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Originally Posted by RadioPatrol  I'd be happy to take my house off the grid, but the equipment costs too much, and the Gooberment subsidies are too little ... if the pols were serious the Gooberment assistance would be more .... |
If you had as effective a lobbying arm as coal, oil & nuke (CON) playas maybe your house would be off the grid. If the solar & wind industry got the capital help that CON got over the years there would likely be a stronger industry and cheaper equipment prices due to the economy of scale. But that would require a free-market...
The recent energy bill has higher subsidies for "renewables" and that looks good on the surface but most of it goes to biofuels (still got the carbon footprint). "Clean" coal got the lion's share, followed by the perennial incentives to the oil companies (who report record profits year after year).
Nukes still get subsidies (even though there hasn't been a new one built since 1996) mostly R&D, but also limitation liabilities, cost overrun relief and direct incentives.