Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Five Myths of Green Energy

While government watchdogs did drugs and surfed porn, BP was busy wrecking the Gulf Coast.  Talk is turning again to "Green Energy."

I love the environment (it's where the tasty creatures are) and I am cheering for the good scientists struggling to advance "green energy." 

Despite what scientifically-ignorant charlatans like Al Gore and Van Jones say, "green energy" is simply too inefficient to compete with fossil fuels.  The science is advancing, but it's just not there yet.

Robert Bryce performs a public service by publishing Five Myths of Green Energy in The Washington Post.


Here are the Five Myths

1. Solar and wind power are the greenest of them all.
Wrong!  They are land hogs that actually destroy the environment by displacing natural habitat.

2. Going green will reduce our dependence on imports from unsavory regimes.
"China controls between 95 and 100 percent of the global market in" rare elements needed to construct batteries.

3. A green American economy will create green American jobs.
In a global market, American wind turbine manufacturers face the same problem as American shoe manufacturers: high domestic labor costs.

Meanwhile, the very concept of a green job is not well defined. Is a job still green if it's created not by the market, but by subsidy or mandate? 

Growth Energy, an industry lobby group, says increasing the percentage of ethanol blended into the U.S. gasoline supply would create 136,000 jobs. But an analysis by the Environmental Working Group found that no more than 27,000 jobs would be created, and each one could cost taxpayers as much as $446,000 per year. Sure, the government can create more green jobs. But at what cost?
Not to mention, Ethanol is ImmoralStarving people to feed cars should give all human beings pause.  If that's not enough, the "Bio-fuels" industry destroys the biosphere, and there is not enough biosphere on the planet to support this government-sponsored corporate welfare travesty.

4. Electric cars will substantially reduce demand for oil.
Electric cars haven't been sidelined by a cabal to sell internal combustion engines or a lack of political will, but by physics and math. Gasoline contains about 80 times as much energy, by weight, as the best lithium-ion battery.
And in the absence of nuclear power, these cars that are plugged into the power grid are coal-powered.  How environmentally friendly is that?

5. The United States lags behind other rich countries in going green.
Over the past three decades, the United States has improved its energy efficiency as much as or more than other developed countries.

According to data from the Energy Information Administration, average per capita energy consumption in the United States fell by 2.5 percent from 1980 through 2006. That reduction was greater than in any other developed country except Switzerland and Denmark, and the United States achieved it without participating in the Kyoto Protocol or creating an emissions trading system like the one employed in Europe.

EIA data also show that the United States has been among the best at reducing the amount of carbon dioxide emitted per $1 of GDP and the amount of energy consumed per $1 of GDP.
This was just a sample.  Go read the whole thing here.

7 comments:

Christopher - Conservative Perspective said...

It drives me up a wall about this topic!

There are still jackasses in Michigan of all places that talk-up 'green' economy? What part of "no jobs" do they not understand?

Spain is in the news once again (credit rating downgraded) in large part due to their efforts to go 'green' and is proving to be a complete disaster. Why don't people read anymore?

Lisa said...

the only idea they have is Green(Cap and Trade), and Health care , all designed to accomplish one thing "redistribution" and amazing how they have some people fooled although many more people are realizing what they are really up to.
I never saw such recklessness and corruption as we are seeing from these misplaced Chicago thugs.

Endo_2011 said...

We need more coal to fuel the power for our electric cars! Such an obvious side effect of the solution, yet people don't get it. Some people just don' think about the consequences of their great ideas! Sometimes, certain things sounds like a great solution, yet there are obvious reasons why we are not already doing some of these things. As a nation at times, I think we have actually become "dumber"!

Snarky Basterd said...

I just love coming across a group of ecotards and loudly declaring that I drive an F-150 with 150,000 miles on it and plan to drive it for another 150,000 miles so I can continue my lifelong goal to burn as much fossil fuels as I possibly can ... you know ... like pResident Plug That Damn Hole.

Joe said...

I want one of those electric cars...just as soon as I can go 300 miles at 70+ mph between charges, have plush seats, a radio, CD player and a back-seat DVD player, a/c and heat, seat 7 in absolute comfort and travel back roads.

I figure that will happen around or about 2090.

In the mean time, I will stick to my fossel burning Saturn and Honda.

(Let's see...I'm 68. In 2090 I will be...oh, never mind.)

Endo_2011 said...

I like to start my 10 year old GMC Sierra Pickup up in the morning, and then go inside for a cup of coffee and quick read of the internet.

Then stop by BP for another tank of gas...

Most Rev. Gregori said...

Just goes to show, there is no end in sight to utter stupidity.

After 40 years, Tipper ("Tipsy") and Al Gore are separating. Perhaps she finally realized what a dork Al is.

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