Green Dreams and Energy Reality
Green Dreams and Energy Reality
Jonathan A. LesserThe Hill January 22, 2019
From individual state pledges to eliminate all greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 to the Green New Deal that promises 100 percent green energy by 2030, the drumbeat for renewables is growing louder with every headline. There’s only one problem: Barring Star Trek-like discoveries of new energy technologies, it’s not possible. Not even remotely.
There are a few “inconvenient truths” about “clean” green energy. First, it’s not all that clean. Second, the scale of the proposed transition is eye-popping.
Start with the myth that green energy is “pollution-free.” It’s not. When we read “green energy,” most of us probably think about wind turbines and solar panels. But historically, along with small quantities of geothermal power, the biggest single source of green energy has been hydroelectric power — electricity generated by dams on rivers.
Most environmentalists don’t like hydroelectric dams because they wreck natural habitats and prevent fish from swimming upstream to spawn. That’s one reason many of those same environmentalists want existing hydroelectric dams, such as the dams constructed by the U.S. government decades ago on the Columbia River, removed. And even if environmentalists didn’t oppose hydroelectric dams, there are few sites for building dams.
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