Energy Flashes

TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION. In a study based on data filed by the utilities themselves, the Environmental Action Foundation and the National Consumer Information Center found that electric utilities charged users $2.2 billion for federal taxes in 1975, but paid only $728 million to the Internal Revenue Service ... a net overcharge of $1.5 billion. Out of 150 companies surveyed by EAF and NCIC, 134 charged customers for more taxes than were actually paid, while 43 companies paid no federal income tax at all. For a copy of the EAF/NCIC report—entitled Phantom Taxes in Your Electric Bill —send $2.50 to: Environmental Action Foundation, 724 DuPont Circle Bldg., Washington, D.C. 20036.

ERDA SELECTS SITE FOR FIRST 200-KW WINDPLANT. Clayton, New Mexico (pop. 3,000) has been chosen by the Energy Research and Development Administration to receive the first of four large wind turbines to be built by ERDA around the country. When it begins operation later this year, the 200-kilowatt Clayton wind generator (an enlarged version of the NASA windplant at Sandusky, Ohio) will be the biggest such device to feed a utility grid since the famous Smith-Putnam windmill (at Grandpa's Knob, Vermont) of the 1940's.

TOLL-FREE SOLAR HOTLINE. The National Solar Heating and Cooling Information Center (Box 1607, Rockville, Md. 20850) now has a toll-free number to call for solar energy information: It's (800) 523-2929. (In Pennsylvania, dial 800-462-4983.) The folks at the Center have a vast library of solar energy literature at their fingertips and say that if they can't find the answer to your question, they'll refer you to someone who can.

BRAZIL TO BURN GASOHOL BY 1980. At $1.75 per gallon, Brazilian gasoline is among the highest-priced in the world ... which is why that country's government has embarked on a $420 million program to produce enough ethanol from domestically grown sugar cane and manioc to supply 20% of the country's auto fuel needs (in the form of a 20/80 alcohol-gasoline blend) by 1980. The urgency of the situation is underscored by the fact that Brazil now spends $4 billion per year-out of a $6 billion per year balance-of-payments deficit—for imported oil.