Posted on 03/14/2017 4:37:41 AM PDT by Kaslin
If you listen to the media narrative on climate change and "clean energy," you'd think that the rest of the world has moved smartly and seamlessly toward 21st century green energy while the U.S. is the high-polluting laggard that just won't get with the program to save the planet.
Think again. The green energy revolution around the world has turned into a big green meltdown, with many nations sprinting away from "renewable" energy with the speed of Usain Bolt.
Here are a few of the latest news flashes from Europe and Asia. In Germany, the world leader in green energy, electricity prices have now reached a level triple those paid in the United States. Imagine the anger here if middle-class Americans saw a tripling of their utility bills each month.
In Britain, to comply with renewable energy requirements, power stations are burning hundreds of millions of pounds of wood pellets (pellets imported from the U.S.). Environmental experts confirm that burning wood is much worse for the environment than burning natural gas or even coal.
Australia, another "green energy" leader, saw its electricity prices skyrocket this past winter. According to an analysis by the Institute for Energy Research, power costs surged unbelievably -- from $100 per megawatt hour to $10,000 per megawatt hour. This was because of heavy dependence on an unreliable renewable energy program. The government had to reopen one of its shuttered natural-gas plants to keep prices from further exploding.
Sweden announced a decade ago that it was all-in on green energy, and the government launched a wind-power program. Embarrassingly, Swedish politicians now have had to acknowledge the program has become so expensive and inefficient that the government will phase out the subsidies lavished on the industry.
In each of these cases, the economies and local factories have taken a big hit. According to the Institute for Energy Research analysis of Australia: "The government has found that its electric system that is heavily reliant on wind power (40 percent comes from intermittent renewable sources) cannot cope without reliable power from traditional generation sources. The fallout is that Australia is finding that its energy-intensive businesses are relocating to Asian countries that provide stable regulation and costs, lower taxes, cheaper wages, and less red tape."
So, very quietly, Europe and other nations aren't going so green anymore. The European Union spent an estimated $750 billion on green-energy handouts over the past decade, and all it's bought them is a doubling of power costs. This has given American steel, auto manufacturers, light manufacturers, agriculture businesses and technology firms a big competitive edge in world markets.
It's no wonder that European nations and Australia are desperate for the U.S. to move to the same dimwitted green energy policies that they have adopted.
What would that mean for America? One study by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimated that if America were to adopt the same mandates for renewable energy, the total cost to American consumers would be more than $600 billion and our industries would pay out at least $30 billion more.
By the way, the U.S. already provides subsidies to wind and solar power. And according to a 2016 American Action forum study, these subsidies are five times greater per unit of energy produced than subsidies given to nuclear power and 20 times more generous than those given to fossil fuels. Yet despite all the money spent on them, wind and solar power still account for less than 5 percent of American energy output. Why not just eliminate all American energy subsidies and let the free market decide?
Thankfully, Donald Trump has made it known that adopting more of the policy quackery of Europe -- at a time when the U.S. has more recoverable shale oil and gas and more clean coal than any other nation on the planet -- is no way to make America great again. Europe is running away from the fantasy of green energy, and this is one rare instance when America may want to follow their lead.
Great post. This story needs to be read.
Germany, the “greenest” energy nation, is paying three times what we pay in America for electricity!
...Europe’s Lesson Teaches Us: Don’t Go Green...
Or, Muslim.
You said it
We have a nuclear power plant on the border of my county. It’s nice. Being in a largely flat, rural area, you can see the steam from from almost 15 miles away. It’s been here for decades and there has not been one issue. The smartest people I have ever had the chance to meet work there.
And I mean “weird” smart. Savant style.
Each year, the power company donates $1 million to the local school system. No strings attached.
We have had two solar panel manufacturers come and go within the span of 10 years. They come, pay ridiculous salaries, and then fold up completely leaving a total industrial waste mess and a large number of unemployed low-skilled workers who now expect higher wages than the area can afford. The owners all had helicopters. Helicopters. That’s a $400 - $750, per hour, run time.
Even though they would make the panels here they were still so expensive that no one could afford them.
I just heard that another one is coming. It will be heavily subsidized by the State because it’s so “green” and stuff. (Even though it is made using some of the most caustic and dangerous chemicals known to man.)
I would rather have another nuclear plant (unsure our river could support it though).
In South San Francisco a company named solazyme makes fuel from algae:
the u.s. Navy was ordered to buy this fuel, which turns out to steadily harm engines.
the price turned out to be something like $130 per gallon.
billions and billions were wasted.
naturally the leadership of solazyme or Obama Insiders
Real nice post, Noamie. Shows the deceit of the green crowd — more like neon green.
Funny how the "progressives" want to copy all of the eurotrash socialist ideas:
1. "green" energy;
2. Open borders
3. embrace islam
4. socialized single payer healthcare
No working for Europe, sure the hell won't work here.
Follow the money.
How much profit did 0vomit cronies and the Clintons make from this debacle? How much did Al Gore make?
#2 I saw a This Old House show where the plumber guy went to Germany and was extolling how wonderful it was they were using solar energy. He never mentioned the price!
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