When it comes to assessing power sources, the three most significant metrics are affordability, reliability, and environmental friendliness.
For several years, we’ve been told that so-called green energy sources like wind and solar check all three of these boxes, thus making them the best choice for America.
However, this is not true. Actually, a strong case can be made that wind and solar are some of the least affordable, reliable, and clean energy sources.
On the other hand, natural gas, which has been inaccurately portrayed as being terrible for the planet and more expensive than wind and solar, is, by far, more affordable, reliable, and environmentally friendly.
This is not mere opinion. It is based on taking the whole picture into account.
According to James Taylor, President of The Heartland Institute, “America needs affordable and reliable energy sources to power our economy, provide prosperous personal living standards, and compete with global competitors.”
Yes, we certainly do. As we enter the age of AI and quantum computing, abundant, affordable, dependable, and clean energy will be paramount.
In a recent Policy Brief titled “Affordable, Reliable, and Clean: An Objective Scorecard to Assess Competing Energy Sources,” Taylor analyzes and assigns “an objective numerical score for competing energy sources regarding each of the three factors.”
Affordability
“Pricing data for competing power sources is more complicated than most people assume,” Taylor notes.
This is partly due to generous subsidies that mask the real cost of wind and solar. In fact, “wind power receives more source-specific federal subsidies than all conventional energy sources combined,” per the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Another “hidden” cost that is often overlooked when it comes to wind and solar is that their intermittent nature “require baseload power facilities like natural gas plants to be cycling and available – racking up costs but selling no power – in the background in case they are needed at a moment’s notice when wind or solar power ramp down.”
The Dumbocrats and Libertatards are FULL of natural gas… If we could harness the endless emissions from their mouths, we will never run out of energy because they can’t shut their mouths spewing their anger and stupid ideas and statements!
Going from an electric water heater to on-demand gas hot water eliminated $80 per month in electricity for $20 in gas. No more big tank, no more heating water 24/7.
Going from an oil burner for hot water heating to gas dropped our winter bills by over $2000 for each of the past two years. No smell, no smoke, no noise, no messy deliveries, much better heating.