Elizabeth Bryan posted on 10/1/2009 3:22:00 PM
Note: I was mistaken- geothermal energy is included in the AEPS standards and so is hydropower although certain restrictions apply.

Margaret posted on 9/29/2009 2:49:00 PM
John Hanger has always been nothing more than a highly paid pimp for the alernative energy industry. He tells us that private investment will build these alternative energy facilities not ratepayers. The fact is that huge taxpayer subsidies will allow these private investors to build these white elephants other wise they wouldn't get built because they make no economic sense. hanger talks of wind(available to generate electricity 20 to 25% of the day and requires large areas of land, think 700 windmills to produce the same amount of power as TMI only TMI produces 24/7)solar(again large area required and limited availability)geothermal(someone tell me, where is there commercial generation scale geothermal plant in PA?, also without a technological breakthrough very few areas in the country are suitable) Biomass etc.(only exist at all because of government subsides and grants and are the equivalent of trying to use a flashlight to light a city) Large scale hydro has been developed for a long while. Ask Hanger how Al Gore's venture capital fund receiving over $500 million of taxpayer funding to build an expensive plug in hybrid for the rich that will be built in Finland is a good use of taxpayer dollars. We need alternative energy supplies, but we need one's that are cost effective and can be scaled to meet our energy needs. Unfortunately wind, solar, geothermal and biomass don't meet those requirements. Lets stop wasting scarce resources on making politically connected people wealthy and instead use those dollars to do some serious research to find a real alternative to fossil fuels.

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