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on June 22, 2020
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Xcel Proposes $3B in Renewable Projects to Bolster Corporate Profits During Pandemic

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

Last week the Minneapolis Star-Tribune ran an article entitled "Xcel Proposes $3B in Renewable Projects to Bolster Economy Dogged by Pandemic." In the article, the author discusses Xcel's plan to spend billions of dollars on renewable energy projects. What is missing from the piece is Xcel's underlying motive for fast forwarding the projects, exploiting the high unemployment caused by the COVID-19 shutdown to increase their government-guaranteed corporate profits. There is No Free Market for Electricity in Minnesota One of the single-most important things conservatives need to know about Minnesota’s electric system is that there is no free market for electricity, and investor owned...

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on April 10, 2020
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Forbes: To Fight The Coronavirus, The World Returns To Fossil Fuels

Written by Isaac Orr
in Coronavirus, Energy, Environment

The article below appeared in Forbes, and it does a good job of summarizing how many of the policies advocated by environmental activists harm human safety in times like the Coronavirus outbreak. Ideas like banning single-use plastic bags in favor of forcing people to use resusable bags may sound good on a bumper sticker, but the science, indicates these policies leave people at greater health risks by facilitating the spread of pathogens. Ditto for energy. Even putting cost aside, which is an enormous aside, the idea that wind, solar, and battery storage alone will be able to deliver the same degree of reliability that...

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on March 27, 2020
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Federal Coronavirus Spending Excludes Renewable Energy Subsidies, A Benefit to All Americans

Written by Isaac Orr
in Coronavirus, Energy, Environment

Earlier this week, American Experiment wrote about how some Democratic members of the U.S. House and Senate had opposed the proposed pandemic relief spending bill because did not include more subsidies for the wind and solar industry, among other items on the liberal wish list that are totally irrelevant to the virus outbreak. Thankfully, attempts to insert these pork-barrel projects into the bill failed, which benefits all Americans by not providing even more incentives for unreliable, weather-dependent resources that increase the cost of providing electricity to everyone. It wasn't due to lack of trying, though. According to an article in Utility Dive:  "Despite...

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on March 23, 2020
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Coronavirus Aid Package Fails Because Liberal Democrats Want Green New Deal, Student Debt Forgiveness

Written by Isaac Orr
in Coronavirus, Energy, Environment

This weekend, a $1.6 trillion spending planned aimed at reducing the economic strain Americans will feel due to the COVID-19 Coronavirus failed to pass out of the Senate because it wasn't the Green New Deal, and because it did not include provisions for student loan forgiveness. These two aspects apparently made the package a deal breaker for House and Senate Democrats in Washington, D.C. Green New Deal, or No Deal One of the demands being made by House Democrats in a draft proposal are requirements for airline companies that receive financial assistance to offset 100 percent of their carbon dioxide emissions by...

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on March 22, 2020
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Darling, is the Wind Blowing? I’d Like to Go to the Hospital For COVID-19

Written by Isaac Orr
in Energy, Environment

Last year, President Trump mocked the unreliability of wind power at the Conservative Political Action Conference stating, "Darling, is the wind blowing today? I'd like to watch television." While the President's jabs were directed at watching television, the unreliable nature of wind and solar power makes them ill-suited to providing reliable, affordable electricity for our nation's hospitals when they need it most. For example, earlier this week, the wind wasn't blowing very well. In fact, data from the regional grid operator show wind was producing just 12.87 percent of its potential, meaning coal, nuclear, and natural gas power plants were needed...

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