When a former “senior communications official at the White House” writes a blog post for U.S. News and World Report, you should be able to trust it. But when the author states that the Keystone pipeline (should it be approved) would create only 19 weeks of temporary jobs, everything else he says must be suspect—including the claim that our “energy infrastructure will be 100% solar by 2030.”
I contacted both a union representative and one from TransCanada—the company behind the Keystone pipeline. Each affirmed that the 19-week timeframe was total fantasy. The portion of the Keystone pipeline that remains to be built is 1,179 miles long—the vast majority of that within the U.S.—with construction expected to take 2 years.
TransCanada’s spokesperson Mark Cooper responded to my query: “While some people belittle these jobs as temporary, we know that without temporary construction jobs—and the hard work of the men and women who do them—we wouldn’t have roads, highways, schools, or hospitals. We wouldn’t have the Empire State Building, the Golden Gate Bridge, or the Hoover Dam. So, I would say to these detractors: ‘It is OK if you don’t like or support Keystone XL. But let’s stop putting down the very people who have helped build America.’”
The premise of the On the Edge blog post is that we shouldn’t look at Keystone as a jobs creator. Instead, the author claims, the jobs are in “solar energy disruption.” He is frustrated that “GOP leaders almost universally ignore or disdain this emerging energy economy.”
He states: “A third of all new electric generation in 2014 came from solar. A new solar installation or project now occurs somewhere in the U.S.—built by a team of American workers employed in the fastest growing energy sector in the world—every 3 minutes.”
This may be true but, as you’ll see, it belies several important details. Plenty of cause exists for Republican lawmakers to “disdain” the growth in renewable energy.
If “a third of all new electric generation in 2014 came from solar,” there is reason for it—and it does not include sound economics.
First, efficient and effective base-load, coal-fueled electricity that has provided the bulk of America’s power is being prematurely shut down by regulations prompted by environmental lobbyists and promulgated by the Obama Administration. It is virtually impossible to get a new coal-fueled power plant permitted in the U.S. Even natural gas-powered plants, such as the one planned to replace the Salem Harbor coal-fueled plant, meet with resistance from groups such as Grassroots Against Another Salem Plant, which “has pledged to use peaceful civil disobedience to block construction of the gas plant.” And, of course, just try to build a nuclear power plant and all the fear-mongers come out.
What’s left? Renewables, such as wind and solar, receive favorable treatment through a combination of mandates and subsidies. Even industrial wind and solar have their own opposition within the environmental lobby groups because they chop up and fry birds and bats— including protected bald and golden eagles.
The brand new report, Solar Power in the U.S.(SPUS), presents a comprehensive look at the impacts of solar power on the nation’s consumers.
Clearly, without the mandates and subsidies, this “solar energy disruption” would go dark.
We’ve seen companies, such as Solyndra, Abound Solar, and Evergreen Solar, go bankrupt even with millions of dollars in state and federal (taxpayer) assistance. I’ve written extensively on these stories and that of Abengoa—which received the largest federal loan guarantee ($2.8 billion) and has resorted to questionable business practices to keep the doors open (Abengoa is currently under investigation from several federal agencies).
SPUS shows that without the subsidies and mandates these renewable projects can’t survive. For example, in Australia, sales of solar systems “fell as soon as the incentives were cut back.” Since the Australian government announced that it was reconsidering its Renewable Energy Targets, “investments have started to dry up.”
Knowing the importance of the “incentives,” the solar industry has now become a major campaign donor, providing political pressure and money to candidates, who will bring on more mandates, subsidies, and tax credits. Those candidates are generally Democrats, as one of the key differences between the two parties is that Democrats tend to support government involvement.
By contrast, Republicans lean toward limited government and the free market. The GOP doesn’t “disdain” solar, but they know it only survives because of government mandates that require a certain percentage of renewables, and specifically solar, in the energy mix, plus the subsidies and tax credits that make it attractive. Therefore, they can’t get excited about the jobs being created as a result of taxpayers’ involuntary investment, nor higher energy costs. There is a big difference between disdaining solar power and disdaining the government involvement that gives it an unfair advantage in the marketplace.
The blog post compares the “solar energy disruption” to what “occurred when direcTV and Dish started to compete with cable television. More choices emerged and a whole lot of new jobs were created.” However, those jobs were created through private investment and the free market—a fact that, along with solar’s dependence on incentives, he never mentions. Likewise, the jobs supported by building the Keystone pipeline would be through private funding.
The blog’s author touts this claim, from the book Clean Disruption: “Should solar continue on its exponential trajectory, the energy infrastructure will be 100% solar by 2030”—15 years from now. Even if state and federal governments were to continue to pour money into solar energy—which, as is pointed out in SPUS, subsidies are already being dialed back on a variety of fronts, there is no currently available solution to solar’s intermittency.
SPUS draws upon the example of Germany, which has led the way globally in solar and other renewables. Over time the high renewable penetration has contributed to residential electricity prices more than doubling. Renewables received favored status, called “priority dispatch,” which means that, when renewable electricity becomes available, the utilities must dispatch it first, thereby changing the merit order for thermal plants. Now many modern natural gas-fueled plants, as well as coal, couldn’t operate profitably. As a result, many were shut down, while several plants were provided “capacity payments” by the government (a double subsidy) in order to stay online as back-up—which maintains system stability. In Germany’s push for 80% renewable energy by 2050, it has found that despite the high penetration of renewables, given their inherent intermittency, a large amount of redundancy of coal- and natural-gas-fueled electricity (nuclear being decommissioned) is necessary to maintain the reliability of the grid.
As the German experience makes clear, without a major technological breakthrough to store electricity generated through solar systems, “100% solar by 2030” is just one more fantasy.
The blog post ends with this: “The GOP congressional leadership ignores these new jobs inside an innovative, disruptive energy sector that is about to sweep across the country it leads—in favor of a vanishingly small number of mythical Keystone ‘jobs’ that may never materialize. It makes you wonder. Why?”
The answers can be found in SPUS, which addresses the policy, regulatory, and consumer protection issues that have manifested themselves through the rapid rise of solar power and deals with many more elements than covered here. It concludes: “Solar is an important part of our energy future, but there must be forethought, taking into account future costs, jobs, energy reliability, and the overall energy infrastructure already in place. This technology must come online with the needs of the taxpayer, consumer and ratepayer in mind instead of giving the solar industry priority.”
What will happen to solar or wind when we get a major hurricane?
Solar plants are usually in desert areas and hurricanes don’t get that far. Still I was driving across the Arizona desert 20 years ago and they were having monsoon rains that would have negated solar, but good. Windmills have to be “feathered” (i.e., stopped) in high or low winds and heated in cold windless weather to prevent icing despite producing nothing.
And let us remember that wind and solar have to be backed up 100% with gas, coal or nuclear power ready to take up the load at any moment. That ‘idling” state is the most inefficient way for them to operate because everything is running and nothing is produced.
Yes, as I always say, renewable energy relies on fossil fuel, far more than fossil fuel relies on renewable energy!
Try driving across Arizona in a dust storm and then contemplate the enormous solar panel cleaning job (without scratching the glass or mirror surfaces).
You provide an effective introductory synopsis!
Given the US News’ blogger’s limited credibility, shouldn’t we pursue a more reliable and cost effective energy supply without solar mandates and subsidies?
So nuclear energy does not did government funding and did not get tax payer money during its growth phase? That is not what I have read at all.
Nuclear has the required performance capability… it is not intermittent, nor does it require redundant backup… there is a HUGE difference Joe! It is all about the free market and the ability to choose what is the best power source to suit the given need! It should not be dictated by a dictator! If I want to fly to Mexico, I fly not by wind or solar, I fly via fossil fuel power! If I want to power my garden gnomes in the backyard, I select solar! The best energy to meet the given need is the one that should be selected.
Fact: All the solar projects built to date amount to 0.5% (a half of one percent) of the energy generated for use today. Fact: They are, when built in vast arrays, more environmentally hazardous, and cover vastly more land than the pipeline right of way for Keystone. Fact; Keystone would produce industrial strength energy supplies not subject to the vagaries of weather conditions, and is a very clean source which will last for hundreds of years. A solar array is good for 20 years before replacement will be required.
the reflecitve ones are vaporizing birds (there are vidoes) while the giant windmill ones are slicing raptors. where is the Audubon outrage?
As well, the windmills are killing millions of bats and songbirds too.
Hahaha vaporizing birds hahaha.
Fuck off imbeciles!
The oil generated by the Keystone pipeline is the dirtiest crude ever produced and it will be refined in the US and sent to Europe, it couldn’t pass our standards
Uh. No. Crude can be refined to any standard you like. Generally the Europeans have higher standards than the U.S. It is also not the “dirtiest” – that world is completely meaningless in this context. Do you mean the highest sulfur content? Most metals? Radioactive? highest carbon content? Dirty with what exactly?
About two tons of tar sands are required to produce one barrel of oil. Roughly 75% of the bitumen can be recovered from sand. After oil extraction, the spent sand and other materials are then returned to the mine, which is eventually reclaimed.
In-situ production methods are used on bitumen deposits buried too deep for mining to be economically recovered. These techniques include steam injection, solvent injection, and firefloods, in which oxygen is injected and part of the resource burned to provide heat. So far steam injection has been the favored method. Some of these extraction methods require large amounts of both water and energy (for heating and pumping).
Both mining and processing of tar sands involve a variety of environmental impacts, such as global warming and greenhouse gas emissions, disturbance of mined land; impacts on wildlife and air and water quality. The development of a commercial tar sands industry in the U.S. would also have significant social and economic impacts on local communities. Of special concern in the relatively arid western United States is the large amount of water required for tar sands processing; currently, tar sands extraction and processing require several barrels of water for each barrel of oil produced, though some of the water can be recycled.
Diluted bitumen (dilbit) is oil from tar sands and is substantially different from conventional crude oil. Dilbit is a relatively new oil product and currently only represents a very small portion of the oil being piped in pipelines in the US (100,000 barrels per day beginning in 2002).
During the time that the Deepwater Horizon / Gulf Oil Spill was occurring, the United States also experienced what is documented to be the largest oil spill in the Midwest in history – the Kalamazoo River Pipeline Spill where 1,200,000 gallons of dilbit tar oil was released into the Kalamazoo River.
It turned out that neither the EPS nor the company that managed the pipeline had a plan for being able to clean up dilbit oil and it turns out that dilbit oil is substantially different from conventional oil
Dilbit oil is much heavier than traditional oil and in order to be transported in a pipeline it has to be diluted with chemicals that keep it fluid so that it will flow through the pipeline. While dilbit oil is exposed to air, as in the case of an oil-spill, these highly caustic and dangerous chemicals evaporate and the oil returns to its heavy state, which does not float on the top of water.
Originally the EPA and the oil pipeline company estimated that the Kalamazoo River spill would take approximately 30 days to clean up, but the clean-up has proven to be substantially more problematic and after more than 22 months with as many as 4,400 people working on the clean-up the spill has still not been remediated. Additionally, it turns out that the costs encountered so far have been more than 10 times as costly than the typical costs associated with a conventional oil spill. The current costs of the Kalamazoo River dilbit oil spill are over $775,000,000 and rising. The clean-up efforts are expected to continue well into 2012, if not longer. According to news reports, 60% of the local populations were affected by and required treatment for miles around the spill with nauea, dizziness, headaches, coughing and fatigue. Thirty five miles of the river have had to be closed to humans (the actual spill affected 25 miles of the river).
According to the EPA and the pipeline operator they had no knowledge of how to respond to a dilbit tar sands oil spill and they are literally “writing the book” as they are going along.
Put solar panels on your roof and a Tesla in your garage, and you can tell the koch brothers to kiss your ass!!!!! Then watch my show. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-CVnc2krIg
Rich you are the Joke, your show kinda reminds me of ‘Uncle Pervy!’.
How many solar panels and Tesla’s do you own Rich?
Uncle Richie doesn’t have solar panels on his roof, he definitely can’t afford a Tesla on his welfare check and he doesn’t even have a garage.
What he does have is a mental problem.