“We are building a clean energy future,” says President Joe Biden.
Who is “we”?
Well, you pay for it.
He and his “green” friends do most of the building.
Lately, they are investing more of your money in “renewable energy”. They promise to give us “carbon-free energy” from the sun and wind.
My new video illustrates some of the issues with this, using scenes from a new documentary series called Juice: power, politics and networks.
Political scientist Roger Pielke Jr. observes, “It’s pretty intuitive for people to understand that there’s a lot of energy in solar energy. We feel the wind. The idea that you can get something for nothing, people find extremely appealing.”
Especially in California, where politicians now require that all new homes be equipped with solar panels, that all new cars sold in 2035 be zero-emissions, and that all of the state’s electricity come from carbon-free resources by 2045.
The results are getting, but not good: The cost of electricity in California has risen three times faster than in the rest of America.
People in Washington state pay about 11 cents per kilowatt hour. In Oregon, 13 cents. In California, now almost 30 cents.
Do they even get reliable power for this? NO.
The big problem with wind and solar power, of course, is that they don’t work when the wind isn’t blowing or the sun isn’t shining. Sometimes this happens when most people want heat or air conditioning.
The increased use of “renewables” is why blackouts are more common in California. Bloomenergy says there were more than 25,000 in 2019, thousands more than the previous year.
“We failed to predict and plan,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said. Right.
Instead, they embraced green, unscientific fantasies.
Requiring all new homes to be equipped with solar panels is a major reason why California has the most expensive homes in America. The average home costs nearly $800,000.
If you can afford it, get money from the government to generate solar power. But the alms go mostly to the rich. Poorer people are more likely to rent.
Furthermore, the subsidy is inefficient.
“Because their solar panels produce energy during the day, when the sun is high,” explains electrical engineer Lee Cordner, “they are able to sell excess energy… into the grid exactly when the grid has none need. The grid is then flooded with solar energy and they cannot use it all. However, they are paid a very high price for that energy.”
Nice for home owners.
Taxpayers pay for the rich to have a highly subsidized solar system.
I also put panels in my house because of the tax credit.
But I don’t delude myself into thinking that solar energy will measurably reduce climate change or that wind energy is particularly green.
“Just to produce one turbine we need to extract 900 tonnes of steel, 2,500 tonnes of cement and 45 tonnes of non-renewable plastic,” explains ecologist Merlin Tuttle. “Then we have to transport it and burn fuel, having it transported all over the world. None of this stuff that goes into a turbine is renewable.”
And they wear out. Turbines are now shut down in just 10 years for maintenance. Maintenance costs almost as much as a new turbine, but it is worth it for “green” companies thanks to government subsidies.
Biden announced an $11 billion subsidy to “bring clean energy to rural communities.” This mainly encouraged people to place wind and solar energy in inappropriate places.
Solar energy makes sense in the American South and other sunny places. But a higher-than-average number of solar subsidies goes to this Minnesota.
In the documentary, a Minnesota resident laughs and says, “The state is going to give me a bunch of subsidies to…build solar plants in picturesque, sunny Minnesota.”
THE Juice The series highlights the stupidity of the government investing money in “green” projects promoted by politically connected people.
When solar and wind become more efficient, they will be cheaper and people will adopt them themselves.
Politicians should stop their destructive interference.
You can watch the full documentary at JuiceTheSeries.com.
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