people but by the time it closed in 2007 there were only 1,800 employees left. That was a net 2,200 jobs lost prior to the closing. Add the final 1,800 and you have a complete 4,000 person job loss. Now add to that the 2,300 jobs created by the wind industry and you have a net job loss (not creation) of -1,700. This was not job creation but job transference since many of the employees were former Maytag employees. Obama math on job creation. Yet I still wait for the 4.1 million jobs that he (Obama) will create in the U.S.

Wind energy only accounted for .3% of the energy sources in the U.S. in 2007. Renewable energy accounted for 7% of total energy consumption in this same period. And I as I pointed out in the beginning, energy never disappears and remains constant in the universe. Yet we are going to force ourselves off of coal, petroleum, natural gas and nuclear energy in just 16 years and onto biomass, hydropower, geothermal and solar.

Of these 'renewable' sources I prefer hydropower. Hydropower could be a savior for producing what our “Green” friends want; clean electricity produced without burning coal or nuclear fission. However, hydropower will never come to fruition because of those same Eco-terrorist. The first time some power company would seek permits and permission to build dams to harness this water power along come the environmental protectionist to save some obscure snail, tiny fish or plant. These guys would have these organisms declared endangered species and no dams would be built to harness hydropower. Pretty much why we can't drill in Anwar.

Even the most energy rich device in the solar system, the sun, will someday be extinguished. Thus it will not be renewed. If these so-called renewable energy sources had so much to offer then why has solar never taken off. It has been around since I was a little boy yet it trails all energy sources as a useful force. Go ahead and give me the “Big Oil” arguments and conspiracies. Yet with the entire planet yammering for a renewable source some other society could have easily harnessed and commercialized solar energy conversion. But it has not happened because it is not economically feasible and on cloudy days you can’t harness what you cannot see!

Now our Congress seeks to impose a 'cap and trade' upon industries in the U.S. In essence taxing companies for using more than their allotted carbon emissions. Who pays for these increases in production because of these trade measures. We all do! That includes the 95% of us that were to get no tax increases from the Obama presidency. Contrary to what we all believe, corporations do not pay taxes. They collect taxes as part of the cost of selling and pass them along to the consumer. Cost accountants understand what the total cost of sales will be and how much their tax liability will be on those sales and will figure what cost they need to include in the final price of the product to cover for those taxes.

According to the "Global Warming" theorist and Eco-Terrorist, carbon emissions specifically carbon dioxide is causing the planet to warm, via green house effect. Although there is evidence pointing to a more contrary and realistic point of view. As I learned in sixth grade science, carbon dioxide was needed for photosynthesis to occur. Photosynthesis is the process where carbon dioxide is converted into organic compounds using sunlight. All life on earth depends upon photosynthesis to occur because plants using the energy from sunlight to convert carbon dioxide into energy and expelling oxygen that humans and other mammals need. My point is why stop the release of carbon dioxide when plants need it and we need the plants. Instead how about planting more trees!?

Did I over simplify renewable energy? Am I off-base on the green house or global warming point? Probably but that is what the left does to convince you about their point. We do need energy independence and an energy revolution in this country. Our foreign oil and natural gas dependence can be changed by drilling on our own soil and off-shore. Forcing automobile manufacturers to build small horse-powered hybrid vehicles that are not selling as well as trying to build unreliable wind farms and expensive solar and geothermal sources will not work either. And when a job is created lets be certain that it is a new job not a transferred job. The country needs job creation not creative math in saving and transferring jobs.

These are my Words! Please post yours!