If you are an en-gin-eer like me, who has done electric utility resource planning, you know that sooner or later the green energy cult will hit the wall — have its Jonestown moment.
The reason is quite simple. An electric utility needs to generate exactly the same amount of electricity as its customers demand, every moment. Thus, any electric utility power plant must be able to generate electricity on demand or it is useless.
That is why wind turbines and solar panels are useless as reliable electricity resources.
At the moment, we are getting news of electric utility rolling blackouts — including in the area served by the Holy New Deal Tennessee Valley Authority — and the usual suspects are not blaming green energy for the problem. Apparently they had coal and gas plants down for maintenance or repair.
As an en-gin-eer, I say that fossil fuels are not a problem; nuclear power is not a problem; methane from cows is not a problem.
But wind turbines are a problem, because they don’t generate electricity when the wind don’t blow. Solar panels are a problem because they don’t generate elecricity when the sun don’t shine. Battery storage is a problem because batteries are very inefficient at storing energy.
At some point there will be a mass formation psychosis or whatever they call humans suddenly deciding to face reality. And then the green energy thing will be over and some damn politician will lead us to the Promised Land of abundant, reliable energy.
But right now we have all the nice liberal ladies proudly telling their friends about their “EV” and we have politicians spending trillions on the green energy transition and passing electric vehicle mandates and various additional stupid and foolish things that politicians have ever done.
One fine day we deplorables and benighteds will wake up and insist that we have a lot less government than we suffer under today.
But that un bel di is not yet, Madama Butterfly.