Study says renewable energy is not feasible

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Red States:

Colorado State University recently completed a study on the economic feasibility of increasing the usage of renewable energy. The results of this study were published in the world-renowned science periodical, The Coloradoan. Another stimulus-funded study of the obvious? No, what we have here is simply a heavy dose of reality for academicians who aren’t willing to match their rhetoric with their pocketbook. Some of the quotes in this article are quite humorous.

Fort Collins campus President Tony Frank acknowledges that the 2008 plan to “rapidly” become carbon-neutral won’t be a reality for decades because the university can’t afford to make major changes right now.

It took them two years to figure this out? Business owners have been saying for much longer that forcing draconian cuts in emissions would harm their bottom line. Apparently it’s acceptable for businesses to absorb the increased costs, but not a university.

One major challenge for CSU is that its emissions have actually been going up in recent years. In fiscal year 2006, CSU emitted 217,070 metric tons of carbon dioxide. Those emissions rose 7 per-cent by 2009.

An expanding business generates more emissions. Who knew?

For us, you’d have to really jack up tuition and put it toward plans like that.

Really? You mean mandating a huge reduction in emissions would require a business to pass on those costs to its customers?

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It is not just true for universities. The goo-goo thinking about magic energy is not going to happen with current technology and if someone had something better, we would be seeing. The belief that energy companies are preventing new technologies is absurd. They are energy companies, and if they had a better product they would be selling it.

What we need to do is stop strangling domestic production of oil, gas and nuclear energy. We are going to need all of that we can produce and more, which means we will still be importing some energy. About the only area where we can be self sufficient is in natural gas, and to do that we are going to have to stop the anti fracking movement and get on with production.

This is the energy policy Republicans should be pushing from day one of the new Congress and we need to put Democrats on the spot for trying to drive up the cost of gas to $5 a gallon.

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• The Utter Futility of Reducing Carbon Emissions (pajamasmedia.com)