July 10, 2012 | Climate Change, Energy Policy, Sustainability + Energy
I recently came across this infographic depicting the total amount of federal energy incentives doled out to various energy sources over the past fifty years.
Courtesy of Management Information Services Inc and the University of Tennessee
Absent a national energy plan (because we don’t have one), this is what decades of status-quo has given us:
- An energy portfolio heavily tilted in favor of polluting, finite energy sources – many of which must be imported from politically unstable nations.
- Mature industries that have grown dependent upon federal subsidies (i.e. taxpayer dollars), and offer power at artificially low prices.
- An under-developed renewable energy sector that continues to limp along.
Imagine if wind and solar had received similar incentives to the oil and gas industries. I wonder how many jobs, manufacturing facilities, and communities we would support today?
You tell me, what else is wrong with this picture?
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