House Chamber, Washington, DC October 22, 2009 I rise in opposition to the rule and in opposition to the underlying bill. And to explain why, I’d like to walk through a little history and a little math. Lets begin with history and two important years: 1978 and 1839. In 1978, the Wall Street Journal carried this headline: Solar Power Seen Meeting 20 percent of Needs by 2000; Carter May Seek Outlay Boost. Oddly, the same paper carried a headline in 2006 making the same promise this time for all renewable fuels only this time by 2025 but I digress. Billions of dollars were poured into research and development for solar technology, and an entire solar industry solely supported by massive subsidies arose to grab those dollars. And what was the result of all of this plunder of taxpayers and ratepayers? More than 30 years after that promise was made in 1978, solar power accounts for just one percent of electricity generation. Thats not for lack of subsidies its because despite billions of dollars of subsidies, the technology remains immensely inefficient and expensive. And that brings me to the second year: 1839. This is not a new technology. Photovoltaic electricity was first discovered by French physicist Alexandre Edmond Becquerel in the year 1839. This technology has existed for 170 years. And in those 170 years of scientific discovery and progress, and despite billions of dollars of subsidies to the solar industry, we have yet to discover a more expensive way of generating …
