Reid’s Energy Summit Isn’t About Clean Energy

(Victor Joecks/NPRI) – [Today], Sen. Harry Reid will sponsor his fourth annual Clean Energy Summit. The event is called “The Future of Energy.”

So does the program feature green energy’s top scientists and inventors? Nope. Instead it features speakers and panelists drawn overwhelmingly from the ranks of elected or government officials.

Why? Because “green” energy isn’t profitable or popular. The only future it has is dependent on government handouts.

I wish I could say I was the first to notice this, but the RJ’s Glenn Cook made this point perfectly in his Sunday column.

The National Clean Energy Summit 4.0 will be held Tuesday at CityCenter’s Aria resort, so one might expect the list of speakers to be a who’s who of science and entrepreneurship.

Wrong. Because the clean energy industry is propped up by massive federal subsidies and political pressure, the event might as well be a fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee. …

As with everything else associated with green power, research and economics are out the door in favor of partisan politics and crony capitalism. All to find ways to make you pay more for energy — and everything else as a result.

Also in Sunday’s RJ, reporter Jennifer Robison asks the key question: Is Nevada green energy worth all the green?

Answer: No.

Robison wrote an excellent article that details just some of the money government has wasted pursuing green energy policies and includes some great stuff from NPRI’s Geoffrey Lawrence.

“We’ve been talking about how renewable energy would be the job creator of the future since the 1970s, and the sector has consistently failed to deliver despite massive subsidies,” said Geoffrey Lawrence, deputy director of policy at the Nevada Policy Research Institute, a libertarian think tank in Las Vegas. “It’s time to re-evaluate those promises.”

Be sure to read the whole thing.

Today’s conference isn’t about clean or green energy. It’s about government picking the winners and losers in the energy sector. Reid and his ilk want to give taxpayer money to green energy companies and mandate the use of green energy, which will lead to higher electricity prices for consumers.

Green energy isn’t just more expensive. It’s also costing states thousands of jobs.

Clean energy is really about cleaning out your wallets and giving your green to government-chosen winners.