Interviews
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Interview with Paul Gipe
We are proud to present an interview with Paul Gipe, given on May 21st 2009 on the subject of wind power.
Paul Gipe has written extensively about renewable energy for both the popular and trade press. His most recent book, Wind Energy Basics: A Guide to Home- and Community-scale Wind Energy Systems is available from Chelsea Green Publishing. In 2004, Gipe launched a campaign to bring electricity feed laws back to North America. The campaign has grown into a continent-wide grassroots movement that has put renewable energy feed-in tariffs on the political agenda in Canada and the US.
click here to view Paul Gipe's site
The interview with Paul Gipe
Question #1
Where is the tax payer money better spent if the objective is to have a cleaner environment? a. In subsidizing the big wind turbines farms or b. In providing tax incentives to small and micro wind turbines
Paul's answer
Neither! Tax subsidies are the wrong way to develop renewable energy--period. The world's most successful mechanism for developing the massive amounts of renewable energy we need as rapidly as possible are systems of feed-in tariffs. These are not subsidies, but simply payments for generation.
Tax subsidies are dependent upon annual budgeting or appropriations and thus subject to stop-and-go development. Further, the cost is borne by the taxpayer and not the consumer of energy--where it should be.
Read the whole interview here.
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