‘Climate Idealism Meets The Reality’: Green Energy Failed To Meet Power Demand When It Was Most Needed
- Green energy accounted for small portions of electricity generation in New England and Texas as the regions narrowly avoided blackouts following winter storms.
- “People hear so much about renewables and think they are a huge portion of the energy mix when they aren’t, especially not in New England,” Meredith Angwin, author of “Shorting the Grid: The Hidden Fragility of Our Electric Grid,” told the Daily Caller News Foundation..
- “Fossil fuels are needed to keep us alive and we see this when climate idealism meets the reality of the weather,” Larry Behrens, communications director for Power the Future, a non-profit that advocates for American energy workers, told the DCNF.
Renewable energy was unable to generate sufficient power to meet elevated energy demand during Christmas Eve snowstorms that pummeled the northeastern U.S. and Texas.
Although wind turbines, solar panels and other forms of green energy have been consistently touted by the Biden administration as reliable alternatives to fossil fuels like coal and natural gas, renewables accounted for a small percentage of grids’ power output after snowstorms and a “bomb cyclone” nearly caused power outages in New England and Texas. Grid operators in both areas were forced to burn oil, a fuel that is significantly less efficient than natural gas, to avoid power outages as renewable energy sources were stymied by the harsh weather.
“Fossil fuels are needed to keep us alive and we see this when climate idealism meets the reality of the weather,” Larry Behrens, communications director for Power the Future, a nonprofit that advocates for American energy workers, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Energy and electricity infrastructure that took years to build is being undone with the stroke of a pen because of what the climate cult is pushing.”
When the cyclone, dubbed “Storm Elliott,” caused blizzards in New England on Dec. 24, New England grid operator ISO NE declared an energy emergency level 1 due to potential power shortages and called on its customers to voluntarily cut energy consumption. That same day, renewables across the region’s grid accounted for just 6% of the region’s energy mix, while fuel oil and natural gas produced over 55% of the region’s power, according to Bloomberg.
“People hear so much about renewables and think they are a huge portion of the energy mix when they aren’t, especially not in New England,” Meredith Angwin, author of “Shorting the Grid: The Hidden Fragility of Our Electric Grid,” told the DCNF.
Angwin also noted that while natural gas is normally used as a stopgap to supply the region with energy during the winter, gas shortages have persisted throughout most of the year and have been exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. New England tends to use oil to generate electricity when natural gas prices are high, causing imports of the fuel to drop, ISO NE Lead Communications Specialist Matt Kakley told the DCNF.
On Dec. 24, the Department of Energy declared an energy emergency in Texas and gave the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) permission to forgo environmental restrictions and burn fuel oil to prevent energy shortages, accordingto a department order. Wind, solar and thermal energy were able to meet 22% of Texas’ energy demand at the time; however, the renewables were unable to operate at full capacity due to the weather, causing the department to allow ERCOT to use oil to keep the lights on.
Even though natural gas is the most widely used form of energy in the U.S., temperatures became so cold that pipelines and wells transporting gas began to freeze, straining energy supplies in Texas, New England and several other parts of the country, Bloomberg reported.
“Though the variability of wind and solar are well known and discussed a lot, these freezes also show the flimsiness of the gas system,” Michael Webber, an energy resources professor at the University of Texas in Austin, told Bloomberg.
Wind power is the second-largest source of energy in Texas and generated 20% of the state’s power in 2021, according to the Energy Information Administration. However, wind turbines do not operate well in cold weather or windy conditions as they can be destroyed if wind speeds are too high, Angwin noted.
“They have a capacity factor of about 30% … that is the percentage of time that they can operate,” she said.
Although Northeastern states are nearby the Appalachian and Marcellus Shale natural gas basins, gas pipeline projects have been previously blocked by the New York government and environmental groups. An increase in coal plant retirements and a lack of natural gas pipelines could create long-term vulnerabilities for the grids across the country, according to a December report produced by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, an energy watchdog.
Wind energy, a power source that the Biden administration is looking to rapidly expand, currently accounts for roughly just 18% of the region’s green energy power generation while the bulk of renewable energy is provided by burning refuse and wood, according to ISO NE.
“We can’t cut out the fuels some people want to get rid of because we will be at the mercy of the weather without them … hoping renewables work when we need them to is not a strategy,” Behrens said.
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We can watch in real time Europe collapsing and miles long gas lines after decades of their “Green New Deal” policies made them totally dependent on Russian gas and oil. In some places, energy costs have increased 1000% and businesses are closing because they can’t afford their utility bills. They’re clear cutting their forests, desperately digging for coal, and preparing for a brutal and dangerous winter.
What’s even more insane is that Biden and the Democrats passed a 730 billion dollar Green Energy bill, laughably called the “Inflation Reduction Act” to institute all these proven failed policies here. It’s nothing but a Green New Deal slush fund that includes such insanity as 60 billion dollars for “environmental justice”. And then there’s the four or five states that want to ban gas powered cars by 2030. Never mind that most all of the rare earth minerals for car batteries are mined in China or in Africa by child slave labor. Or that almost all of our solar panels come from China. Or that China is the worst polluting country in the world and is building coal fired plants as fast as they can and laughing at our idiocy and how we will continue to make them rich.
It’s always been about power and control. The Democrats and “Green” ideologues goal is simply to destroy the middle class in America and install the Democrats in power in perpetuity. That’s why all the massive corporations have gone “woke”. The Democrats promise to be “hands off” on their monopolies and tax breaks and supply them all the cheap labor they can dream of through our totally open border. In return they get the CEO’s compliance and tens of millions in “donations”. As the middle class further collapses from inflation and ever increasing energy costs from “Green” mandates, Americans will beg for more Government help which always means more government control. The poor are already government dependent. Coup complete. Then there will be just two classes of people in the U.S.. The rich “elite” Democrat politicians and their crony capitalist oligarchs and the poor masses that will own nothing. Just like every other Socialist/Communist state in history.
It’s been warming for 20 thousand years. GLOBAL WARMING LEMMINGS, with a healthy mix of CHICKEN LITTLES to diversify and demonstrate anti- specieism.