Information About Our Country’s Energy Tax Dollars

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ENERGY TAX DOLLARS

  • Our government is the single largest user of energy in the U.S., spending more than $12 billion annually.
  • 65% of DOE budget has been on nuclear energy since 1957. Only 10% of electricity is supplied by nuclear power plants.
  • Soon, more than half of the nuclear power plants in this country will reach expiration age and be decommissioned. Estimated decommissioning cost for each plant is $2 billion.
  • Costs of storing, transporting, and disposing of nuclear waste ($?) YOUR tax dollars.
  • Five national laboratories did three years of research work that shows the government could reduce its energy consumption by one-fifth at no additional cost to taxpayers. (Investment in efficiency paid for by savings)

THE FREE MARKET

  • The First National Bank Plaza spent $400,000 for energy-efficient lighting; annual savings = $500,000.
  • Westin Hotel in San Francisco spent $75,000 on energy-efficient lighting; annual savings = $85,000.
  • Verizon spent $25 million on an energy efficiency retrofit and saved $100 million over the next three years.
  • The Ford Motor Plant (formerly) in Chicago Heights spent $840,000 for a solar wall, which offset heating costs; first year savings were $350,000; following year (with more insulation) savings = $375,000.
  • The wind turbines currently operating in California produce enough electricity to power more than the number of homes in San Francisco and are not federally subsidized.
  • Bigelow, a Chicago-based home builder, has built more than 1,000 homes in the Chicago area with no furnaces; annual heating bills are $200.

Energy Links:

  1. Biofuels from Switchgrass: Greener Energy Pastures 
  2. U.S. Department of Energy: Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
            Can you buy green power for your home or business now?
    Find out here.
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