Utility companies, owned largely by private shareholder corporations, currently sell in excess of $215 billion in electricity each year. A large share of this electricity is produced from carbon-based fuels and nuclear energy. The federal government offers provides financial subsidies and other direct benefits, such as pollution credits, to maintain low energy costs to the consumer and preserve corporate profits---all at the expense of the environment. If solar energy were provided similar benefits across the board, it would by far be the least expensive form of energy.
"In late 1995, the U.S. Department of Energy initiated a new program through the Interstate Renewable Energy Council to survey each of the 50 states for available information on financial and regulatory incentives that are designed to promote the application of renewable energy technologies. This information is being developed into a database, reports prepared and printed which detail the incentives on a state-by-state basis, and access provided to much of the database via the Internet. By providing this information on a wide basis, it will be much easier for other states to get the information needed to analyze and replicate successful incentives in their own states."1
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