Yesterday, Xcel Energy announced it is committing to go 100 percent "carbon free" by the year 2050 across the eight Western and Midwestern states where they operate. Unfortunately, Xcel's ratepayers will see a 100 percent increase in electricity rates, and then some....
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Utility Dive, a website that covers the ongoings of the electric utility industry, has named Xcel Energy the Utility of the Year for 2018, commending the company for retiring coal-fired power plants and investing billions in future wind, solar, and natural gas installations. As for us, we don't think Xcel should be applauded for pursuing policies that result in higher profits for Xcel shareholders at the expense of the families and businesses who have no choice but to buy their electricity from the monopoly utility. ...
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OPEC used to to be the most influential cartel in the world. Even if the general public didn't know that OPEC stood for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, they were keenly aware of the power this group held to raise, or lower, oil prices, and what impact gas prices had on their families. But many people don't realize the power of OPEC is withering under the onslaught of American oil produced on American soil. America's surging oil production is so disruptive to the cartel that the Middle Eastern nation of Qatar has announced it will leave the organization in January. This...
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Thousands of Yellow Vest protesters in France continue to protest over the climate taxes imposed by French President Emmanuel Macron that will initially lead to a 30 cent increase in diesel prices, with the tax increasing over time. The New York Times described the protests as "shaking French politics to the core." The Yellow Vests are not young college students or far-right activists, they are the working class inhabitants of rural France that have been forgotten by the leaders in urban areas. NPR reports: "Among its ranks are retirees and the unemployed, farmers, housewives and people who have never protested before," NPR's Eleanor...
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Japan has taken aggressive steps to restart their nuclear power program by restarting five nuclear reactors in 2018. According to the Energy Information Administration, these nuclear reactors have a capacity of capacity of around six gigawatts (GW). For reference, this is more than Minnesota's coal and nuclear capabilities, combined. In total, more than 9 GW of nuclear capacity have come online since 2015 in Japan. If Minnesota had installed this same nuclear capacity, we would have been able to generate 100 percent of our electricity use with nearly zero carbon dioxide emissions. Instead, CO2 emissions from electricity generation in Minnesota have only fallen 25...
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In its most recent annual securities and exchanges report to investors, Xcel admitted exactly what American Experiment has been saying for years – that renewable energy sources increase electricity rates, create energy grids with excess and idle capacity, and lead to a more unreliable energy system. ...
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In Canada, pressure against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's carbon tax is mounting, as Manitoba did a sudden about-face on its intention to impose a $25-per-tonne carbon price this fall. The Canadian federal government in Ottawa passed legislation last spring to give it authority to impose a carbon price on any province that did not implement its own tax beginning Jan. 1, 2019. It is starting at a minimum of $20 per tonne, rising $10 per year until 2022. Although, Trudeau says Canadians gave his government a mandate to implement a national carbon price in the last election, the blowback in provincial governments is...
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Thousands of French police fired tear gas and used water cannons against demonstrators who have been protesting French President Emmanuel Macron's new taxes on diesel fuel, the most popular fuel in France, and gasoline, since the weekend of November 17th. More than 280,000 protesters took to the streets to protest the deeply unpopular tax on its initial weekend. The tax has been a flashpoint because French motorists already pay the equivalent of nearly $7.06 per gallon of fuel, but under the new gas tax championed by the deeply unpopular French President, fuel prices would initially raise diesel prices by 30 cents per gallon, with...
Continue readingDiesel prices in France have skyrocketed more than 23 percent over the last 12 months and French motorists already spend more than $7.00 per gallon, USD. Despite these enormous costs, French President Emmanuel Macron has stated the rising gas taxes are needed to reduce France’s dependence on fossil fuels and fund renewable energy investment. The new taxes would raise the cost of diesel fuel by nearly 30 cents per gallon, and will continue to climb in the coming years....
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An industrial wind facility in Kewaunee County, Wisconsin has been decommissioned after just 20 years of service because the turbines are no longer cost effective to maintain and operate. The decommissioning of the 14 turbines took many people by surprise, even local government officials and the farmer who had five of the turbines on his property. Why Are We So Surprised? What's really surprising about these wind turbines being decommissioned after 20 years is the is the fact that people were surprised by it. You'd be astonished at how many people I talk to that have no idea that wind turbines only last for 20...
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