Earlier this summer Mitch Rolling and I wrote a multi-part series explaining how Fresh Energy's characterization of energy issues in Minnesota is intentionally misleading Minnesotans. This page serves as a table of contents for ease of use, and it will be updated as we expand the series into the future....
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MinnPost ran an interesting article last week entitled "Should We Mine Copper and Nickel in Minnesota...
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Elected officials and planners in the city of Minneapolis are lamenting the fact that carbon dioxide emissions from natural gas increased in 2018, and that the city is not on track to meet it's 2050 CO2 emissions targets, according to an article in the Star Tribune. Sam Rockwell, who is the president of the Minneapolis Planning Commission, also wrote to the Strib that natural gas use must be slashed, and encouraged Minneapolis to follow the lead of Berkeley California, and ban the use of natural gas in new construction. However, it is the unrealistic, expensive, and ultimately heartless carbon dioxide emissions...
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Renewable energy advocates in Minnesota will probably celebrate the fact that wind power produced more electricity than coal-fired power plants in April of this year (if they haven't already). This is true, as you can see in the graph below, but it is also irrelevant. When this phenomenon is viewed in the context of electricity demand, as well as supply, it paints a very different picture. The graph below shows total electricity generation in Minnesota, along with the generation from coal and wind, dating back to January of 2018. Coal generation fell in April of 2018 and 2019 because April is one...
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This is huge news. I was looking through some data from the Energy Information Administration's website and I stumbled upon this interesting graph which shows that electricity generation from wind in 2019 could be less than it was in 2018 (red line added for emphasis). As you can see, generation from wind power peaked in December of 2017 and has not reached anywhere close to that height in the following months. In fact, wind output was 24 percent lower in December of 2018 than in December of 2017. It is interesting to note that wind generation did increases by about 1.8 percent in...
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Senator David Osmek (R-Mound), who is the head of the Minnesota Senate energy committee, recently unloaded on the incredibly bad proposals brought forth by the DFL-led House of Representatives, and it was glorious. Soon after the video starts, Senator Osmek calls the energy section an abomination and an absolute failure. The video gives us a glimpse into the negotiations that occurred as the House and Senate attempted to reconcile the differences between their energy priorities. Throughout the negotiation process, both the House and Senate had the opportunity name legislation that would be a "non-starter" to be taken out, but it turns out...
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If you use less electricity, you should pay less on electric bills. Right?Unfortunately in Minnesota, that’s not the case, as electricity bills have increased by 8 percent even though we consume 10 percent less electricity than we did in 2007, and it will only get worse if “decoupling” becomes standard policy....
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Fresh Energy often claims wind is the cheapest source of electricity in Minnesota, but they rely on cherry-picked data to make their case. ...
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Fresh Energy, a renewable energy advocacy organization, continues to mislead Minnesotan’s on energy issues – and it appears they don’t appreciate our work explaining how wind and solar are driving up the cost of electricity in our state. In their latest critique of American Experiment, Fresh Energy made multiple attempts to inaccurately portray our organization as not understanding how electric rates work, while arguing that wind and solar are the cheapest sources of electricity in our state and a boon to job creation. Each of these claims is demonstrably false. The article below is the fourth in a series of articles that will...
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Electricity bills in Minnesota are lower than other states in the Midwest because we use less electricity, not because we're getting a deal on our bills....
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