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on March 01, 2021
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Clear Energy Alliance Video: Auctioning Blackouts

Written by Isaac Orr
in Energy

Blackouts occurred in Texas and other parts of the country in February 2021. Why? It’s happening because of a complex, market-distorting (and ridiculous) system of having electricity producers bid to provide you power. The system gives wind and solar companies an unfair advantage, which has led to too much unreliable electricity generation from wind and solar. Blackouts now, and in the future, are a completely avoidable problem that Congress should fix immediately. https://youtu.be/iglPoksV7i4...

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on February 25, 2021
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Here’s What Happened: Seeking Answers For the Winter 2021 Texas Blackouts

Written by Isaac Orr
in Energy

We're still unraveling what happened in Texas to cause rolling blackouts for millions of people. One of the most interesting pieces I've seen on the power outages is from Dr. Brent Bennett of Life:Powered, which I have reproduced below. You can read the piece on their website by clicking here. The Texas blackouts were a tragic reminder of how crucial electricity is to our daily lives, especially in dealing with harsh weather. When we lose what we so often take for granted, it is normal to be left bewildered and searching for answers. Unfortunately, it is hard for Texans to sort through the competing narratives. Two...

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on February 24, 2021
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Why the Polar Vortex Will Cause Minnesota Natural Gas Bills To Be Up To $400 Higher

Written by Isaac Orr
in Energy

Residents in Texas are reporting enormous electric bills, some as high as $7,000 to $17,000, due to a surge in electricity demand for home heating during last week's polar vortex. Minnesota was also enveloped in an arctic blast last week, leaving thousands of Minnesota families worried that they will see similar increases. I spoke with Reg Champan of WCCO last evening about why Minnesotans will see large increases to their natural gas bills and possibly their electric bills, but they won't be as high as those reported in Texas. The reason Minnesotans will pay $400 more for their energy instead of...

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on February 22, 2021
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Minnesota Can Handle the Cold Because of Fossil Fuel Power Plants

Written by Isaac Orr
in Energy

The article below was originally published in the Minneapolis Star Tribune: We need to stop planning our electric system around wind turbines and solar panels, technologies that often fail to show up during extreme weather events, when we need them most. Texas is learning this lesson the hard way. More than 2.5 million people are experiencing rolling blackouts because an arctic blast has frozen a significant portion of the Lone Star State's natural gas infrastructure. Compounding the shortages is the fact that at one point during the blackouts, the Texas wind fleet (the largest in the nation) was producing just 2% of its...

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on February 16, 2021
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Robert Bryce: This Blizzard Exposes The Perils Of Attempting To ‘Electrify Everything’

Written by Isaac Orr
in Energy

The following article was written by Robert Bryce. It originally appeared in Forbes. The massive blast of Siberia-like cold that is wreaking havoc across North America is proving that if we humans want to keep surviving frigid winters, we are going to have to keep burning natural gas — and lots of it — for decades to come. That cold reality contradicts the “electrify everything” scenario that’s being promoted by climate change activists, politicians, and academics. They claim that to avert the possibility of catastrophic climate change, we must stop burning hydrocarbons and convert all of our transportation, residential, commercial, and industrial systems so that they...

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on January 25, 2021
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Bad Prediction: Government Report Said UK Would be 100% Wind by 2020

Written by Isaac Orr
in Energy

In December of 2007, The Guardian ran a story describing the bold findings from a report authored by the government of the United Kingdom stating that the nation would be generating enough electricity to power every home. However, statistics from the National Grid of the UK show that wind only accounted for 21 percent of the electricity generated in the UK last year....

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on January 22, 2021
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Walz’s 100 Percent “Clean Energy” Mandates: Increasing Prices, Falling Reliability

Written by Isaac Orr
in Energy

On January 21, 2021, Governor Walz announced his administration would require 100 percent of Minnesota's electricity to come from "clean energy" by 2040. The plan also seeks to increase mandates for energy conservation and reduce emissions from existing buildings by half by 2035. This proposal is, by far, the closest thing to the Green New Deal that has ever been proposed in Minnesota. ...

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