[p2p-research] Greenhouse-gas-emitting energy sources get more federal subsidies than renewables.

[Michel Bauwens]

*From a Technology Review blog: *



Monday, September 21, 2009
*Perverse Incentives for Fossil Fuels*

Greenhouse-gas-emitting energy sources get more federal subsidies than
renewables.

By Kevin Bullis

Renewable forms of energy might be more competitive with fossil fuels if the
latter weren't so heavily subsidized.

According to a new study
<http://www.elistore.org/Data/products/d19_07.pdf>(pdf) by the
Environmental Law Institute, from 2002 to 2008, U.S. subsidies
to fossil fuels totaled $72 billion. Over that same period, subsidies to
renewable fuels (including biofuels, solar power, and wind power) totaled
just $29 billion.

Most of the fossil-fuel subsidies come in the form of fossil-fuel companies
holding on to money that other companies have to hand over to the
government. For example, they get tax breaks and don't have to pay royalties
for using government land. The authors of the study don't advocate
eliminating all of these subsidies; some, for example, might arguably be
good for society, such as the $6 billion that goes to help poor families
keep their houses heated in winter.

Some experts have argued that the actual subsidies include defense spending
to protect sources of oil and environmental costs that aren't reflected in
the price of electricity and gasoline. But even without these figured in,
the study suggests, the playing field is tilted unfairly toward fossil
fuels, supporting established industries that you'd think could fend for
themselves.

It's ironic that Congress is contemplating climate-change legislation that
would increase the price of fossil fuels at the same time that its tax
policy decreases the price of fossil fuels.







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