From GOOD magazine and the DeepLocal graphics company now comes a handy chart showing how much more fossil fuels and even ethanol corn is getting in US subsidies than clean renewable energy, such as wind and solar, reports Jeff St. John at Greentechmedia. Fossil fuels got six times more – that is, $72 billion compared to clean energy’s $12 billion from 2002 to 2008, all while oil companies have been recording massive record profits. And which subsidies are under congressional investigations? Clean energy’s. Meanwhile, corn ethanol, which survives on federal subsidies, got $16 billion in subsidies. That has made it possible for the US to turn fossil fuels (that is, fuel for trucks and tractors, natural gas for fertilizer, etc.) into plants, and then turn those plants back into a mandated fossil fuel substitute, at a significant reduction in net energy and at great environmental cost. From 1997 to present, federal support for fossil fuels has been five times that for renewables, while the stalled-out nuclear industry got ten times as much, according to Nancy Pfund at DBL Investors. The US energy subsidies program clearly needs an overhaul.
The Real Deal on U.S. Subsidies: Fossil’s $72B, Renewable Energy’s $12B
Jeff St. John – August 3, 2012
And why is corn ethanol getting more money than wind and solar? Greentechmedia http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/the-real-deal-on-u.s.-subsidies-fossils-72b-renewable-energys-12b/
