$2.0 Trillion Dollars has been spent since 2011 on wind & solar across the world. Another $1.5 Trillion has been appropriated by the US Congress through 2035 for tax credits, loans, grants, & spending.
That's $125 Billion a year/ $342M/day or $14 million per hour.
The ROI from that spending has been about 1%. Meaning that for every 99 dollars spent it's getting back 1. $60 Trillion dollars would get the world to about 1/3 "clean energy" & cost the USA 3 years of GDP.
China is building more coal fire power plants than the total of all plants in the world.
They are the #1 emitter in the world & NOT a part of the Paris Climate Agreement.
Maybe they know that the efficiency of wind & solar doesn't provide.
A wind mill has 34.8 % efficiency (on a good day)
A solar panel has 24.5% efficiency (on a good day)
A blended efficiency rate is just shy of 30%
A better way of saying it, 70% chance it doesn't WORK when needed.
The USA Taxpayer pays:
0.5 cents to 2.5/kw for production - no cap, 10 years. ( PTC)
30% tax "credit" for every dollar spent on solar - no cap (ITC)
Since 2010 over $150 Billion has been given in PTC and ITC. That's about $300 for every women, man, & child in America or $1,200 per household.
(That $1200 per household is just shy of what 3 billion people earn in an entire year.)
With 100 GW of solar capacity & 120 GW of wind capacity in the USA (2021) that's $6.70/kw average given out by the government.
Sadly, 3 Billion people "live" off $2.50 a day and don't have stable electricity & clean water. That's 10 x the entire population of the USA.
About 75% of the world, 6 billion people are living off less than $10.00/day.
The average citizen in the USA makes $152/day, over 15x what 6 Billion people do.
It's 1875 and 74% of income was spent on food, clothes, & shelter.
120 years later it's 1995 & onnly13% is spent on essentials for survival. Today it's even less & continues to decline exponentially.
In the late 1800s 53% of people were in farming to produce enough food to live.
Since then there has been a 95% drop in climate related death because of products & materials made from petroleum & natural gas especially the combustible engine & electricity.
You see people used to be killed by the environment. It was HOSTILE to life. Today it still is but we have a way to fight back.
Today 3% are farming & family members don't need to drop out of school to work the fields.
Think clean water - 4 billion people don't have access to it in the world because they neither have electricity to run pumps nor the facilities to purify & distribute.
Life span in 1900 was 40 today it's 79. Just about DOUBLED.
Medical supplies, pharmaceuticals, & daily living products are NOT possible without oil & gas based products.
There are over 6,000 products made from Oil & Gas.
In the 1950s a household was considered wealthy if they had one vehicle & a color television. Today most homes have 3 vehicles, 4 televisions, 4 mobile phones, 4 computers/tables, 10 kitchen devices, 6 bathroom amenities, not to mention AC, water heater, that need stable & affordable electricity.
Simply put Oil & Gas are everywhere. It's living matter for living people.
California and Texas both account for 24% of all BTU (British Thermal Units) in the USA. BTU are the de facto measurement of energy.
The are the very essence of life.
Each year the USA consumes 100 quad trillion BTUs.
Simply put it's called "Energy Density."
https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/fossil-fuels-energy-content-d_1298.html
There is a direct correlation between quality of life & BTUs.
Wind & Solar simply can't give the same output in term of BTUs that Oil, Gas, & Coal have been doing for 140 years.
In 1972 the USA found itself rationing off gasoline & diesel because the Middle East decided they no longer wanted to supply oil to the USA.
By 1977 a new Cabinet level department was created called the DOE.
Won't get into the endless wars fought over it. However, things have changed since 2010.
Due to bringing domestic Oil & Gas to the surface our country is no longer reliant on foreign countries which are more than often "hostile."
11.5 million barrels a day of oil & 107 Billion Cubic Feet of Natural Gas are produced everyday in the USA.
4 Million Barrels of Oil are exported each day making the USA a net exporter.
The USA is no longer dependent upon OPEC; changing the geo-political risk for the entire world. Less global military intervention.
Wars in the Middle East are less likely as our domestic need is met at home.
Peace deals have been signed & more are in development.
The Abraham Accords have drastically impacted Middle East politics & war.
There are 1 Billion + vehicles in the world (out of 7.9 Billion people)
280 million vehicles
200,000 airplanes
17 million boats
3 TRILLION miles driven every year in the USA alone.
Of those miles 450,000 are first time motorcycle purchasers.
What about all the other toys, tech, entertainment, clothes, materials, etc. that you buy?
How do they get to the USA?
Ships. 60,000 of them on the high seas everyday.
You couldn't have the life you have today if weren't for those cargos carrying your stuff from the rest of the world.
Coffee beans from Africa & Latin America that didn't arrive would stop your Starbucks dead.
What about avocados? Chile.
Chocolate beans? Africa.
Won't go on but hopefully you get the picture.
So you eat good, while streaming Netflix on a huge screen, Instagraming your food on your phone at home or maybe ordering it delivered from an app.
Speaking of homes they don't work without electricity.
63% of electricity is from fossil fuels.
20% of electricity is from nuclear.
17% of electricity is from renewables.
47% of all electricity is used for residential.
36% is for commercial.
16% for industrial.
1% for transportation.
13 quadrillion BTUs are consumed every year in the USA.
One human in America consumes 45 million BTUs every year.
Heating and cooling account for 55-60% of electricity usage.
Natural Gas is used to heat 76% of homes and commercial properties.
Average household uses 855 kw/month
There are about 130 million households in the USA.
10,100,000 megawatts are demanded on average - everyday - in the USA.
3.7 Trillion kilowatts were demanded in 2019 alone.
Each American (330 million) consumes about 30 kw everyday.
National average household price is 13.0 cents/kw therefore $111/month.
EV's (Electrical Vehicles) will require an additional 200kw/month in "fuel."
A person's electric bill would increase by 23% assuming the rate holds @ 13.0 cents/kw.
Moreover, 2,300,0000 megawatts would be needed to meet the demand for just one EV/house.
Most homes have 2.5 vehicles on average today.
There are 230 million vehicles in the USA alone.
Did you know there are 600 million people in Africa that don't have electricity which is 2.5 times the number of vehicles in the USA & twice the population of America.
600 Million people in Africa without electricity yet we make them mine for metals & minerals to power our "clean energy."
In 2016, 140 "disturbances & unusual occurrences" were reported and in 2020 383 were reported. That's a 270% increase. In 2002 there were 23.
In that time, more "renewable energy" displaced coal & nuclear plants in accordance with the 2005 Energy Policy Act (i.e. subsidized tax credits for wind & solar).
Speaking of homes, how much land does it take to generate all those kilowatts?
Think for a moment about the amount of land it takes to put in solar & farms. You don't hear about Oil & Gas farms do you?
Clearing green lands for solar panels - check.
Making farmland un - workable due to wind farms - check.
Killing livestock to make way for solar farms - check.
It's all about "gravimetric density energy." Oil & gas is 80x. Solar, wind, & battery are about 1x-2x.
One Marcellus Natural Gas Well Pad (1,000 cu. ft. = 1 kilowatt):
5 acres
12MMcf/day = 12,000 kw (12 MW)
2400 kw/acre
One 2 MW Wind Turbine:
5 acres
34.8% operation = 696 kw
139.20 kw/acre
One 2MW Solar Farm:
8 acres
24.5% operation = 490 kw
8,000 panels & batteries (@ 250 watts/panel)
61.25 kw/acre
The 'dirty' word NUCLEAR:
1 Uranium pellet = 1 ton of coal = 2.79 barrel of oil = 17,000 cf natural gas.
1 Gigawatt = 431 wind mills = 4,000 soar panels
640 acres/1 Gigawatt = 1562.5 kw/acre
As of 2020 there are 67,000 wind turbines in the USA and close to 3 million solar panels with capacity of 120 GW and 100 GW respectively.
That equates to 1.7 MW/windmill & 0.03MW/panel (0.3 kw/panel)
Lets not mention what goes into a solar panel right now (17 metals & minerals from hostile countries) but look at cost, size, weight, & most importantly ROI.
The "average" home uses 855 kw/month. So let's keep the math "simple."
1000kw/month x 12 = 12,000kw/yr for a 2,000 square foot home.
365 days = 32.8 kw/day & 731kw/sqft
9.6 kw system (5 hours of sun and 0.8 derate factor i.e DC to AC)
$2.91/kw cost of materials & labor (panels only)
$27,936 cost of panels & install.
$7.500 in batteries (15kwh x $500) or 3 day supply.
$35,436 total system cost (38 panels @ 250 watt/each)
$140 mo/bill ($0.14 cents/kw) x 12 months = $1,680
35,436/$1,680 = 21.0
21 years to recover the cost of the system of which will have to be repaid again as the panels would now need to be replaced.
What about the size?
One Panel is about 3' wide and 5' height.
At 15 sqft/panel you're looking at needing 38 of them & 570 sqft of roof space.
On a 2,000 sqft house that would be one side of an entire house completely covered in panels.
Now add in the weight of about 4 lbs/sqft and you're looking at 2,280 lbs or over a ton of weight (pun intended) on your roof.
Many homes not built for this could buckle over time.
Wait there's more?
Batteries. Lots of them.
Speaking of batteries you know what uses even more of them?
Electric Vehicles (EVs)
European Union electricity costs have increased 3x because of it's "green initiatives." A gallon of gasoline is $5.80.
Depending on which state you're in the cost is more than half of that in the USA.
A single electric-car battery weighs about 1,000 pounds and requires 500,000 lbs of raw materials to be moved to get its metals.
EV's now weigh 500 + lbs MORE than other vehicles on the roads.
How will that affect roads designed for less weight per non-commercial vehicle?
Don't forget the need for an additional 7.9 million kw/day to "fuel" the EVs so an additional 79 BILLION cubic feet/day in NEW natural gas production to feed the power plants.
That would be 88% increase from current consumption levels in the USA of 89 bcf/day.
How is that?
Well the average EV will need 200kw/month in charging.
That is about a 25% uplift per home per EV from current consumption just on one EV.
With homes having an average of 2.5 vehicles that's a lot of NEW POWER GENERATION needed.
To meet the additional 7.8 million MW/day to charge all EVs (assuming all vehicles replaced with EVs) there would need to be an additional 9,750 natural gas power plants. (800 MW/ plant/day)
Ironically, China has about 10,000 coal fired power plants right now to make the solar panels, products, etc. used to charge the "clean energy EVs."
How does the price of a new EV compare to a combustible engine?
Average combustible engine vehicle (new) $33,000.
Average price for a new EV $55,000.
I'll leave you with this. Most EVs can't go over 150 miles without a charge.
There are 4 "levels" of charge.
Level 1
1 kw (home outlet) 120 volts
5-6 MPHc (miles per hourly charge)
12-24 hours for full charge
Level 2
7 - 19 kw (tap your electric panel) 240 volts
25 MPHc
5-10 hours for full charge
Level 3 ("Fast Charger")
50 kw (separate installation 3 phase)
+/- 200 MPHc
30 mins to 1 hour for full charge
Level 4 ("Super Charger")
Commercial
250 + MPHc
30 minutes or less (weather permitting)
Now there are over 115,000 gasoline stations nationwide and can fill up in less than 5 minutes or faster.
Better hope it doesn't go below freezing because that range goes down with it.. Batteries don't like cold.
So unless you are short trips back and forth - good luck with that EV (better not forget you plug adapters)
Below are 56 out of 6,000 everyday products used by humans for the prosperity of life. Chances are if you're reading this right now it's on a device with petroleum by products, powered by electricity from a natural gas power plant, in a home heated by natural gas. Heck, your morning pills aren't possible without petroleum. Enjoy and be thankful for the oil and gas workers, companies, and those bringing you:
Clothing
Ink
Heart Valves
Crayons
Parachutes
Telephones
Antiseptics
Deodorant
Pantyhose
Rubbing Alcohol
Carpets
Hearing Aids
Motorcycle helmets
Pillows
Shoes
Electrical tape
Safety glass
Nylon rope
Fertilizers
Hair coloring
Toilet seats
Candles
Credit cards
Aspirin
Golf balls
Detergents
Sunglasses
Glue
Fishing rods
Linoleum
Soft contact lenses
Trash bags
Hand lotion
Shampoo
Shaving cream
Footballs
Paint brushes
Balloons
Fan belts
Umbrellas
Luggage
Antifreeze
Tires
Dishwashing liquids
Toothbrushes
Toothpaste
Combs
Tents
Lipstick
Tennis ackets
House paint
Guitar strings
Ammonia
Eyeglasses
Ice chests
Life jackets
Cameras
Artificial turf
Artificial Limbs
Bandages
Dentures
Ballpoint pens
Nail polish
Caulking
Skis
Fishing lures
Perfumes
Shoe polish
Antihistamines
Cortisone
Dyes
Roofing
A single electric-car battery weighs about 1,000 pounds & requires 500,000 lbs of raw materials to be moved.
Ever see "Gold Rush" on Discovery? All the land moved to get some grams of gold?
Now imagine that process for Rare Earth Metals (RREs).
That's "clean energy."
Building one wind turbine requires 900 tons of steel, 2,500 tons of concrete & 45 tons of non-recyclable plastic.
Solar power requires even more cement, steel, glass, & RREs.
Global silver and indium mining will jump 250% and 1,200% respectively over the next couple of decades to provide the materials necessary to meet expected solar "demand."
Lithium, cobalt, manganese, are heavily used in batteries.
These mines are located in child labor driven countries like Africa, Chile, Peru, & China.
It's estimated that there are 600,000 kids in Africa mining the metals & minerals.
China uses concentration camps to mine 70% of the worlds "Rare Earth Metals."
Here are the RREs (the "iums") & use cases:
Lanthanum - super conductive
Cerium - metal alloys
Praseodymium - magnets
Neodymium - magnets, lasers
Samarium - electric motors
Europium - lasers, magnets, electric motors
Gadolinium - cathode ray tubes
Terbium - magnets
Dysprosuim - magnets
Holmium - super conductive
Erbium - fiber optics, nuclear medicine
Thulium - radiography, high temperture super conductives
Ytterbium - stainless steel, crystal lasers
Lutetium - radiation
Scandium - Lighting, aluminum alloy
Yttrium - fuel cells, magnets
Beryllium - nuclear power, telecom
Gallium - semiconductors
Germanium - solar cells, optics
Indium - chips, LCD screens
Niobium - satellites, electric vehicles, nuclear, jewelry
Scandium - defense aircraft
Tantalum - gaming systems
Vanadium - oxidation
China's control on RREs & Other Metals:
Antimony - 87%
Baryte - 44%
Bismuth - 82%
Flourspar - 64%
Gallum - 73%
Germanium - 67%
Indium - 57%
Magnesium - 87%
Natural graphite - 69%
Phosphorus Rock - 44%
Phosphorus - 58%
Scandium- 66%
Silicon Metal - 61%
Tungsten - 84%
Vanadium - 53%
Light RREs - 95%
Heavy RREs - 95%
Electric vehicles (EVs) contain 20 lbs -25 lbs of RREs.
Africa (where China has a massive presence) 64% of all Cobalt is mined in the DRC (Congo)
Russia has near half of Palladium
France 43% of Hafnium
Brazil is near 90% of all Niobium
Indonesia is all about Rubber to nearly 33% of all supply
So what does the USA have?
Beryllium (90%)
Helium (73%)
What does it take to "refine" the essential metals?
200:1 is the ration of ore need to be dug up, moved, crushed, and refined to produce Copper.
20 to 160 tons of ore to obtain 1 ton of neodymium
Cobalt ratio from ore is 1500 tons to 1 ton.
An EV will require 6x the materials to make it than today ICEV.
9x more is needed by a windmill than a natural gas power plant.
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