I like green energy. I have a small solar power system in my home. I use it to charge power banks and tablets, and that’s it. In the summer I have a tiny 1 person fan which runs on a USB battery bank. But I’d never use it for the whole home, I can’t afford it. Using only off-grid “green” energy requires massive lifestyle changes that only a few will do, but these few “green dictators” want to force this on the rest of us.
The Texas storms of Feb 14-15, 2021 caused tens of millions of dollars of damage when pipes froze, and when the weather warmed up, the pipes thawed causing water damage all over the house. Texas homes normally do not have insulation in the walls, and they are not used to cold weather. And they get most of their heat from electricity, natural gas for heat just isn’t available in many homes. Texas gets 27% of its energy from wind generators, and the wind generators froze, showing yet another big failure of “green” energy. Green energy is fun, but it is expensive, and unreliable under extreme conditions. Solar panels are less efficient the hotter they get, and they are expensive. Wind generators fall apart under hurricanes that Texas often gets. Lead mines to make lead batteries are extremely polluting, and there are not enough lithium batteries to go around so the price remains high, making them unaffordable to regular people who need large scale power in cold or hot weather. Both electric heaters (during cold weather) and air conditioning (during hot weather, which uses compressors) use a LOT of energy and powering these on a battery system is impractical for 99% of people. Since there aren’t enough contractors, people may have to wait 2 years or more to get their homes fixed, AND their insurances rates will also go up. Green energy is expensive, unaffordable for 90% of people, and simply won’t be there when you really need it in the hottest or coldest months.
And there are other problems. A solar concentrator in the Mojave desert kills dozens of birds each day when they fly into the concentrated beam. (Collector kills 6000 birds every year. https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-solar-bird-deaths-20160831-snap-story.html, and a search for other stories here)
Wind energy doesn’t generate energy when it isn’t windy. The towers are susceptible to falling over in tornado or hurricane zones. Solar panels are less efficient the hotter they get. Green energy costs start at $.35usd/KWH, compared to Michigan’s grid power of $.10/KWH. The average person simply cannot afford green energy.
Consumers Power in Michigan wants to charge people another $20/month just to use their solar power farm. While pay rates stagnate, and taxes and the cost of living only go up, these prices are unsustainable. Just like other liberal programs are unsustainable like Social Security (which is collapsing), welfare, universal basic income. As soon as people realize they don’t have to work or take personal responsibility for their future, they stop working and the programs collapse. Multiple UBI programs have been done in Chicago, Toronto, and Finland and they have all failed. The liberal programs always fail to take into account one critical variable: the laziness of people.
