Atlantic City sets-out to set another record. This time, Atlantic City is making a move in the field of alternative energy. Atlantic City’s Convention Center will be home to the largest single-rooftop solar panel project.
Energy is a complex field. Local, County, State, and Federal governments and subsidiary agencies need to collaborate to ensure an atmosphere that is able to meet our energy needs. Government has a lot to do with setting energy policies, but government rarely creates needed solutions to any problems. Energy is no exception. Government action often has the characteristic of being short-sighted. Well-intentioned government intervention in any field always has unintended, undesirable consequences. My case and point is ethanol subsidies, which have caused food prices to sky-rocket, the Amazon to be depleted, and most-likely will lead to a summer rationing of corn.
Atlantic City was the first town in New Jersey to build windmills. It is good to diversify ones energy portfolio. Yet there seems to be one element missing in the energy equation: savings. With all of the credits currently generated by windmills and sold back to the power grid, there is not a commensurate savings passed on to the consumer. The profits that government agencies makes from selling credits back to the grid get re-invested in government activity. Hence, they are truly wind-fall profits.
The one factor Atlantic City residents should remind their government is that we want savings. The solar panel project and windmills both create profits. Pass the profits back to taxpayers, not to politicians’ pockets.
