A Warning to Congress: Renewal of Wind Energy 
Subsidies Will Lead to Big Boost in CO2 Emissions:
 


... For those who say this problem is more a product of rock-
bottom natural gas prices than the PTC, I say think again. Wind
tends to be nocturnal, blowing during off-peak hours for power
consumption, according to UBS and a 2012 Northbridge study. 
It’s when people least need the power, yet that’s just when the 
taxpayers are being hit in the pocket. Natural gas plants are not 
setting wholesale prices in the dead of night, but the wind turbines keep spinning.

So how does all of this connect to going backwards on climate
change? Easy. 

This PTC problem causes the erosion of our existing nuclear fleet, 
the low-carbon workhorse. As I mentioned, nuke plants are shutting 
down prematurely — Vermont Yankee in Vermont and Kewaunee in 
Wisconsin to name two — and more are in danger of following suit. 
When that happens, climate scientists say, carbon emissions will skyrocket.

Starting and stopping our thermal plants to accommodate these 
windy splurges also causes big increases in all contaminant 
emissions, including carbon. Just as the fuel economy in your 
car worsens when you’re inching along in traffic rather than 
cruising at a steady 55 MPH, the so-called ‘cycling’ of gas and 
coal-fired plants burns up more feedstock, pouring CO2 into the 
atmosphere. In fact, Bentek, a Colorado energy analytics firm, 
found that the 1,327 cycling incidents in the state in 2009 created 
up to 6.8 million pounds of ‘extra’ SO2, 3.1 million pounds of NOX 
and 147,000 pounds of CO2.....

Read the entire article at:

http://tinyurl.com/l4c7fmb

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