Green Energy Hell: How NOT to Save the World

Climate Journal Vol #0 Issue #7

This past week I've had even more reason to be pissed off than usual- and when it comes to 'green,' 'free' energy, that is saying a lot.

Part of that pissed off comes from a phrase I recently read, about the 'obscene profits' being made by the energy companies.

Now, I was planning to get into that. But, need to do more homework first. However you will see an example of 'obscene profits' today.

Along with a great deal of Hell on Earth, otherwise known as the Unintended Consequences which spring from 'WE'RE SAVING THE WORLD!'

-------

First up: Biofuels.

I've already mentioned elsewhere that a lot of WE'RE SAVING THE WORLD! types believe that one of the best ways to get off of coal, is to burn trees. In fact, the Largest coal-burning facility in Europe- the Drac - will soon be burning seven million TONS of trees a year.

And I believe I had mentioned elsewhere, that rainforests are currently being clear-cut, to make way for palm-oil plantations. Can't have all that pesky abundance of wildlife and exotic biota get in the way of making an addition to gasoline that not only costs a gallon of gasoline to make, but causes all kinds of problems with engines.

But, Hey! For those of you who you believe WE'RE SAVING THE WORLD!, Things are actually even worse than that.

"CORYDON, Iowa — The hills of southern Iowa bear the scars of America’s push for green energy: The brown gashes where rain has washed away the soil. The polluted streams that dump fertilizer into the water supply."

"Even the cemetery that disappeared like an apparition into a cornfield.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way.

With the Iowa political caucuses on the horizon in 2007, presidential candidate Barack Obama made homegrown corn a centerpiece of his plan to slow global warming. And when President George W. Bush signed a law that year requiring oil companies to add billions of gallons of ethanol to their gasoline each year, Bush predicted it would make the country "stronger, cleaner and more secure."

But the ethanol era has proven far more damaging to the environment than politicians promised and much worse than the government admits today. As farmers rushed to find new places to plant corn, they wiped out millions of acres of conservation land, destroyed habitat and polluted water supplies, an Associated Press investigation found."

wattsupwiththat.com/2013/11/16…

But hey, you guys who believe its' all good in the name of WE'RE SAVING THE WORLD!, are still having your feel good moment. In fact, it is all about feeling good about yourselves, isn't it?

So keep reading.

We're building the worlds' largest bug-and BIRD-zappers. Don'tcha know? It is called 'The Funnel Effect.'

'Have you heard about the funnel effect? It appears solar plants can draw in millions of insects and fry them. And then migratory birds drop in to eat the insects and the birds then get fried too.

"USFWS also noted an issue ReWire hasn’t covered before, and we suspect it has something to do with that funnel effect: the mortality of insects. The agency says the Palen solar project may have a serious effect on insects, based on experience at BrightSource’s Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System (ISEGS) site, now nearing completion in San Bernardino County. "Staff with the CEC reported large mortalities of insects killed during flux testing at the ISEGS site," says USFWS. "[A]mong those documented include migratory monarch butterflies and dragonflies."

A subsequent passage in the note on insects is an important summary of the relevance of insect mortalities to risk to other wildlife:

The ecological effects of mass insect mortalities have not been investigated
and may lead to greater levels of mortality than have been anticipated. In particular, concentrations of insects are likely to draw insectivorous and omnivorous migratory birds, including many raptors, which may increase the risk of bird mortalities.

www.kcet.org/news/rewire/comme…

How's that for a feel-good moment? Aren't you glad you are SAVING THE WORLD! ?

I won't even get into the fact that wind farms are seeking permits to kill Golden Eagles, or that the number of eagles actually killed is very likely far higher than reported.

But, you know, what's a couple dozen endangered species being slaughtered by wind and solar facilities, compared to the fact that YOU feel good about SAVING THE WORLD! by backing 'free,' 'green' energy?

Oh, right. The 'FREE!' part.

This is where I shall make first mention of those 'Obscene Profits.'

Seems there's this California Valley Solar Ranch. Like most all wind and solar across the globe, it was built with government money, ie, TAXPAYER money.

So you've already paid for your 'free!' energy, up front.

But, guess what?

'The huge California Valley Solar Ranch (CVSR) central-station solar plant is apparently now at "full power" thanks to a loan guarantee from the U.S. taxpayers of $1,237,000,000. Information regarding this project has been published here by Earthtechling, and also here, by the U.S. Department of Energy.

In an earlier article by Eric Lipton and Clifford Krauss in the New York Times entitled A Gold Rush of Subsidies in Clean Energy Search, the full cost of the project was established as $1.6 billion. Lipton and Krauss indicate:

The project is also a marvel in another, less obvious way: Taxpayers and ratepayers are providing subsidies worth almost as much as the entire $1.6 billion cost of the project. Similar subsidy packages have been given to 15 other solar- and wind-power electric plants since 2009.'

Got that? Not only did your tax money build the facility, but they were given subsidies almost equal to the entire cost of the facility!

So, now you have paid your tax money to build that facility (and many others), TWICE OVER.

And then your electricity bills WILL grow larger. Much larger.

And you get it all for 'FREE!'

Wiping out millions of acres of protected land. Burning trees to save trees. Polluting the water with fertilizers to make biofuels. Frying wildlife to save wildlife. And Hey! Endangered wildlife, at that, BONUS!

Not to worry. Those around you who back 'green,' 'free' energy in the name of WE'RE SAVING THE WORLD!, will feel good about it.

---

Author's comments:

Told you I was pissed about it.

And I have not even begun to scratch the surface. Count on more. MUCH more.

Article image created by huffpo, where many Many clueless feel-good types hang out. One Hopes they are waking up... but it is Doubtful.

*edit* I have tried several times to fix that link in the first section. No idea where that extra coding is coming from.

Have scrapped and re-written two sections now. Betting the mess moves again, and no idea why, save that they are doing something on-site.