{"id":285688,"date":"2023-10-29T18:36:15","date_gmt":"2023-10-29T17:36:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=285688"},"modified":"2023-10-29T18:36:17","modified_gmt":"2023-10-29T17:36:17","slug":"virginia-dont-follow-net-zero-lemmings-over-the-energy-cliff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=285688","title":{"rendered":"Virginia \u2013 Don\u2019t Follow Net-Zero Lemmings Over the Energy Cliff"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

States that link climate and energy policies to California and \u2018climate crisis\u2019 will pay high price<\/em><\/strong>. Mandates for electric vehicles, wind and solar power, and a magical transition to a fossil-fuel-free energy utopia are critical issues this year and in 2024. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

States that link climate and energy policies to California and \u2018climate crisis\u2019 will pay high price<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul Driessen<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seventeen states \u2013 including Virginia \u2013 tie their vehicle emission standards and electric vehicle sale mandates to California, the most climate-centric<\/a> state in the Union. Unless current laws change, by 2035 all their new cars, pickups and SUVs must be electric (or hydrogen-powered<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In further obeisance to California, most of these states also require that their utility companies generate 100% of their electricity from \u201crenewable sources\u201d by 2045 or 2050. They and the federal government also mandate that electric models replace gas-fueled furnaces, water heaters, driers, stoves and ovens within a decade or less. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This means electricity demand will double<\/em> in the near future \u2013 at the same time that reliable, affordable fossil-fuel (and nuclear and hydroelectric) electricity generation plummets<\/em>. Charging massive batteries to ensure power on windless, sunless days would double demand yet again<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Home, hospital, school and business lighting, heating, cooling, cooking and computing costs <\/em>will likely double or triple<\/em>, hitting poor and minority families hardest. Blackouts could become commonplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No wonder citizens in European countries are revolting against net zero<\/a> laws, forcing politicians to delay or terminate their green dictates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet Democrats in Virginia and elsewhere have refused to budge. They\u2019re so convinced that climate cataclysms are imminent \u2013 and government mandates will magically usher in a renewable energy era \u2013 that they are willing to compel families and businesses to follow them and other virtue-signaling lemmings off the net-zero cliff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why \u2013 even with attention now focused on Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan and other global hot spots \u2013 voters also need to think long and hard about looming US energy<\/em> cataclysms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democrats, some Republicans, and their media and environmentalist allies are determined to sweep vitally important energy realities under the rug. Voters mustn\u2019t let that happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not one village on Earth \u2013 much less a city or state \u2013 has shown that wind and solar power backed up by grid-scale batteries can enable them to function normally \u2026 or merely survive \u2026  for even a week, winter or summer. And yet President Biden and the Climate Industrial Complex want to impose an all-electricity \u201cgreen energy transformation\u201d on the entire United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This total transformation would require literally millions of wind turbines, billions of solar panels, and tens of thousands of miles of new transmission lines. Billions of Tesla-EV-equivalent battery modules would be needed to stabilize increasingly large and complex electricity grids \u2026 and back up sporadic, weather-dependent electricity \u2026 to prevent repeated and widespread blackouts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Building this equipment would involve billions of tons of steel, aluminum, copper, cobalt, lithium, concrete, plastics and other materials; hundreds of billions of tons of ore and overburden from thousands of mines; fossil fuels for mining, processing and manufacturing; and unprecedented greenhouse gas emissions, toxic air, water and ground pollution, and wildlife habitat destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Installing all that equipment would impact thousands of square miles of habitats, scenic areas and croplands \u2013 decimating wildlife all across rural America \u2013 to serve major urban areas that have the votes to impose their views, but not the room or desire to have those impacts in their own backyards. Disposing of worn out and broken solar panels and wind turbine blades would require hundreds of huge landfills, also in rural America\u2019s backyards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The costs would be astronomical. Net Zero Reality Coalition experts<\/a> have calculated that grid-balancing and backup batteries alone would cost up to $290-trillion<\/em>, depending on which capital cost, hourly or daily or weekly electricity generation data, and other factors are employed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The wind industry loves to say such-and-such wind or solar project has the \u201ccapacity\u201d to power 100,000 homes. That may be true \u2013 when the wind is blowing or sun is shining at optimal levels. However, that rarely happens. On an annual basis, those unreliable systems would likely generate electricity 20-40% of the year, in short intervals, at totally unpredictable times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the Biden Administration and environmentalists steadfastly oppose mining in the USA, most resource extraction will be done overseas. The raw materials will mostly come from or through China, which often employs slave and child labor, zero to minimal environmental standards, subpar wage and workplace safety standards, and minerals as a political weapon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That means wind, solar and battery power is actually the antithesis<\/em> of clean, green, renewable, sustainable and ethical. All the dirty, evil, unsustainable activities just get done in faraway places, where they can be ignored; so they needn\u2019t be mentioned in slick product and campaign ads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An all-electric economy also requires that home, neighborhood, local, state and national transmission systems be significantly upgraded to handle the massive additional electric loads. That\u2019s more trillions of dollars, further increasing the cost of electricity and every product and service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Personal needs and choices will disappear. You will be told what cars you can buy and how far you can drive them; how big your home can be, and how warm or cool you can keep it; how often and how far you can travel on vacation<\/a>; even what foods you can eat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where\u2019s the beef?<\/a> Not on the menu. And just imagine being in your EV, in a massive traffic jam, during a blizzard or a hurricane evacuation. But as California goes, so will you if your legislators demand it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Delving into specifics: President Biden wants 30,000 megawatts of offshore wind electricity by 2030. That would require 2,500 gigantic 12-MW wind turbines. But even if the wind is blowing optimally, their output would barely meet New York State\u2019s peak summertime electricity needs \u2013 today, prior to its transformation to a fossil-fuel-free, all-electric economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Equally crazy, New York\u2019s plan for 24,000 megawatt-hours of battery storage would provide backup for barely 45 minutes<\/em> on a sweltering windless day \u2013 with today\u2019s<\/em> power demands. And even that minuscule storage would require 300,000 Tesla 80-kilowatt-hour battery modules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2020 Virginia Clean Economy Act requires that utilities have 3,100 megawatt-hours of electricity storage. If that\u2019s provided with 19-MWh Tesla Megapack<\/a> battery modules, costing $10-million apiece, Virginia taxpayers and ratepayers would have to lay out $1.6 billion. For that they\u2019d get one-half-hour<\/em> of statewide windless\/sunless day backup!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ask your elected officials<\/a> how many offshore turbines would be needed to power your state \u2013 or the entire USA. How many onshore turbines with a nameplate capacity of perhaps 6 MW. How many solar panels sprawling across vast scenic areas, croplands and wildlife habitats \u2013 in sunny Arizona or frosty Wisconsin. How many battery modules for a full week of backup storage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Demand to know how much all this will cost<\/em> \u2013 and how much mining, processing, manufacturing, toxic pollution, CO2 emissions, slave and child labor, and habitat destruction would go into making all that equipment. Watch the politicians bob and weave, run for cover, or have the police remove you for asking such impertinent questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mandates for electric vehicles, wind and solar power, and a magical transition to a fossil-fuel-free energy utopia are critical issues this year and in 2024. Think carefully about them before you head to the polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your vote \u2013 and whether you help your friends vote wisely \u2013 will determine whether we end this insanity \u2026 or must live beneath the iron fists of increasingly oppressive climate authoritarians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul Driessen is senior policy analyst for the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow (www.CFACT.org<\/a>) and author of books and articles on energy, environment, climate and human rights issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

States that link climate and energy policies to California and \u2018climate crisis\u2019 will pay high price. Mandates for electric vehicles, wind and solar power, and a magical transition to a fossil-fuel-free energy utopia are critical issues this year and in 2024. From Watts Up With That? States that link climate and energy policies to California […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":285693,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"States that link climate and energy policies to California and \u2018climate crisis\u2019 will pay high price. Mandates for electric vehicles, wind and solar power, and a magical transition to a fossil-fuel-free energy utopia are critical issues this year and in 20","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691818279,691818102,691824102,691818154,691818417],"class_list":{"0":"post-285688","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-blackouts","9":"tag-climate-crisis","10":"tag-green-energy-transformation","11":"tag-net-zero","12":"tag-virginia","14":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/image-816.png?fit=1280%2C544&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1cjS","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":229767,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=229767","url_meta":{"origin":285688,"position":0},"title":"Unrealistic Net Zero Policies Cost Families Dearly","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"18\/11\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"However, the root of the ongoing energy crisis is unrealistic policies based on unscientific conclusions about climate, often drafted in plush European offices.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/image-628.png?fit=1200%2C1010&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/image-628.png?fit=1200%2C1010&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/image-628.png?fit=1200%2C1010&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/image-628.png?fit=1200%2C1010&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/image-628.png?fit=1200%2C1010&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":217976,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=217976","url_meta":{"origin":285688,"position":1},"title":"Climate change tsar hauled over the coals after warning Liz Truss against lifting fracking ban amid energy crisis","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"08\/09\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The battle of the crises \u2013 energy and climate. 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