Articles on solar power rave about how much it has increased. ‘To the uninitiated this enthusiasm could give the impression that solar power is a boon to mankind.

The solar boom resulted from tax credit subsidies that no one wants to talk about.

If you are out in the boonies, solar power beats having no power at all. But the production of solar power to feed into the grid and compete with traditional sources of power is a phony, government-created industry with no free market support.

If there were no subsidies, you would be foolish to invest in the technology. Fools usually have money to invest,

Warren Buffet says solar does not make sense without the tax breaks. The big winners in the solar business owe their success to political connections and gaming complicated government programs.

The economics do not support the huge investment being squandered on solar equipment production and installation. It is - to use a popular word - unsustainable.

It’s a safe bet it will crash like previous governmental energy industries.

This new energy economy will be characterized by political connections, fly-by-night bankruptcies and a huge waste of money on projects that fail to perform as promised.

Jim Clarkson is an energy consultant and CEO of Resource Supply Management.