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More on the Delusional Renewable Energy Disaster

By August 12, 2023Commentary

The pro(re)gressive environmental whackos are pushing us to unreliable and expensive electricity just fast as they can.  Dave Dixon, who knows something about energy production, did an excellent series on what Minnesota’s renewables law means for residents of the state.  We will update that periodically.  Others have raised the alarms, including the regional electric grid operators, but all to no avail so far.  The Center for the American Experiment has published a comment it submitted on the latest proposed rule from the Bidementia administration.  They are not exaggerating in terms of both the cost and danger of blackouts from this rule and the general consequences of relying on so-called renewable energy.

The additional cost to the Midwest grid area, which includes Minnesota, would be at least around $250 billion, which will be paid by consumers.  The shortfalls in electricity to meet demand are huge, resulting in blackouts that can’t be avoided by importing power, which is what Minnesota does now.  As Dave Dixon pointed out, the only way to avoid the blackouts is to either build enormous battery storage facilities, which are incredibly expensive and environmentally dangerous; or to build multiples of generation capacity over the peak demand.  And even then, no matter how many solar and wind generators you build, you can’t make the wind blow or the sun shine.  (Center Report)

This analysis is further supported by this one on the cost of battery storage.  It would cost over $20 trillion for the US to build enough battery storage to ensure reliability in a renewable-powered grid.  (WUWT Post)  Batteries are very toxic to the environment in the mining of materials to make them, the manufacturing process, their operation and their disposal.  They cause huge fires.  It is beyond stupid to have to create a system that relies on massive battery plants everywhere, when on-demand gas plants could far more cheaply and safely provide our electricity, not to mention nuclear generation.  But this isn’t really about climate change; it is about a jihad against the oil and gas industry and making rich people even richer with renewable energy subsidies.

And all this to reduce emissions that China will make up in a day, along with India.  We are literally killing our economy and quality of life for nothing, absolutely nothing.  The Chinese know this, which is why they keep building much cheaper coal and gas plants for their electricity.

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  • John Oh says:

    Thanks for this and the links. Look forward to more from Dave. Very similar situation with food. The Netherlands government wants to close out thousands of farms to decrease the use of fertilizers high in nitrogen. The Netherlands is the second largest food exporter in the world. Canada is considering something similar. The price of fertilizer is up because gas prices are up, and that doesn’t help. Add that to the loss of grain due to the war and there is going to be a problem. Soon. In the US food will get very expensive, but there will be food. But the anti-racist racists who run this place are going to starv to death thousands and thousands of poor black people, especially children in Africa and parts of Asia. Ah. The discreet charm of the bourgeoisie.

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