Obama’s Wonderful DOE Green Programs Spent $26 Billion On Less Than 3,000 Jobs

Don’t worry, Obama’s cool with this, it’s Someone Else’s money, and he can always get more

(Institute for Energy Research) Without much fanfare, the Department of Energy (DOE) recently updated the list of loan guarantee projects on its website. Unlike in 2008, when Barack Obama pledged to create 5 million jobs over 10 years by directing taxpayer funds toward renewable energy projects, there were no press conferences or stump speeches. But the data are nonetheless revealing: for the over $26 billion spent since 2009, DOE Section 1703 and 1705 loan guarantees have created only 2,298 permanent jobs for a cost of over $11.45 million per job.

Shocker, eh? Cue the E-trade baby

I still hate those commercials. Just like I hate wasting taxpayer money on endeavors that are mostly bound to fail. Most of the waste on the DOE list comes from solar company investment. Cue the E-trade baby again.

As the astronomical cost of the DOE’s loan guarantee program indicates, subsidizing renewable energy is not a good deal for taxpayers. But loan guarantees are just one of the ways the federal government bankrolls risky green energy projects. Energy-related tax preferences cost taxpayers about $13.5 billion in FY 2012, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation. But solar and wind power, for which the majority of the tax preferences for renewable energy were directed, produced only 3.6 percent of the nation’s generation in 2012. In addition, the Treasury Department’s 1603 grant program, which offers cash payments to renewable energy companies, cost taxpayers $5.8 billion in 2012. Many states also subsidize green energy through tax preferences as well as requiring renewable electricity mandates that require a specified amount of electricity to be generated from qualified renewable sources like wind and solar.

While attempting to create more alternative energy sources is a laudable goal, doing it in this manner is clearly wasteful and worthless

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5 Responses to “Obama’s Wonderful DOE Green Programs Spent $26 Billion On Less Than 3,000 Jobs”

  1. john says:

    Teach one of the best things about renewables is that they do not need permanent jobs. After they are built there is very little more labor needed to keep them going. And that total appears to be for guaranteeing that the loans that were put up by private free market moneiwes will be paid back The 2 largest recipients of the DOE loan programs were Georgia Power and AREVA both of which are nukes .https://lpo.energy.gov/our-projects/
    AREVA Front-end Nuclear $2 billion 310/1,000 Idaho Falls, ID
    Georgia Power Company Nuclear Generation $8.33 billion 800/3,500 Waynesboro, GA
    Georgia Power is spending 8 billion to build a nuke. ??? Yeah that makes a LOT of sense.
    The only way it could be built is with a loan guarantee, no private would touch iy

  2. gitarcarver says:

    After they are built there is very little more labor needed to keep them going.

    I have no idea where you are getting that from. Solar and wind take a tremendous amount of maintenance as other countries are finding out.

    As for the cost of a nuke, you seem to think that those costs are in the building of the facility. They aren’t. It is an inflated cost because people like you want to stop nukes, even though they are actually cleaner and better for the environment than your so called “green” energy.

  3. That’s a shocking statement from John, GC. If this were a post, I’d add a facepalm gif. He fails to understand that wind turbines need lubrication, maintaining the concrete base, rust protection, etc.

    Solar needs lubrication for those that track the sun, being kept clean, wiring to transmit the energy, replacement, maintenance, etc

    I really do not know where his idea came from.

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