Alternative Energy Projects - A Teenager Accomplishes More With $200 Than The Obama Administration Does With Billions Of Dollars

Despite claiming that he was going to be the most green President of all time, bringing alternative energy technologies to the world, the record in alternative energy of the Obama administration is pretty abysmal and definitely very expensive.

The following list of failed ventures/lost "bets" that this administration placed with our tax money includes companies and Obama's political cronies that received Federal government loans, Federal government loan guarantees, and Federal government outright (free) grants of taxpayer money:

• Solyndra - $535,000,000
• Ecotality - $141,400,000
• Beacon Power - $43,000,000
• Spectrawatt - $500,000
• Evergreen Solar - $5,300,000
• A123 - $250,000,000
• Fisker - $529,000,000
• Tesla - $465,000,000
• Chevy Volt - $1,500,000,000
• Total taxpayer wealth lost from just this partial list of alternative energy efforts - $3,469,200,000

In addition to the above wasted uses of taxpayer money, the annual Department Of Energy budget of $39 billion a year should also be considered a waste in its totality. Since its founding more than three decades ago, the Department has not developed and deployed a coherent and effective national energy program and has not developed or financed the development of any technology or energy source that would justify tens of billions of dollars a year in its budget.

Hundreds of billions of dollars spent, and wasted, through the years with nothing to show for it.

Gas prices that have doubled since January, 2009 with no long term energy strategy or plan in place that is either environmentally friendly and/or economically friendly.

No new energy technologies for the housing, automotive, or commercial sectors of the economy that have proven worthwhile as a result of Energy Department funding or Energy Department initiatives.

No new auto technologies that will miraculously get unheard of mileage from a new generation of cars as a result of Energy Department funding or Energy Department initiatives.

What a colossal waste of time, energy, money, and government resources, both historically and over the past couple of years, relative to the energy situation in this country.

However, what the entire Federal energy bureaucracy, the entire Federal political class, and hundreds of billions of dollars could not do, change the energy paradigm in this country, a high school senior in Grant City, Missouri may be doing for a few hundred dollars.

Consider the amazing story of high school senior Don Gibson, age 18, as described in the May 18, 2012 issue of The Week magazine and in other credible journalistic channels:

• Mr. Gibson purchased a 1995 Geo Metro auto and ripped out the engine.
• He went on Ebay and purchased a used fork lift for $200.
• He stripped out the fork lift's electric motor and installed it into the now motorless Geo Metro.
• The retrofitted car is street legal and deemed safe to operate on the street in the eyes of the Missouri state government's department of motor vehicles.
• He has been driving the car his entire senior year of high school without any problems.
• He can attain a top speed of about 62 miles per hour.
• He can recharge the electrical batteries in the fork lift engine in about six hours, which he does overnight every day.
• A complete charge costs about $.25 which means he gets the equivalent of about 200 miles per gallon, based on the current cost of a gallon of gas.
• His range is about 30 miles before he needs to recharge the batteries.
• The Chevrolet website estimates that its electric car, the Volt, has a range of 35 miles from its electric engine, only about 17% longer than Mr. Gibson's Geo Metro.
• However, recall that the Chevy Volt received over $1 billion form the Federal government to help attain that 35 mile range while Mr. Gibson received $0 to attain his 30 mile range.
• He feels he could get the range substantially higher with newer battery technology as opposed to the current fork lift battery technology he used.
• The 18 year old is quoted in the article as saying: "If you live in a small community and you just need to drive around town, this is the most ideal vehicle you could drive." This sounds an awfully like the initial Volt advertising I saw where it hyped the fact that if you drive around town, you would never need to use gas.

Incredible, this young man is doing with hundreds of dollars what the Federal government and General Motors could not do with billions of dollars, probably hundreds of engineers, and the latest knowledge on materials, batteries, aerodynamics, etc. He is making an absolutely positive impact on the environment and our dependence on foreign oil sources in his garage using existing technology without the waste and cronyism of the political class. 

What a great advancement and what a great embarrassment to those who think we need the Federal government to oversee and overspend our tax wealth to cure the environmental and dependence problems inherent in our current energy paradigm.

But wait, the story gets even better. According to news reports, Mr. Gibson is working on the development of his own personal windmill-powered charger station so that he can charge his high mileage, low pollution converted Geo Metro with wind power. Unbelievable. A true tribute to American innovation and a true indictment of America's politicians.



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