Green Fuels, Unpopular

Green Fuels: Costly, Unpopular

Green Fuels: Costly, Unpopular

Green Fuels: Costly, Unpopular

Some interesting points from an American investment banker specializing in the energy sector, Allen Brooks…

  • Although US Congress has at last ended the ridiculous subsidy paid to farmers and refiners to make ethanol, which cost taxpayers $45 billion over its 33-year life, it has been replaced with a higher mandate forcing use of the alcohol fuel equivalent to 15 per cent of petrol supply.
  • Sales of electric vehicles are turning out to be disappointing for their boosters and a huge burden on taxpayers.

So consumers will pay instead of taxpayers for a policy of dubious environmental value. It takes 1,700 litres of water to produce one litre of ethanol, as well as 60 kg of nitrogen fertilizer and 23 of phosphorus for each acre of farmland growing the corn used to make the fuel.

Last year General Motors sold only 7,000 of its Chevy Volt, most of which were bought by government units and GE, whose chairman is a prominent supporter of President Obama and his green agenda. Each sale was achieved through federal and state incentives to “green” industry, such as battery plants, costing an average of $250,000 a vehicle.Research shows that some 40 per cent of potential car buyers in the US would be interested in buying a plug-in vehicle… if the price is right. Which they aren’t, despite a federal tax credit for buyers of $7,500 apiece. The average family income of Volt buyers is $170,000 – not your typical car buyer

CopyRight – OnTarget 2012 by Martin Spring