Professor Elam

Tax paying Texans  will no doubt be thrilled to learn that
their legislature, ever vigilant to spend money, will be subsidizing solar
power. As the price of oil falls through $50, funds will be siphoned off from
electric bills for solar, ah, innovations. (So all the electric bills somehow
contain ‘extra’ money?)  Firms,
indeed homeowners, will be getting subsidies for installing solar generating
schemes even though as mentioned they are inferior in producing energy to oil
at these prices, but then whoever said going green would be
cheap. Remember America voted for change and here it is.

We went through all this in the Energy Crisis of 1980, and here
we go again. Enviro types wistfully dream of putting garbage french fry grease
or sunshine or some such in the auto fuel 
tank ala the last scene in Back to the Future or. My
understanding of solar cells is that the dirty secret is simply that more
energy is expended in CONSTRUCTING them than they will ever recover in their
useful life. It apparently takes huge amounts of energy to cook the special
cells that turn light into energy. 

As I pointed out to one presenter at the San Antonio Economic
Conference, how about  subsidizing
something  that actually works now?
We got everyone in the country to install ceiling fans in the 1980s (actually a
circa 1900 idea, tongue in cheek, there is nothing new under the sun). Nothing
fills up strip mall stores faster than a new tax credit for an old idea like ceiling
fans. So doing our part for Going Green not to mention  filling up auto showrooms and empty
strip malls, here goes.

Okay, if we really want to harness the sun's energy, how about
an investment tax credit for installing roof mounted water radiators? Run a
line from the hot water heater to the heat exchanger on the roof, I would guess
water could easily be heated to 120 or so in the summer months, relieving work
for the hot water heater. 

The tank type water heater is literally a waste of energy, Not
only does the high water temperature have to be maintained regardless of
demand, once used the tank runs out of hot water. The superior design idea is a
heated, water filled coil. Hot water is produced by simply running water through
the heated coil so one never runs out and there is no water reserve to heat at
all times. Let's give an investment tax credit for those adopting this superior
technology, ala the 1980 ceiling fan. 

How about adopting the practical idea of the Guayabera shirt, or
at least killing the hated necktie industry once and for all by encouraging
this Mexican Panama idea?

The US Navy has had the
original Bermuda Shorts idea as a standard uniform for the tropics for decades,
if it is good enough for the US Navy, why not the rest of us? Both the shirt
and shorts would eliminate the need for as much air conditioning in the
summer. 

Let's encourage porches all around, shade will keep the sides of
al buildings cooler.

How about no to very slim windows on the west side of homes and
buildings? Thanks to the irrational idea of daylight savings time, it gets
pretty hot on the west side at 5:00 PM here in Texas.

Honda launched once had a
600cc sports car for sale in the early 1960s. How about a tax credit for under  1500 cc (ninety cubic inch) 96 inch
wheelbase cars weighing less than 2800 pounds?  This business of eight passenger vehicles is a joke
anyway.  Suzuki built a 1000 cc
vehicle of this description   
sold under the Geo name in the 1980s. GM of course dropped it and now
look at the company! Fun cars that deliver great economy, gee maybe that would
get folks back in the showrooms.

In the meantime, those
looking for updates on the markets need look no further than my blog www.professorelam.typepad.com/markets.
And, unlike solar panels, it is government subsidy free…..