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on April 24, 2020
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Study in International Journal of Sustainable Energy Finds Wind Turbines Are Not Cost Effective

Written by Isaac Orr
in Energy, Environment

A newly-released study in the International Journal of Sustainable Energy confirms what we at Center of the American Experiment have been saying for a long time, the metric that is often used to compare the cost of different energy resources, the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE), is not an appropriate metric to model the cost of weather dependent resources like wind and solar, and that wind turbines are not cost effective when their intermittency and unreliability are taken into account. Levelized Cost of Energy Estimates in A Weather-Dependent World Levelized Cost of Energy estimates used to make sense 20 years ago because...

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on January 24, 2020
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Despite Massive Wind and Solar Spending, Minnesota Carbon Dioxide Emissions Essentially Flat Since 2012

Written by Isaac Orr
in Climate, Energy, Environment

When lawmakers like Governor Tim Walz and members of the Minnesota House of Representatives call for massively increasing the amount of wind and solar on the grid, they often do so because they claim climate change is an "existential crisis." If these lawmakers truly believe this talking point, though, they wouldn't be advocating for building more wind and solar. This is because Minnesota has seen virtually no decline in annual CO2 emissions since 2012, despite the fact that we have seen wind and solar capacity increase by 50 percent during this time frame, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data. The...

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on January 16, 2020
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Center of the American Experiment Testifies on the Minnesota Senate’s Clean Energy First Bill in Rochester

Written by Isaac Orr
in Climate, Energy, Environment, Minnesota Economy

Last night, I drove down to Rochester to testify at a hearing on the Minnesota Senate's Clean Energy First bill. As you will see in my testimony, this proposed legislation offers several significant improvements over previous legislation introduced to shape Minnesota's energy future, such as those proposed last session by Governor Walz and the Minnesota House of Representatives. However, there are still a few problematic parts of this legislation that I address later on in my comments. My testimony begins at 1:31:29 and I've pasted my comments below with additional links to provide references for my testimony. https://www.facebook.com/mnsrc/videos/477619166520895/   January 15, 2020 Testimony Clean Energy...

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on January 15, 2020
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Clear Energy Alliance: Riot Fuel

Written by Isaac Orr
in Climate, Energy, Environment

Liberals often talk about their desire to impose carbon taxes on fossil fuels in order to make it more expensive to use them, but enacting taxes on energy has harmful impacts on consumers, particularly those who have less income to spare. As a result, carbon taxes are among the most regressive taxes imaginable, and making energy artificially more expensive has sparked riots across the world. The video below explains how governments in Iran, Chile, and France sparked riots by imposing policies that make energy more expensive. Renewable energy special interest groups often talk about the environmental costs of using coal and...

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on January 13, 2020
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Minnesota Had More Wind and Solar in 2018 than Ever Before But CO2 Emissions Went Up

Written by Isaac Orr
in Climate, Energy, Environment

Minnesota had more wind turbines and solar panels in 2018 than in any year prior, but carbon dioxide emissions from the electricity generation sector increased compared to 2017 and 2016 levels, according to the most recent data released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Share the news far and wide!...

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on July 25, 2019
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Xcel Energy CEO Made $26.2 Million in 2018 As Your Electric Bill Reached a New All-Time High

Written by Isaac Orr
in Climate, Energy, Environment, Minnesota Economy

The Star Tribune recently ran a piece announcing that Xcel Energy CEO Ben Fowke was the third-highest paid CEO in Minnesota in 2018 with a total pay of $26.2 million for the year. This wouldn't necessarily be outrageous compensation if Xcel Energy were a private company competing for your businesses in a free market, but the fact that Xcel customers are literally forced by the government to buy their electricity from the  government-approved monopoly makes this level of compensation unconscionable. Why does the Xcel CEO get paid so much? According to the Star Tribune: "Fowke’s annual bonus is based on five factors: employee...

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on July 24, 2019
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11 Ways Minnesota Families Are Subsidizing Solar

Written by Isaac Orr
in Climate, Energy, Environment, Minnesota Economy

There is a pervasive fiction that solar is somehow lower cost than other sources of electricity and that this form of energy is competing on a level playing field with sources like coal, nuclear, and natural gas. This notion is a complete fairy tale. Unfortunately, there are a host of renewable energy advocacy groups, some of them who pretend to be conservative, who further this notion and even contend that wind and solar are somehow at a disadvantage relative to more reliable forms of energy due to government intervention. Nothing could be further than the truth. Solar and wind have all...

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on July 21, 2019
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What is the ‘Conservative Energy Network’ and Why is it Backed by Leftist Funders?

Written by Isaac Orr
in Climate, Energy, Environment, Minnesota Economy

There is big money behind promoting wind and solar power. After all, the only reasons people build wind turbines and solar panels are because of government subsidies, state-level renewable energy mandates, and government-approved monopoly utility companies, like Xcel Energy, who build them because it allows them to increase their corporate profits. In essence, there would be zero market for wind and solar if the government were not involved, and this fact means that renewable energy companies are willing to spend massive amounts of money to influence public policy. It makes perfect sense, their very existence depends on government policies. Unfortunately,  some so-called...

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on June 16, 2019
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American Experiment Opposes the Carbon Tax Scam

Written by Isaac Orr
in Climate, Energy, Environment

Last week, 75 conservative organizations signed a public letter to Congress opposing “any carbon tax” days after reports that Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney openly considered backing carbon tax bill, and American Experiment was one of them. The letter, circulated by Americans for Tax Reform, read: "We oppose any carbon tax. A carbon tax raises the cost of heating your home in the winter and cooling your home in the summer. It raises the cost of filling your car. A carbon tax increases the cost of everything Americans buy and lowers Americans’ effective take home pay. A carbon tax increases the power, cost...

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