on August 17, 2019

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Solar Roads Turned Out To Be A “Colossal Failure”

Written by Isaac Orr

in Climate, Energy, Environment, Minnesota Economy

By now it should probably be more surprising when the next "big thing" in renewable energy isn't a colossal failure, but until that time comes, people will be surprised by how inefficient and expensive wind and solar truly are. The last example is the solar roads built in France and the United States that have turned out to be abject failures. According to Business Insider: Two years after the world's first solar road — the Normandy road in France — was set up, it's turned out to be a colossal failure, according to a report by Le Monde. The road has deteriorated to...

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on August 15, 2019

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Low-Cost Natural Gas Saves Thousands of Lives By Lowering Heating Bills

Written by Isaac Orr

in Energy, Environment, Minnesota Economy

Natural gas is a powerful resources that is saving thousands of lives every single year. That's the conclusion of a recent study by the National Bureau of Economic Research entitled "Inexpensive Heating Reduces Winter Mortality" The abstract of the paper states: This paper examines how the price of home heating affects mortality in the US. Exposure to cold is one reason that mortality peaks in winter, and a higher heating price increases exposure to cold by reducing heating use. It also raises energy bills, which could affect health by decreasing other health-promoting spending. Our empirical approach combines spatial variation in the...

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on August 11, 2019

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Expiring Subsidies, Not Free Markets, Driving Minnesota Solar Growth

Written by Isaac Orr

in Energy, Environment

Renewable energy advocates often claim that business is booming for the solar industry in Minnesota, and this is true. However, in order to determine whether this is a good or bad thing for Minnesota residents, it is important to understand why this is the case. A recent article suggests the recent demand in solar development is happening because people want to cash in on the federal solar subsidies before the tax credits taper off over the next five years. According to an article in the Rochester Post Bulletin: "When Steve and Dawn Finnie opened Little Thistle Brewing Co., they had long-term plans...

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on August 07, 2019

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St. Paul Green Party Mayoral Candidate’s Paper Straw Response to my PiPress Article Doesn’t Hold Up

Written by Isaac Orr

in Energy, Environment, Minnesota Economy

Last week I had an opinion editorial in the St. Paul Pioneer Press discussing how Minnesota's foray into wind and solar has led to higher electricity costs for no measurable environmental benefits. This prompted Elizabeth Dickinson, the former Green Party mayoral candidate for St. Paul to write a letter accusing me of using cherry-picked data. However, upon further scrutiny, the logic she uses in her letter to the editor holds up as well as paper straws. This sort of accusation is commonplace, but it does not make it correct. I've posted her letter below with my own thoughts about the points made...

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on July 30, 2019

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Navy Times: Coal is the Most Reliable Source of Electricity for Our Military

Written by Isaac Orr

in Energy, Environment, National Security

Yesterday I wrote about how oil, not wind and solar, is the most important source of energy for our military. Today I'd like to delve deeper into the electricity sector because having access to reliable electricity is incredibly important for our military, especially as technology continues to play a larger and larger role in keeping America safe. Renewable energy advocates sometimes argue that wind and solar make our country safer, but it is hard to imagine any way that intermittent, unreliable sources of electricity could meaningfully improve our national security in a way that coal, natural gas, and nuclear power cannot. The reason...

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on July 29, 2019

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American Frackers, Not Wind and Solar, Increase Our National Security

Written by Isaac Orr

in Energy, Environment, National Security, Uncategorized

America has the strongest military might in the world. We have 3,476 tactical aircraft, 760 attack helicopters, 637 unmanned drones, 157 bombers, 2,831 tanks, 93 cruisers, destroyers, and frigates, 10 aircraft carriers, 68 submarines, 31 amphibious ships, and probably more supply trucks than you can shake a stick at. The one thing these military vehicles have in common? They ain't running on wind and solar. They're running on oil. In fact, the United States military is the single-largest consumer of oil in the world, using more than 100 million barrels every single year. Fortunately, the oil used to keep America safe is...

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on July 28, 2019

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Cloudy With a Chance of Blackouts: Island-Wide Outage on Kaua’i, Clouds Block Solar Recovery After Generator’s Cable Failure

Written by Isaac Orr

in Energy, Environment

Looks like adding solar to the grid isn't helping in Hawaii, after a blackout caused by a severed electric cable caused the natural gas generator to go offline. According to the Honolulu Star Advertiser, 10,000 Kauai residents from Kekaha to Princeville dealt with rolling electric outages between 6 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, and utility officials asked everyone to reduce energy use after Sunday’s islandwide power outage. "Rolling blackouts were needed Sunday and today because other electricity-generating units were out of service for either repair or scheduled maintenance, officials said. Electricity customers experienced 30-minute outages every three to four hours during the rolling...

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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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