Wind energy is just one of the highly touted “clean” energy sources heavily promoted and subsidized by the US government. Any energy source with the label of clean, green or renewable is supposed to accomplish magical things our conventional energy sources cannot, but when it comes time to produce the energy and create those often promised green jobs along with it, the magic seems to disappear.
The CBS show 60 Minutes, examined the increasing number of failures in the field now known as CleanTech, speaking to, among others, Vinod Khosla, one of the primary cheerleaders of these new technologies and an investor himself. He defended the high costs and failures as unsurprising when dealing with biofuels, solar cells and similar energy sources, like wind energy, but spokesmen like Khosla prefer not to focus on the huge amount of taxpayer money also at risk in their ventures. If his investments were confined to his own money and that of other like minded individuals, there would not be any problem, but you and I are also investing in these high risk startups whether we want to or not.
It’s too bad the 60 Minutes piece didn’t mention how much of these government “investments” the founders of the companies manage to keep for themselves when the company fails and taxpayers lose. They’re protected, you’re not.
When TV news programs like 60 Minutes finally begin to notice what many of us have been pointing out for years, it’s an indication of how big these failures have become. Watch the video and see for yourself.