Conservatives, let’s talk about energy. And why so many conservatives are so wrong — so liberal, even — on wind and solar energy. Let’s start with a recent editorial from the home of ‘free markets and free people,” the Wall Street Journal. Photovoltaic solar energy, quoth the mavens, is a “speculative and immature technology that costs far more than ordinary power.” So few words, so many misconceptions. It pains me to say that because, like many business leaders, I grew up on the Wall Street Journal and still depend on it. But I cannot figure out why people who call themselves “conservatives” would say solar or wind power is “speculative.” Conservatives know that word is usually reserved to criticize free-market activity that is not approved by well, you know who.

Today, around the world, more than a million people work in the wind and solar business. Many more receive their power from solar. Solar is not a cause, it is a business with real benefits for its customers. Just ask anyone who installed their solar systems five years ago. Today, many of their systems are paid off and they are getting free energy. Better still, ask the owners of one of the oldest and most respected companies in America who recently announced plans to build one of the largest solar facilities in the country.

That would be Dow Jones, owners of the Wall Street Journal.

Now we come to “immature.” Again, the meaning is fuzzy. But in Germany, a country 1/3 our size in area and population, they have more solar than the United States. This year, Germans will build enough solar to equal the output of three nuclear power plants. What they call immaturity our clients call profit-making leadership. But let’s get to the real boogie man: The one that “costs far more than ordinary power.”

I’ve been working in energy infrastructure for 25 years and I have no idea what the WSJ means by the words “ordinary power.” But, after spending some time with Milton Friedman whom I met on many occasions while studying for an MBA at the University of Chicago, I did learn about costs. And here is what every freshman at the University of Chicago knows: There is a difference between cost and price. Solar relies on price supports from the government. Fair enough — though its price is falling even faster than fossil fuels are rising. But if Friedman were going to compare the costs of competing forms of energy, he also would have wanted to know the cost of “ordinary energy.” Figured on the same basis. This is something the self-proclaimed conservative opponents of solar refuse to do.

But huge companies including Wall Mart, IBM, Target and Los Gatos Tomatoes figured it out. And last year so did the National Academy of Sciences. It produced a report on the Hidden Costs of Energy that documented how coal was making people sick to the tune of $63 billion a year. And that oil and natural gas had so many tax breaks and subsidies that were so interwoven for so long, it was hard to say exactly how many tens of billions these energy producers received courtesy of the U.S. Taxpayer. Just a few weeks ago, the International Energy Agency said worldwide, fossil fuels receive $550 billion in subsidies a year — 12 times what alternatives such as wind and solar get. Neither report factored in Global Warming or the cost of sending our best and bravest into harm’s way to protect our energy supply lines.

Whatever that costs, you know it starts with a T.

All this without hockey stick graphs, purloined emails or junk science. When you compare the real costs of solar with the fully loaded real costs of coal and oil and natural gas and nuclear power, apples to apples, solar is cheaper. That’s not conservative. Or liberal. That comes from an ideology older and more reliable than both of those put together: Arithmetic.

Please don’t miss the Change.org petitions over on the right hand side of the site. Topics like offshore oil drilling and the Climate Bill are awaiting your support!

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1. Available Energy Rebates For Going Green At Home.
2. Importance Of The Systems Inside Your Energy Efficient Home.
3. Prepare In Advance: Lower Your Cooling Costs And Go Green This Summer.
4. Solar Energy Is Not New.
5. Financial Incentives For Energy Efficiency In New Mexico.

If you prefer to walk or bike instead of using a car, enjoy being outside, use reusable bags, avoid plastic bottles, eat meat sparingly or not at all, research makeup and cosmetic products for safety, carry a refillable water bottle, and generally avoid buying crap you don’t need and using the stuff you do have as long as it is useful, then you are well on your way to successfully completing by DoSomething’s Weekend Without Oil challenge. So sign the pledge!

The Weekend Without Oil is this weekend – August 21 & 22 – and aims to educate teens and pe… Read the full story on TreeHugger

Please don’t miss the Change.org petitions over on the right hand side of the site. Topics like offshore oil drilling and the Climate Bill are awaiting your support!

You may also enjoy:

1. Downstream/Upstream – We Are All Connected.
2. Prepare In Advance: Lower Your Cooling Costs And Go Green This Summer.
3. Do One Thing: Pick Up After Your Pets.
4. The Problem With E-Waste Recycling Is The Toxic Leftovers.
5. Please Forgive Me, For I Am An Eco-Sinner.

Peak Time: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday. Charge per kWh: June through September – $0.15315; October through May – $0.11767

Off-Peak Times: All other hours, plus New Year’s Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day; and Fridays directly before Saturday holidays and Mondays immediately following Sunday holidays. Charge per kWh: $0.01920

That’s a huge difference, and your state or area might have the same kind of discounts for using those major appliances late at night or on weekends. Here in Denver they only offer a two-tier program, in which you pay 4.6 cents per kWh for 0-500 kWh per month or for use that exceeds 500 kWh, the cost is 9 cents per kWh. This encourages users to really watch their energy use to keep those costs down. Be sure to check out what your area offers so that you can conserve energy AND save money!

Please don’t miss the Change.org petitions over on the right hand side of the site. Topics like offshore oil drilling and the Climate Bill are awaiting your support!

You may also enjoy:

1. Cash For Clunker Appliances Coming This Fall.
2. Upgrading Old Appliances To More Efficient Models.
3. How Much Electricity Will Plug-In Hybrids Use?
4. Energy Efficient Micro Appliances.
5. Is Solar Right For Me? – Part 1.

We’ve been focused on educating people about reducing their oil consumption (see our Minus Oil series), so when we heard from DoSomething about their Weekend Without Oil it was as if the idea had been plucked straight from our heads. With a goal of getting teens to reduce their oil consumption, the Weekend Without Oil will be held August 21 & 22nd, so mark your calendar!

Find out more about the Weekend Wit… Read the full story on TreeHugger

I wonder how shiny the moon would be at night – would it keep us up all night, as though the sun was now shining 24 hours a day?

Please don’t miss the Change.org petitions over on the right hand side of the site. Topics like offshore oil drilling and the Climate Bill are awaiting your support!

You may also enjoy:

1. Buying Green Power From Your Utility Vs. Going It Alone.
2. Is Solar Right For Me? – Part 1.
3. Is Solar Right For Me? – Part 2.
4. Heat Your Home For Free With These Solar Heaters.
5. Greenwash Of The Week: Chevron’s Solar Project Bulls#%t!

I wonder how shiny the moon would be at night – would it keep us up all night, as though the sun was now shining 24 hours a day?

Please don’t miss the Change.org petitions over on the right hand side of the site. Topics like offshore oil drilling and the Climate Bill are awaiting your support!

You may also enjoy:

1. Buying Green Power From Your Utility Vs. Going It Alone.
2. Is Solar Right For Me? – Part 1.
3. Is Solar Right For Me? – Part 2.
4. Heat Your Home For Free With These Solar Heaters.
5. Greenwash Of The Week: Chevron’s Solar Project Bulls#%t!

It’s probably a pretty safe bet that if you’re reading TreeHugger then you’re mad as hell (and don’t want to take it anymore) about the BP oil spill. Now, there are plenty of ways you can take action and express your outrage at BP, as well as show support for alternatives to oil, but the one you should take part in this Saturday, June 26th, occurring at a beach near you, is Hands Across the Sand:… Read the full story on TreeHugger