Submitted by imaginegreen on January 26, 2007 - 5:17pm.
I would like to get the names of reports/studies on accurate information of subsidies for the various sources of energy currently used or under consideration. This is an area where most material seems to be advocating (and exaggerating) data to support a point of view. Although that is impossible to remove entirely, there still can be some facts that are knowable. Even if I or someone else may not agree with the inclusion of some component, I would love to see a very long list and some quantification. There are also items that are morphing from one thing to another such as highways. At present and in the past, they may be seen as a subsidy for gasoline or diesel, but it is also a subsidy for transportation and commerce in general which could be fueled in another way. Not that it will ever be, but if all cars/trucks were electric and the electricity came from solar, wind, biofuels, hydro, or other renewables, then the subsidy shifts. Also there is a huge impacts of certain fuels on health of people (air pollution) as well as impacts of CO2 generation and climate change. The Cato Institute may feel climate change is a hoax and leave it out of a study but others think that is crazy. However even if it is real (which I believe), there is still no direct $ subsidy unless there is a carbon tax or other system to make it visible. Same goes for a military tax to protect resource availability. This could be meaningful or impossible depending on the location of the resource and our current foreign relationships with the countries of origin. If we can have a CPI, we could have a RPTI (Resource Protection Tax Index): Oil from US, Canada, Mexico and North Sea may have a very low RPTI. Oil from Iraq and Saudi Arabia has a high RTPI. And since oil is a fungible resource, how much does it cost to protect oil from Iran, Russia and Venezuela?
If a company buys a fuel (gas, electricity, natural gas) that it consumes, it can deduct the expense as a business expense, lowering it's cost. If the same business invests in efficiency or a renewable energy system and makes it's own energy, then it can't deduct the value of that energy. There's a sneaky subsidy in there.
So the studies I seek need to be a combination of conventional accurate facts, plus components that are not so clear or agreed to, and ones that fit emerging, yet real arguments.
"Thanks for the nice piece on AEP in today's publication. You explained it correctly... really got it right. In my experience, that's all too rare among even the most professional of journalists!"
— Mark Berman, Davis Energy Group / Advanced Energy Products
I would like to get the names of reports/studies on accurate information of subsidies for the various sources of energy currently used or under consideration. This is an area where most material seems to be advocating (and exaggerating) data to support a point of view. Although that is impossible to remove entirely, there still can be some facts that are knowable. Even if I or someone else may not agree with the inclusion of some component, I would love to see a very long list and some quantification. There are also items that are morphing from one thing to another such as highways. At present and in the past, they may be seen as a subsidy for gasoline or diesel, but it is also a subsidy for transportation and commerce in general which could be fueled in another way. Not that it will ever be, but if all cars/trucks were electric and the electricity came from solar, wind, biofuels, hydro, or other renewables, then the subsidy shifts. Also there is a huge impacts of certain fuels on health of people (air pollution) as well as impacts of CO2 generation and climate change. The Cato Institute may feel climate change is a hoax and leave it out of a study but others think that is crazy. However even if it is real (which I believe), there is still no direct $ subsidy unless there is a carbon tax or other system to make it visible. Same goes for a military tax to protect resource availability. This could be meaningful or impossible depending on the location of the resource and our current foreign relationships with the countries of origin. If we can have a CPI, we could have a RPTI (Resource Protection Tax Index): Oil from US, Canada, Mexico and North Sea may have a very low RPTI. Oil from Iraq and Saudi Arabia has a high RTPI. And since oil is a fungible resource, how much does it cost to protect oil from Iran, Russia and Venezuela?
If a company buys a fuel (gas, electricity, natural gas) that it consumes, it can deduct the expense as a business expense, lowering it's cost. If the same business invests in efficiency or a renewable energy system and makes it's own energy, then it can't deduct the value of that energy. There's a sneaky subsidy in there.
So the studies I seek need to be a combination of conventional accurate facts, plus components that are not so clear or agreed to, and ones that fit emerging, yet real arguments.
Any help is appreciated.