More Dept. of Energy Failures, coming right up

About a month back I posted on why Department of Energy grants don't work; more or less, because they're operating under the idea that what's lacking with alternative sources of energy is a simple matter of scale.  Subsidize windmills or ethanol for a while, and it's bound to produce some good results, right?

Well, not if the problem is not economies of scale, but rather chemistry and physics. If electric cars actually create more carbon dioxide than standard cars, or if hybrid cars involve a large carbon dioxide "debt," , or achieving 30mpg in a Volt requires premium gasoline, or luxury hybrids coming in a distinct second in perfomance to a Chevy Traverse, or if light rail and buses are generally actually dirtier than driving (and can not be made more efficient), you're going to simply be throwing money down the toilet.

Well, brace yourself for more of the same, because President Obama has apparently learned nothing from a 35% loss ratio on his loans to solar companies or the 19 solar companies that went bankrupt after receiving loans and grants from Obama's "spendumore" plan.  He wants two billion dollars more, and he's going to pour it into the same failed ideas as before.

Let your Congressman know that 40 years of failure is enough.  It's time to defund Department of Energy and Department of Transportation subsidies for alternative energy and alternative transportation.