April 11, 2011
Governments are bankrupt. Not only has the financial management of the state household derailed, but the bailout of banks, subsidies to non -competitive industries and generous aid may enslave the citizens of industrialized nations to excessive taxation for the decades to come. We seem to forget that the thousands of billions of dollars spent in recent years and associated with massive national budgetary deficits must all be reimbursed by citizens.
It is addiction to subsidies that drains economies, diverts the resources of productive and social objectives, while distorting our vision of competitiveness. While the energy is essential, we have clearly lost contact with reality. If and when the energy is largely subsidized, from nuclear to coal, including fossil fuels and renewable energies, then we do not make it less expensive, we are only delaying payment! What appears as a discount is just a temporary stay. And the reimbursement time will include interest, and interest on interest. How is it? Because our governments spend more, much more than they can reasonably win as a income.
The culture of the grant has evolved from a temporary measure to permanent dependence. In Germany, coal has been subsidized for 1,965, and this puncture on the state budget did not end until 2018 - 53 years later. The political measure to alleviate the social impact of the disappearance of coal mines has transformed into a permanent source of income for the business world, the associated costs being passed on to the taxpayer. Is this the way for solar and other renewable energies? Let's be transparent: solar and wind energies need subsidies because they are not competitive. Forced yield of 8 % on investments for 20 years - the standard in Germany - has generated a huge demand for silicon panels, but it did not make it possible to build a creative and innovative solar industry which mainly imports its components and its China panels.
Imagine the latest solar systems that offer both electricity and heat, which concentrate light on a brochure over three times, using both sides of the panel, which reduces wiring to 25 %. Only eight units produce enough ambient heating, cooling, hot water, purified water and electricity for a household of five people in Sweden, at a cost of approximately 1.5 cent per kWh. At this rate, solar does not require any subsidy. The faster these innovations will be adopted by the market, the faster all energy subsidies will become obsolete, releasing money to support good - as significant work and absolute efficiency of resources, pensions and the social sector, or the financing of the exit of too risky nuclear energy.
