American Experiment Releases Groundbreaking New Study on the High Cost of Renewable Energy Mandates in Minnesota

American Experiment is pleased to announce we are releasing a groundbreaking new study detailing the high cost renewable energy mandates in Minnesota. On the 2018 campaign trail, many DFL candidates, including Governor Tim Walz, said they would make obtaining 50 percent of Minnesota’s electricity by 2030 a top priority in their policy platform. Now DFL’ers in Minnesota are pushing their own version of the Green New Deal, mandating that Minnesota must get 100 percent of its electricity from “carbon free” resources by 2050. Our study found that attempting to achieve a 50 percent renewable energy mandate would cost Minnesota $80.2...

Are Minnesota Taxpayers Being Taken for a Ride by Amtrak?

Most Minnesotans have likely never heard of the proposed $550 million Northern Lights Express (NLX) passenger rail line from the Twin Cities to Duluth-Superior. Yet MnDOT has been quietly laying the groundwork for the line for years with a series of engineering and environmental studies. Meantime, Gov. Walz has prioritized the project, requesting $15 million from the legislature to keep NLX on track. If NLX becomes a reality, MnDOT has made it clear that Amtrak would operate the 152-mile line on behalf of the state. In recent weeks Amtrak officials have surfaced in meetings with elected officials in Duluth-Superior and...

The Historic Fairness of Standardized Admissions Tests

The SATs and ACT’s are particularly high-profile right now, in largest part because of ridiculously rich parents spending ridiculous amounts of money to feloniously insinuate their children into elite and not-so-elite universities and colleges.  Beyond accelerating perpetual arguments about the fundamental fairness of higher education admissions, the scandal also has provoked crisper conversation about the fairness of the tests themselves.  Further mixing things up have been news accounts about how various colleges and universities around the country have decided not to use either of the two tests at all. The aim of SATs and ACTs is gauging academic preparation and...

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Two cheers for Minnesota’s budget deal

The devil is in the detail, but early indications are that we can give two qualified cheers to the budget deal thrashed out in Saint Paul over the weekend. 

Kenwood Resident Makes Impassioned Plea to Reroute Unsafe SWLRT and Save Urban Oasis

If we want to build for the masses and reduce human impact, why are we destroying environment and sticking mass transit where there aren’t many masses? Why are we encouraging suburban sprawl? One commented on how the line will encourage population density along the route. Where? Do we plan to tear down single-family homes erect apartment buildings in all single-family neighborhoods? Place a Starbucks or Wal-Mart along the lakes? Where do we draw the line? Is this line supposed to serve the interest of builders who look at greenspace and see cash? Must we pave over whatever we can find?

A Climate-Change Drubbing in Australia

A recent CNN poll showed that climate change was the number one issue for likely Democratic voters, but this trend runs counter to movements sweeping the globe where policies to support expensive renewable energy resources are facing harsh backlash for increasing energy prices. These movements can be seen in France, Canada, and Australia, where the elections last weekend were a resounding defeat for the political parties pushing for more wind and solar. This trend is common throughout the world. Political support for wind and solar is initially high because people think these sources of electricity are "free" because there is no fuel costs, but as voters begin to understand the high costs associated with these policies, they become deeply unpopular. In other words, wind, solar and other climate policies are politically popular until the true costs are understood. Then, the  Yellow Vests come out.

Batteries Cannot Make Renewables Reliable

This article was written by David Wojick and originally published by a Committee for a Construction Tomorrow (CFACT): Utilities are starting to experiment with adding batteries to wind and solar projects. These storage projects are feeding the mistaken belief that batteries can cure the intermittency that makes wind and solar unworkable as a reliable source of power. The reality is that these battery projects are trivial in size compared to what would actually be needed to make wind or solar reliable. The cost of battery based reliability would actually be stupendous, far more than we could ever afford. Here are...

How Well Do Electric Vehicles Perform in Our Extreme Weather?

In case you missed it, the Star Tribune had an interesting article about the impact that cold weather has on the batteries of electric vehicles (EV’s). In short, the cold significantly reduce the range for EV’s. Electric vehicles have come along way. Yes, they are quick, powerful and incredibly environmentally friendly. But how practical are they, really, given limits on far how they can go on a single charge, especially in Minnesota’s bitter cold winters? Star Tribune reader Michael Orange, an environmental consultant, posed that question to Curious Minnesota, our community-driven reporting project fueled by great questions from inquisitive readers. His...