Germany’s woes with wind power offer a lesson for the U.S.
Express-Times | Dec 10, 2019 | www.lehighvalleylive.com
Express-Times | Dec 10, 2019 | www.lehighvalleylive.com
In his Dec. 6 guest column, “Pa. stands to gain by joining RGGI,” (Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative), the Sierra Club’s Tom Schuster lays out an extensive and elaborate argument supporting Gov. Tom Wolf’s action to join RGGI. He presents an appealing picture that CO2 emissions will be dramatically reduced at “little to no cost,” “electric bills would decrease,” “hundreds of thousands of jobs” would be created …”
He’s wrong.
These rosy pictures and promises were made previously in other countries that committed early to the “war on global warming.” Their outcomes were dramatically opposite. Germans were told their electric bills would at most go up by only the cost of another scoop of ice cream. Their costs have risen to nearly the highest in the world. An increasing number of families are being classified as “energy poor.”
Perhaps even worse, Germany (and Australia and the UK) has destabilized its electric grid by loading it with intermittent wind and solar power. Germany’s counterpart to the U.S. head of FEMA advises citizens to keep “candles, matches, food, water, batteries” etc. at home at all times. He fears frequent and widespread blackouts.
Germany needs to build 1,400 additional wind turbines annually to meet its plan; this year it built just 35, and threw 25,000 workers out of jobs. They’re running into cruel realities.
The Sierra Club preaches from ideology, not physical and economic realities. It is not a credible source of guidance on energy and power grid governance.
James M. Policelli
Plainfield Township
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2019/12/11/germanys-woes-with-wind-power-offer-a-lesson-for-the-u-s/