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Page added on November 1, 2020

Biden’s Plans Regarding Energy Are Simply Not Doable

Joe Biden’s climate and energy plans mandate a carbon-free generation sector by 2035. Since new nuclear and carbon capture and sequestration technologies are not economically competitive, subsidized wind and solar power would have to make up the share from fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, and oil) that currently make up 62 percent of the generation market. Biden’s plans call for large expenditures in renewable energy, including installing 500 million solar panels and manufacturing 60,000 wind turbines.

The Benton Public Utility District in Washington State said, in a report, that overly aggressive clean energy policies bring about an unacceptably high risk of power grid blackouts. While the development of wind farms may be “politically fashionable” and appeal to many in the general public, science and economics show that attempting to power modern civilization with intermittent electricity from wind and solar will come at a high financial and environmental cost. The report is consistent with what has happened in Germany and Australia, as residential electricity prices in Germany are among the highest in Europe and 50 percent more than they were in 2006.

In 2014, Germany’s solar production was just 6 percent and the country barely managed to escape an eclipse by importing electricity from neighboring countries. In August, still air hit California’s wind farms during a heat wave and smoke from its wild fires reduced solar power by 30 percent, causing rolling blackouts in some locales.

The enormity of the task Biden is making that some believe is doable can be best expressed by realizing that 80 percent of all U.S. energy comes from fossil fuels and almost 9 percent comes from nuclear power. Solar and wind combined contribute less than 4 percent. Solar and wind’s contribution in the generating sector is more sizable at 9 percent of U.S. generation because of the smaller market. Wind power and solar systems produce electricity at an average of just 25 percent to 35 percent of the year, while conventional natural gas plants have very high availability at 85 percent.

Because wind and solar are intermittent, they require back-up from natural gas technologies, which must be inefficiently ramped up and down like a car driving in stop-and-go traffic to balance the energy grid. Storage technologies (batteries) could substitute, but they are not currently economic. Further, China controls about 70 percent of the world’s lithium supply and 83 percent of the anodes to make them. A U.S. lithium project has been seeking approval to mine the material in a Nevada desert, but has been blocked for more than a decade by environmental groups.

Now consider that Biden also wants the U.S. energy economy to be totally carbon free by 2050. That means electric vehicles instead of gasoline and diesel vehicles. Then consider the electricity that these electric vehicles will need to charge their batteries. And add to that, the half million electric car chargers that Biden proposes to have taxpayers finance along with funding to help car makers convert their factories to electric vehicle production. Producing and recharging those electric vehicles will require that electricity is constantly available, which, based on California’s experience may not be achievable with renewable power.

Building wind turbines and solar panels to generate electricity, as well as batteries to fuel electric vehicles, requires, on average, more than 10 times the quantity of materials, compared with building equivalent systems using fossil fuels to deliver the same amount of energy. To replace a single 100-megawatt gas-fired plant would take at least 20 wind turbines, each about the size of the Washington Monument and covering about 10 square miles of land. The wind farm would consume about 30,000 tons of iron ore and 50,000 tons of concrete, as well as 900 tons of non-recyclable plastics for the blades. A solar plant with the same output would require half again more tonnage in cement, steel and glass. And, based on current plans, by 2050, the quantity of worn-out, non-recyclable solar panels will double the tonnage of all today’s global plastic waste, and there will be over 3 million tons per year of unrecyclable plastics from worn-out wind turbine blades.

Conclusion

Biden’s plans to recreate the entire U.S. energy system beginning with electricity over the next 14 years will result in enormous costs for U.S. consumers and taxpayers. Further, it makes little sense to take a system that works efficiently and replace it with technologies that cannot do the job 24/7. Americans rightly expect electricity on demand and will continue to expect that while Biden creates large new uses for electricity that will tax the electric grid. His vision of American energy is one where air conditioning may not be available in the summer and heat may not be available during winter.

natural gas now

24 Comments on "Biden’s Plans Regarding Energy Are Simply Not Doable"

Theedrich on Mon, 2nd Nov 2020 12:40 am

“Jump out of the frying pan into the fire.” – Biden. The corrupt globalist plutocrats, backed by blood-Red China and Yankee uppercrusters, hate Donald Trump with such ferocity that they intend to annihilate the nation to “save” it. And the slow-witted masses, like those of Venezuela who voted in Marxism under Hugo Chavez, prefer fantasy to the hard realities of life. Mafia don Joe Biden is, accordingly, their choice.

So they will get what they wish for: collapse.

Walter Putnam on Mon, 2nd Nov 2020 8:04 am

They, they, they and never an I or me. It’s China, the government, Russian, Somebody else. Somebody else is at fault and somebody else must solve it. Somebody, somewhere did this to ME. It’s called playing victim.

appreciate the brillance of master race chinks Gunmen Attack Kabul University, Kill 10 Students… on Mon, 2nd Nov 2020 8:14 am

muzz

dratrepus tak if master race chinks harvest muzz male karens who worship pedifiler muhammad worldwide we woud save so much effort and money American hostage rescued in West Africa by SEAL Team 6 in daring raid on Mon, 2nd Nov 2020 8:33 am

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dratrepus tak why doesnt dropout-19 wears a face diaper on Mon, 2nd Nov 2020 8:44 am

wear a face diaper to prevent spread of convict-19

zero juan on Mon, 2nd Nov 2020 9:29 am

Ppee widdle IQ juan, your sock bo chen 787 is whining like a pussy.

dratrepus tak why doesnt dropout-19 wears a face diaper said wear a face diaper to prevent spread of convict-19

the board said Bochen777 is zero juan bochen787. zero juan is the…

Jenny said Thanks JuanP!

appreciate the brillance of master race chinks Gunmen Attack Kabul University, Kill 10 Students… said muzz

Duncan Idaho on Mon, 2nd Nov 2020 9:31 am

“…Sinking people don’t usually have a trenchant analysis of reality. All they require is the promise that their hard-won sense of status will not go down the drain; and an explanation, any explanation, on which to hang their hopes. American society leaves people so confused and reality so disjointed that almost any formula which pretends to put the pieces together and appeals to what people think of as their self-interest may prove acceptable.”

FamousDrScanlon on Mon, 2nd Nov 2020 9:46 am

The man who could be America’s next president in three days: Barack Obama had to call Joe Biden three times before he finally emerged at Michigan rally, then had to remind him to put his mask back on and help guide him off the stage
Joe Biden held a rally in swing state of Michigan on Saturday alongside Obama
Former president warmed up for his old friend, before calling him up to the stage
Biden missed his cue, and Obama had to call twice more before he emerged
Biden then forgot mask coming off stage, with Obama appearing to remind him
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8905253/Election-2020-Joe-Biden-suffers-senior-moments-Michigan-rally.html

The Board on Mon, 2nd Nov 2020 9:49 am

Thank you for all of your incredibly difficult work moderating the board zero juan. You are a true legend.

What are your thoughts about Americans not having air conditioning during the summer months, or heat during the winter?

dratrepus tak Indian troops kill top rebel commander in Kashmir fighting dots want to be master race but cant on Mon, 2nd Nov 2020 9:54 am

only master race chinks can harvest muzz karens who worship pedifiler

dots supported france macron but there are 200m muzz karens in dotsland it’s a losing battle.

the bloody partition of india was supposed to seregated muzz from dots but it failed.

dratrepus tak good harvesting Three years ago, a military operation in Myanmar destroyed entire Rohingya Muslim villages. UN investigators say as many as 10,000 people were killed and more than 730,000 Rohingya fled the massacre for Bangladesh on Mon, 2nd Nov 2020 9:56 am

but nobody is master race chinks

everyone can try to do better at harvesting muzz karens who worship pedifiler

Duncan Idaho on Mon, 2nd Nov 2020 10:42 am

Fat Boy support group:

https://stateofchildhoodobesity.org/adult-obesity/

bochen787 on Mon, 2nd Nov 2020 10:48 am

https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/US-elections-2020/Asian-American-group-once-for-Trump-now-says-we-made-a-mistake

Asians Americans now realize Trump will fucking gas them if he wins again….

bochen787 on Mon, 2nd Nov 2020 10:52 am

https://archive.fo/rHE3t

The irony is striking. While Donald Trump and Joe Biden have been busy bashing Beijing in the run-up to the presidential election, the Chinese economy has seen a vigorous bounce back. In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, China is emerging as the engine of global growth.
China is the only big economy expected to show a positive advance this year, with the IMF projecting growth of 1.9 per cent, followed by 8.2 per cent in 2021. Yet continuing trade friction between the world’s two largest economies means that the US will not benefit from this expansion as it did from China’s huge fiscal and monetary pump priming after the great financial crisis of 2007-08.
Chad Bown of the Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics points out that China’s imports from the US of goods covered by January’s trade deal have failed to catch up to pre-trade war levels, running 16 per cent lower than at the same point in 2017. In contrast, Chinese imports of similar goods from the rest of the world are 20 per cent higher over the same period.
At the same time, Mr Bown says, China’s commitment to buy an additional $200bn of American-made goods and services under president Trump’s self-proclaimed “historic” deal is falling well short, reaching only 53 per cent of the expected purchase target at the end of September.
Perhaps the most telling verdict on the trade war for this president who regards the stock market as the ultimate judge of his performance comes from a study by economists at the New York Federal Reserve and Columbia University. They estimate that the trade war lowered the market capitalisation of US listed companies by $1.7tn, equivalent to a 6 per cent fall in the value of the S&P 500 constituents. That reflects how new tariff announcements reduced profit expectations at exposed firms. The study found no beneficial effects for firms receiving tariff protection.
The reality is that Chinese retaliation has wreaked havoc with US exports. As Ryan Hass and Abraham Denmark note in a paper for the Brookings Institution, US tariffs forced American companies to accept lower profit margins, cut wages and jobs for US workers and raise prices for American consumers. While the bilateral trade deficit with China has shrunk, they add, the overall trade deficit has not come down because US tariffs on China diverted trade flows, causing US deficits with Europe, Mexico, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan to increase as a result.
If the performance of US equities has been remarkable despite trade wars and the pandemic, it is down to ultra loose policy and high performing Big Tech, not mainstream business. Note, too, that tariffs have not delivered much revenue to the US Treasury because the government has had to distribute most of the money in subsidies to placate angry farmers over lost exports to China.
The paradox in all this is that friction is largely absent in US-China financial relations, the only area in which market access for US business has improved. With the Beijing leadership pursuing incremental liberalisation, US banks are now starting to take controlling stakes in existing partnerships. At the same time China is attracting increasing amounts of developed world portfolio capital. As index providers incorporate more of China’s equities and bonds into their indices, passive funds in the US and elsewhere will expand this flow.

Interesting, here, is that the Chinese government bond market, the second largest in the world, offers positive real interest income after allowing for inflation, which is no longer the case with US Treasuries or big European bond markets. At the same time the Chinese equity market is the only one outside the US to offer serious exposure to Big Tech.
It follows that China offers hard pressed US and other developed world pension funds real incomes from which to pay retirement obligations, subject to currency and regulatory risk. While China outgrows the US, and the US pursues ultra loose monetary and even more expansionary fiscal policy, an enduringly weak renminbi scarcely seems unduly threatening.
As for regulatory risk, there are historic grounds for worrying about arbitrary intervention by the Chinese authorities. The prize of more secure pension incomes for the elderly courtesy of China ought to be an incentive for Western policymakers to foster a stable and peaceful financial interdependence. Under a new Trump administration that will not happen. Whether, against the background of aggressive US-China strategic competition, Joe Biden might choose such an option is moot.

FamousDrScanlon on Mon, 2nd Nov 2020 11:15 am

Theedrich, sure like collapse has not been underway for decades. Like it’s not multi faceted, highly complex & systemic.

Both Trump & Biden could never have been born & y’all are still collapsing.

Besides both Trump & Biden are YOU & every other American whose ever lived.

You get the homegrown politicians you deserve.

Garbage in garbage out.

Stay bitter.

zero juan on Mon, 2nd Nov 2020 12:44 pm

Stupid fuck juanPpee and his many socks:

FamousDrScanlon said Theedrich, sure like collapse has not been underwa…

bochen787 said https://archive.fo/rHE3t The irony is striking. Wh…

bochen787 said https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/US-elections-2020…

dratrepus tak Indian troops kill top rebel commander in Kashmir fighting dots want to be master race but cant said only master race chinks can harvest muzz karens wh…

The Board said Thank you for all of your incredibly difficult wor…

zero juan on Mon, 2nd Nov 2020 12:48 pm

Ppee, FYI I wiped you off the moderated side

The Board on Mon, 2nd Nov 2020 2:42 pm

Good job wiping the chinks, and the wetbacks off of the forums zero juan. We all know how devastating it is when our user names are not at the top of the list. It’s thankless work that some people often find the need to do.

Lord of the flies on Tue, 3rd Nov 2020 8:03 am

I’m not convinced Biden could plan a trip to the shitter!

zero juan on Tue, 3rd Nov 2020 8:11 am

LMFAO @ po widdle. He is going postal. Fuck JuanP

Lord of the flies said I’m not convinced Biden could plan a trip to…
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makati1 said My jeans have been soiled!, The stench emmanating…
Lord Voldemort of Chaz said The pleasures of the flesh are unsurpassed! I too…
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So Woke it’s crazy, u wud Neva understand said I joined my local cannibal club here in New York….

the board on Tue, 3rd Nov 2020 9:34 am

LOFAO @ po widdle. He is going postal. Fuck zero juan

zero juan on Tue, 3rd Nov 2020 9:38 am

widdle Ppee, you are fucked troll. You are getting trolled and suffering. This is delicious. Everyone here hates you, lunatic!

the board said LOFAO @ po widdle. He is going postal. Fuck zero j…

the board said po zero juan is REALLY frustrated. zero juan where…

The Board on Tue, 3rd Nov 2020 10:37 am

widdle davvee, you are fucked troll. You are getting trolled and suffering. This is delicious. Everyone here hates you, lunatic!

Go Biden!!!

Duncan Idaho on Tue, 3rd Nov 2020 10:40 am

“Every empire falls,” he said. “There are many other thriving places to make a life. The pandemic may end, but the racism and ugliness won’t.”

Biden’s Plans Regarding Energy Are Simply Not Doable

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