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

10 May, 2013 by William Teach

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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.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach.