John Hinderaker:
Why, after many decades of grid stability and reliable energy, are we suddenly talking about blackouts? The answer is obvious. Across America, reliable coal and nuclear power plants are being retired, and supposedly replaced by “green” wind and solar energy. This is frankly absurd, because an intermittent energy source that works less than half the time (wind) or rarely (solar) can’t possibly replace reliable, 24/7 electricity, no matter how many billions we spend.
David Strom:
Life in the 21st century is built upon a foundation of abundant, affordable, and reliable energy. First world countries ensure all 3; and unless energy is abundant, affordable, and reliable it is impossible to retain 1st world status. It is almost impossible to live in a modern industrialized society without consistent access to power.
Steven Hayward:
One of my favorite indicators of ignorance are the people who buy personalized license plates, or affix stickers, for their electric cars that say “Emission Free.” Even if you ignore the enormous environmental impacts associated with manufacturing an electric car (which are significantly higher than a gasoline-powered car), if you live in a state that generates a lot of its electricity from coal, you are essentially driving a coal-powered car.
The next most ignorant view is that at least you don’t have to buy expensive gasoline! People seem to forget that electricity isn’t free, from whatever source.
John Hinderaker:
Wind and solar installations produce electricity well under 50 percent of the time, a fact that never will change. So, in a “green” world, how do you keep the lights on? Battery storage, liberals tell us. (The electric grid is not a storage device. Electricity on the grid must be consumed in the moment in which it is produced.) Amazingly, however, no environmentalist or liberal has made any effort to demonstrate that battery storage on the scale needed is possible, let alone affordable. In fact, it is not even remotely possible.
Steven Hayward:
Meanwhile, you know [what] the leading climate-related case of death is? Cold weather, especially when you can’t keep your house warm because of expensive (or intermittent) “green” energy.
Beege Welborn:
The scarcity of resources — both for power generation and the power itself — has been a huge factor in skyrocketing energy prices. Sadly, there will be plenty of people across Europe this winter who wouldn’t know if there was a blackout because they couldn’t afford to keep the lights burning or consistently heat their homes in any event.
John Hinderaker:
The facts are brutal: the U.K. consumes around 840 GWh of electricity per day. Of that total, solar panels produced a pathetic 5.46 GWh, even though their “rated capacity” is 336GWh. When promoting wind and solar, liberals always talk about rated or nameplate capacity, when the actual productivity of any wind or solar installation is only a fraction—in this case a minuscule fraction—of its alleged capacity.
The “green” edifice is rapidly crumbling. We can only hope that it crumbles fast enough to save the liberal West from economic and social catastrophe.
