Make green energy compete

In Nevada, as well as 29 states and the District of Columbia, laws require that evergrowing percentages of the electricity you use must come from wind, solar and other forms of renewable energy. Because those forms of energy are more costly and less efficient than traditional fossil fuels, however, they are often not popular choices among businesses or utilities — let alone cash-strapped energy consumers.

In a free market, such a situation might encourage a green company to start re-evaluating their business model — but in the world of crony government it’s easier to just start lobbying politicians. Apparently, there’s nothing quite like a government-created cocktail of subsidies and mandates to jump start an uncompetitive industry. And the environmentalist movement knows it.

But “going green,” as it turns out, isn’t quite that easy. Nor is it cheap.

According to a new study by Dr. Timothy J Considine for the Nevada Policy Research Institute, these “renewable portfolio standards” are having a serious impact on Nevada’s ability to rebuild and expand our economy. Because of the Silver State’s aggressive schedule for increasing the use of renewables, energy prices are expected to climb by nearly 15 percent in 2016. And because higher energy costs impact virtually every corner of the economy, the effects will extend far beyond just electricity bills.

Employment growth, the study found, will be reduced by more than 11,000 jobs, and overall economic growth in the state will be reduced by more than $1.7 billion in 2016. For an economy still trying to claw its way back from the destruction wreaked by the Great Recession, it’s an unnecessarily destructive burden. It’s also a high price to pay for government’s obsession with pushing us toward “politically correct” energy production.

But Nevada’s economic future isn’t the only thing being held back by renewable portfolio standards — the green industry itself is, in a significant way, a victim of its own cronyism. Just as subsidies stifle innovation and technological progress, so, too, do government-created marketplaces. After all, what’s the point of appealing to consumers