2010-09-23 11:43 | fche blog politics uncivil incentive
Ever since about a year ago, when the Ontario provincial government announced a crazy-generous ‘feed-in-tariff’ program for photovoltaic power generation, I’ve sat on the fence about whether to go for it. As a recap, this scheme, practised in various enlightened jurisdictions around the world, subsidize a personal solar electricity setup. Not just a bit: they pay the solar generator dude 5-10 times market rates for electricity, intending to guarantee a good investment rate of return for 10-20 years.
It is beyond economic farce. Unlike the sunlight, the money does not fall from the heavens. It comes from one’s neighbours in the form of enlarged power bills and/or taxes. This is the redistribution of wealth from those who couldn’t afford to or bring themselves to participate in the scam to those who are willing participants. Considering the system efficiencies and costs involved, there is no economic rationale for it, and only a joke of an environmental one. (Never mind the potential for outright fraud.)
This is where perhaps one might cue some moral outrage. This program specifically promotes and rewards screwing one’s neighbours. Such is the depravity of parts of the modern environmental movement that this is touted as a virtue.