Few takers for Austin's green energy program

Austin American-Statesman:

For the past decade, Austin's ambition to become the world's clean-energy capital has been best exemplified by one effort: GreenChoice, a program that sells electricity generated entirely from renewable sources such as wind.

Now the nationally renowned program is struggling to find buyers — the latest allotment is 99 percent unsold after seven months on the market — and Austin Energy is looking for ways to bring down the rising costs.

But those are short-term talks.

Austin Energy officials say that times have changed and that the nation's most successful (by volume of sales) green-energy program, which offers the renewable energy only to those who select it, might no longer be the best way to carry out the city's goals. It now costs almost three times more than the standard electricity rate.

...

Duncan said part of the solution might just be adding new wind, solar and other renewable-energy projects into the bills of all Austin Energy customers, which could increase rates for everyone. He said there are also numerous other policies being considered but declined to discuss them, saying only that they will be proposed publicly in the near future.

...

Who knew that most people were not willing to pay three times as much for "green energy?" Certainly not the Obama administration or Democrats in Congress. If you can't sell this nonsense to liberals in Austin, you are unlikely to sell it to the rest of the country.

The economics of green energy just do not work without significant market manipulation. The Democrats think they are up to that task, but voters will probably have a negative response.