Nevada's Former Governor Doubled Down on Wasteful Renewable Energy, Sure to Impoverish the Citizens of Nevada.
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Nevada Mandates Renewable Energy There is a law in Nevada that requires that 50 percent of the electricity be from renewable sources by 2030. Currently its around 22 percent. Renewable energy is mostly defined by what is prohibited: fossil fuels and nuclear. There are many types of renewable energy, but in sunshine rich Nevada solar energy is most practical. Why does Nevada have a renewable mandate? It doesn't make much sense. Solar electricity is much more expensive than the natural gas electricity currently used in Nevada. Solar electricity cannot replace the existing gas infrastructure. The entire existing system must be kept as backup for those times when solar isn't working, when it is nighttime or cloudy. The gas system regulates the solar, compensating for swings in solar generation. |
Fear of Climate Change The recently published Nevada's Climate Strategy Considers global warming / climate change to be an urgent problem that requires reducing fossil fuel emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2). There is a contradiction because Nevada's emissions of CO2 are 300 times smaller than just Chinese emissions. Even if Nevada reduced CO2 emissions to zero it would have no detectable effect on Nevada's supposed climate change problem. World CO2 levels are controlled by what happens in the countries of Asia. Regulation of CO2 emissions is properly the business of the federal government, not small states. The Biden administration is promising an extreme approach to regulating CO2. Why not leave it to Joe? |
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Is There an Urgent Climate Problem? The record temperature in Las vegas of 118 degrees was set in 1931. It still hasn't been broken. Four weather stations in Nevada, or near the border, show no signs of significant warming for the last 15 years. There is no crisis, no catastrophe. The hottest times in the U.S. were in the 1930's. Does CO2 cause global warming? Probably, but it hasn't been reliably detected because there are lots of other things that can cause global warming and that confuses the situation. Increased CO2 in the atmosphere has positive effects on the health of plants, especially in the desert. More CO2 makes plants grow faster with less water. World agricultural productivity has greatly improved, partially due to greater CO2 levels. The Earth is greening. |
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Solar is Very Expensive The full fleet of backup natural gas plants must always be maintained to regulate and supplement the solar. If a megawatt hour of solar electricity displaces a megawatt hour of natural gas electricity, it saves $15 worth of natural gas fuel, but costs $80 for the solar (exclusive of subsidies). Net result is that solar costs more than 5-times as much as using the natural gas $80/$15. It gets much worse if solar approaches the goal of 50 percent of the electricity. At that point the solar becomes more expensive because battery assist is necessary to avoid daytime solar overload. Further, the remaining natural gas electricity becomes more expensive due the same capital cost spread over fewer megawatt hours. At that point solar can be ten times more expensive than natural gas. |
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