MGPC Sustainability Blog

I have been trying not to get political on this blog, but this was the last straw. Since the House failed to approve extension of the ITC, or Investment Tax Credit, the Senate had to package it into the abominable $ 700 billion bank socialization package. The Renewable Energy Tax Credit is the incentive package that the Senate Republicans blocked passage of eight times, leaving billions of dollars of renewable energy projects in limbo.

We waste billions on ineffective Ethanol and farming subsidies at a time when food prices are rising out of control. We continue to support big oil with tax breaks, effectively subsidizing the purchase of foreign oil from countries who are hostile to our interests, but we cannot find a reason to support alternative energy, which would be a predominantly DOMESTIC industry and find it necessary to insert it into a bank bailout package.

Countless solar installation contractors, solar panel manufacturers, wind turbine manufacturers (anybody watching General Electric’s stock price dropping?), consultants, and integrators, among others, will lose their jobs because of the suspended projects.

If you were waiting to buy an expensive solar panel for your home and did not know if the $ 2,000 capped Federal Tax Credit would be applicable next year, would you still order the system installed, or would you wait for Congress to announce the extension of the tax credits beyond their January 1, 2009 expiration, knowing you probably cannot install the panels on time this year to qualify for the existing credit?

The United States is half-way decided on spending $ 700 billion on the banking bailout, just waiting for House approval now. This will just aggravate some of our biggest problems at present: National debt and balance of trade. We should be working to close those gaps before our government goes bankrupt. Let’s stop sending our wealth to the Middle East, Russia and Venezuela, none of whom are our true allies, and get a sensible domestic energy policy on track.

There is strength in numbers. If you have not done so already, see our main page and click on “Take Action.” There you will see a link to the Pickens Plan. Sign up on their mailing list for more information. So far, The Pickens Plan is the best idea anyone has proposed for investing in our domestic infrastructure, creating jobs, and weaning ourselves from the addictive substance we have been importing into our country for billions of dollars per year.

Take action now! Sign up for the Pickens Plan!

December 15, 2008 post update - Congress has passed the tax credits legislation which are more generous than ever. Unfortunately, the tax credit legislation had to be bundled with the $ 700 billion bailout. Seriously now, is that the only way the USA can pass legislation to improve our infrastructure - by burying it into an “emergency bailout package” which went against popular will?

So here we stand close to closing the first decade of the second millenium with temporarily lower fossil fuel prices which will discourage renewable energy investments right when we need them most - as we pass down the right slope of the Peak Oil supply curve, and a Picken’s wind power plan which is having trouble generating sufficient financing.

Anyone with a clear vision of where all these market forces are leading us should feel like a sunbather on a long, flat beach watching the oncoming tsunami approaching. It’s too late to run and nobody built any shelters while the water was calm.

Many orders for oil drilling rigs have been canceled because the new oil discoveries cannot be extracted profitably at current market rates. When oil prices recover, and even skyrocket, building new rigs will take years.

Those among us who are not afraid to act like Noah building his ark upon dry land while being ridiculed by everyone will make the right preparations. Maybe it’s time to build a house off-grid, self-sufficient in electricity and water, with photoelectric solar panels and solar water heating systems on the roof, rainwater capture and storage cisterns under the house, and gray water recycling systems to extract every possible bit of utility from the water before disposing it as black waste water.  The house should be made of SIPs with R28 insulation ratings, able to withstand high wind speeds, be moisture and mold resistant, and economical to build.

If you are thinking about building such a house, please see our suggested materials link at:

http://www.marylandgreenpower.com/off-grid-house.html