<x-charset ISO-8859-1>I live in rural Iowa, and my local electric co-op has had several wind generation articles in their monthly self-promotional magazine, which read to me as your basic attempt to undermine any thought of a small producer hooking into their grid.
What it boils down to is this: It's the Golden Rule; he who has the gold, makes the rules. That farmer is nuts, expecting to get paid retail prices for his electricity. I have no issue with him exceeding his capacity by 3 times and trying to make some money though. But the electric companies will only pay wholesale MINUS the per kilowatt hour subsidy that is alloted to wind generated power (which we are apparently *all* paying here in the US). This does amount to 1-2 cents per KWH, after all is said and done. Then, of course, you have to have all the mandated safety equipment, so you don't electrocute the line workers. AND the utility retains the right to turn off your your power at the source at any time they want, safety reasons notwithstanding. We have some large wind farms here and many, many of the generators aren't even turning on a given day. As for the farmer himself, he sounds like he's setting himself up just to look even more like a subsidy sucking entity than farmers here are already viewed as. They say if it weren't for government subsidies (your tax dollars at work, even if you don't use their products), prices would be totally outrageous. I say, so be it. If a box of corn flakes cost 10 dollars a piece, but only the people who eat corn flakes pay it, that is *fair*. I don't eat corn flakes, why should I pay a subsidy for it? Same for vegetarians, which I am decidedly not. It's the market place that should decide what they'll pay, not the government or the producers. These subsidies and guaranteed pricing are why the US produces enormous surpluses of grain, just to sit on the ground and mold, or sit in storage until it is no longer fit for consumption. End rant ;-). I gotta go move some snow... Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/index.php?list=biofuel Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada. http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511 http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ </x-charset>
