The other day, I was carefully explaining why the solar power business model is upside down. There are often federal, state, local and even corporate incentives to consider when pricing a system, and why its convoluted its simple…while the subsidies for solar are “above level”, the ones for oil are “below the radar”.
So when I read that the Senate in the US blocks an end to oil subsidies, then it comes full circle that until the renewable energy industry lobbies as hard (and with as much $$$$) as the oil one does, there will be continuous feeding an industry which makes billions of dollars in profits per quarter. I guess it takes for us to have $200million in our pockets to compete.
The question of oil subsidy is very political. I don’t think that Obama thought he’d win this one, yet he wants to present a clear choice come November, between his vision and that of a Republican candidate who is being pulled to the right. With Solyndra and the Volt production stoppage being footballed for political reasons, he prefers to take a middle of the road course, while going on to show how attached to oil the Republicans really are. In many ways, he is setting up for round #2, post election, where he hopes to have more leeway to enact true reform in energy and other areas. We can only hope that renewable energy continues to grow until at some point, the power of those companies is at least closer to that of the oil ones, when it comes to affecting change in the political world.
And for that…all it takes is a bit of green…
Sass