The Pain in Spain is Their Broken Energy Policy
The Great Spain Energy Plan
by Alex Adrianson, The Heritage Foundation
Spain’s Renewable Energy Boondoggle
A funny thing about President Barack Obama’s suggestion that we look to Spain for guidance on energy policy: Spain’s experience reveals that green energy is a job killer, not a job creator.
In January, President Obama urged a rally in Ohio: “Think of what’s happening in countries like Spain, Germany and Japan, where they’re making real investments in renewable energy. They’re surging ahead of us, poised to take the lead in these new industries.”
But Gabriel Calzado of Spain’s Rey Juan Carlos University calculates that Spain’s efforts to promote renewable energy through subsidies and price controls has destroyed 2.2 jobs for every job the program has created. According to Calzado, since the year 2000, Spain’s subsidies for renewable energy have created no more than 50,200 jobs. But the annual subsidy per job created has been €55,946. That works out to 2.2 times the productivity of the average worker in the European Union, meaning the resources spent to subsidize green jobs could have sustained 2.2 times more jobs in the private sector.
Calzado’s calculations help fix the deficient analysis being put out by the promoters of green energy who look only at jobs created directly by subsidies, but ignore the alternative uses of the resources spent. Meanwhile, it should be kept in mind that jobs per se are not a benefit. Jobs are the cost of producing the things we value. 
If we could get the things we value with less work, then we’d all have more time to spend at the beach.
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Face Fwd Comments:
For today’s comments I have a multiple choice question:
Which one of the following things has Spain not done well?
A – Bullfighting
B – Paella
C – Festivals of Tomatoes
D – Real Madrid
E – Running of the Bulls
F – Subsidized Green Energy
** Oh sorry liberals, it’s not Paella, that’s a yumy rice dish.
** No Nancy Pelosi, it’s not C! However, you are the best at Running the Bull
** Sorry Obama, it’s not a tomato fight either
That’s right, America it’s F.
Instead of blowing in the wind, why aren’t we building nuclear energy plants. I still have not heard any politician talking about it. If the Democrats wanted to push some of the stupidity they are associated with aside and shut the conservatives up on energy, they would start building nuclear power plants tomorrow.
I can assure you it’s not going to happen for two reasons 1) Too many “greenies” are actually anti-technology and don’t want any advances and 2) It would solve a huge part of the energy problem and they would loose that control over the voters. Come on people let’s be vocal and stop the liberal admistration from breaing the bank on stupid energy plans.
We are going to have to do something or I will have to get a bigger hamster wheel for my kids.
