Despite massive taxpayer-funded subsidies, 'clean energy' is a failure because it remains far too expensive to compete in the marketplace. (1)
The EPA reports that less than 2 percent of our energy comes from renewable sources such as solar, geothermal, biomass, landfill gas and wind combined. In 2008, solar produced 0.09 percent and wind 0.5 percent of US energy. (2)
Looking at the worldwide picture, Bjorn Lomborg says, “Many today believe that renewable energy will let us get off fossil fuels soon. Unfortunately, the facts say otherwise. Solar and wind energy account for a trivial proportion of current renewables—about one-third of one percentage point. The vast majority comes from biomass, or wood and plant material—humanity's oldest energy source.” (3)
Yet you will hear that there have been noticeable increases in both wind and solar, and this is true. Since 1990, wind-generated power has grown 26% per year and solar a phenomenal 48%, but the growth has been from almost nothing to slightly more than almost nothing. In 1990, wind produced 0.038% of the world's energy; it is now producing 0.29%. Solar-electric power has gone from essentially zero to 0.04%. (3)
The financial scale of renewable electricity is immense. In California, electricity sales were $35 billion in 2012. The average retail price of electricity in California is around 14 cents per kilowatt-hour. This compares to about 8 cents in states that have not found the renewable energy religion. (4)
A recent report from the American Wind Energy Association shows electricity prices are rising four times as fast as the national average in 9 of the 11 states with the most wind power consumption. In Texas, the only one of the 11 states with significantly declining electricity prices, deregulation, not wind power, is causing the decline in electricity prices. (5)
The Ivanpah solar power plant located in the California desert near the Nevada border has three 50-story towers illuminated by hundreds of thousands of mirrors that track the sun and illuminate a steam generator atop each tower. This plant cost $2.3 billion and will generate on average about 100 megawatts of electricity, if and when it works as planned. The construction of the plant is heavily subsidized by the federal and state governments. (4)
Norman Rogers asks, what is the real value of the electricity generated by Ivanpah at a cost of 25 cents per kilowatt-hour paid by government and electricity consumers? It is constructive to compare the Ivanpah plant with another generating plant a few miles away in Nevada. The Higgins gas-fired plant is capable of generating about five times as much electricity on average as the Ivanpah plant. It works at night and on cloudy days. The Ivanpah plant occupies 4,000 acres of desert, compared to about 40 acres for the Higgins plant. The Ivanpah plant cost $2.3 billion, whereas the Higgins plant, if constructed today, would cost approximately $500 million. This means you get five times as much electricity at one-fourth the capital cost, or a ratio of around 20 to 1 in capital cost. Of course, the operators of the Higgins plant have to purchase natural gas in order to generate electricity. Electricity from the Higgins plant costs about 5 or 6 cents per KWH, compared to 25 cents for Ivanpah. Also, Ivanpah, does not work at night or on cloudy days. That means fossil-fuel plants have to be built and be on standby for the times the solar plant cannot supply electricity. The backup plants may even have to have spoinning generators ready to take up the slack at a moment's notice if a cloud blocks the sun. That cost must be added to the cost of Ivanpah electricity—probably another 4 cents per KWH, bringing the total to about 29 cents. (4)
A recent Energy Information Administration analysis finds the following federal subsidies and support for electricity production in fiscal year 2010 in dollars per megawatt-hour:
Natural gas 0.63
Coal 0.64
Hydroelectric 0.84
Biomass 2.00
Nuclear 3.10
Geothermal 12.50
Wind 52.48
Solar 968.00
This shows that federal subsidies and support for solar per megawatt-hour are roughly about 1,500 times those for gas-fired power; for wind power it is about 83 times as high. (1)
Benjamin Zycher sums this up well, “Clean and renewable energy has proven so costly and uncompetitive that even the Europeans are backing away from their own mandates rapidly. The basic reality is that 'clean and renewable' energy in almost all of its manifestations is far too expensive and unreliable to compete.” (1)
Jack Dini
Livermore, CA
References
1. Benjamin Zycher, “'Cleantech' gets clocked by 60 minutes, and the usual suspects try to make lemonade,” The American, January 23, 2014
2. Real Jean Isaac, Roosters of the Apocalypse, (Chicago, Illinois, The Heartland Institute, 2012), 29
3. Bjorn Lomborg, “The decline of renewable energy,” project-syndicate.org, August 14, 2013
4. Norman Rogers, “Renewable electricity: a technological rip-off and an environmental loser,” Environment & Climate News, 17, 16, May 2014
5. James M. Taylor, “Electricity prices skyrocketing in wind power states,” Environment & Climate News, 17, 1, April 2014
John William Dini, know to all as ‘Jack’, passed away at the age of 89 on June 17, 2026. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio on Nov. 14, 1936.
He published two books, a technical book on materials science and coatings and another on environmental issues. In retirement, he wrote extensively on various environmental issues for online publications.
He was a skilled leaded glass hobbyist, creating more than 20 lamps and many panels. He was a jogger for many years, competing in over 300 long distance races. He was a slow runner, not wanting to take the glory away from others. His secret was to start slow and taper. He and Anne traveled extensively, visiting over 70 countries.
He is survived by his wife, Anne, of 67 years, and sons Mike, Steve, and Paul. If you were to meet him somewhere, he would sum up his life as ‘peaches and cream’.
