St. Louis, Missouri, on the banks of the Mississippi, is nicknamed the “Gateway City” as in gateway to the west. In the early 1800’s this bustling town was the point of embarkation for thousands of optimistic settlers as they headed out across the prairies looking for a better life, their covered wagons packed with little more than hope and prayers.
Well it seems the St. Louis Board of Aldermen are suddenly feeling nostalgic for those good old days because they’re planning on turning back the city’s energy clock by two hundred years. As Paul Driessen explains (via WattsUpWithThat) ~
The St. Louis city council has unanimously passed a resolution decreeing that by 2035 the city will somehow, almost magically be powered by 100% “clean, renewable” electricity.
This of course is a ridiculous fantasy for numerous reasons, not the least of which is that the climate-change crisis is totally bogus ~
Average global temperatures have dropped back to where they were before the 2015-16 El Niño. Harvey was the first major hurricane to hit the US mainland in a record 12 years. Tornado, drought and storm frequency and intensity are on par with historic records. Where’s the disaster or human connection?
Furthermore, the progressives’ solutions to a non-existent problem, renewables, are neither affordable nor efficient ~
The enormous installations require vast amounts of land and raw materials, plus more for ultra-long transmission lines. (The wind installations Anheuser-Busch plans to use for its 100% renewable PR stunt are 350 miles away – in Oklahoma.) Still more land and materials are required for backup fossil fuel power plants or ginormous battery arrays – so that families, hospitals and businesses have electricity when they need it, instead of when it’s available.
For the wind option, just generating the 3.5 billion megawatt-hours of electricity the United States uses every year – and storing power in batteries for just seven windless days – would require some 14 million turbines! That’s because more turbines force us to go to lower and lower quality wind areas, which means instead of generating electricity 33% of the year at best wind sites, they’d only do so half of that time. Using Tesla-style 100-kWh battery packs would require something on the order of 600 billion units!
But even if we ignore all that, as Driessen points out, St. Louis’ city councils’ energy mandates are completely unrealistic ~
In 2016, Missouri generated 96.5% of its electricity with fossil fuel and nuclear power, 1.6% with hydroelectric, and just 1.5% with wind and solar. The St. Louis Metro Area did roughly the same.
But now, by royal decree, the St. Louis City Crown has made it clear, the climate must be perfect all year – and by 2035 the city will somehow, magically be powered by 100% “clean, sustainable” electricity.
What are these people smoking? Not only are these goals impossible, even attempting to reach them will cause energy rates to sky-rocket, impacting the poorest of St. Louis citizens much more than any other demographic ~
Missouri currently has relatively low electricity prices; St. Louis rates are even lower. Imposing renewable energy mandates will send city electricity rates into realms now “enjoyed” in California and Connecticut: 19 cents per kWh for families, 17 cents for businesses and 13 cents for industries. They could even reach the punitive rates now paid in Germany: 35 cents for families, 18 cents for all others! […]
How will poor and blue-collar families fare if their electricity rates nearly double? United Way recently found that 56% of St. Louis families are already unable to pay their basic living expenses: housing, food, clothing, transportation, taxes, healthcare and child care. How much worse will this situation become?
This foolishness so illustrative of leftist utopian fantasies in general. Disregard reality, ignore consequences, damn-the-torpedoes – we have to save the world (from a make-believe crisis)!
I used to romanticize the pioneer days, imagine crossing the wide open plains in a covered wagon; everything was so much simpler… Then I grew up. And studied history. And found out how tough it was to even survive back in the pre-electricity days; no microwaves, no cellphones, no indoor plumbing. Children had about a 60% chance of making it to adulthood, life expectancy was just 37 years.
Do we want to return to those days? And do we, in a pointless effort to fix something that isn’t broken, have the right to leave developing nations languishing in the same conditions that the United States moved beyond two centuries ago?
People in impoverished and developing countries have little interest in wind and solar power, except as a stopgap for distant villages. They want abundant, reliable, affordable electricity. That’s why they have built hundreds of coal-fired power plants and have 1,600 more under construction or in planning.
We all live in the 21st century now. Let’s continue to improve the quality of life for everyone on the the planet. Let’s move forward with technology, not backward.
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Related:
Powerless in the wind
Climate alarmism is not good stewardship
