The Shadow
Much hype has been building for several years in the U.S. concerning the need to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy sources such as hydropower, wind power, geothermal, and solar photovoltaic (PV).
Regardless of the hype and the push by leftwing members of the Democrat Party led by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a member of the House of Representatives from N.Y., and Edward J. Markey, a member of the Senate from Mass., to embrace what they refer to as the Green New Deal, the mining of fossil fuels continues to grow yearly by 3.3 percent.
In a nutshell, the Green New Deal is a congressional resolution that lays out an ambitious plan to reduce the nation’s reliance on fossil fuels for the production of energy by switching to renewable energy sources in order to significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions while creating high paying jobs for producers of clean energy who will tackle the problem of global warming.
However, the advantages of relying on fossil fuels for the production of the nation’s energy needs are many, including an abundance of fossil fuel resources, fossil fuel’s reliability to fill desired needs, and fossil fuel efficiency of producing energy.
Also, fossil fuels are easy to transport by pipeline, by rail, by trucks, and by ships.
Fossil-fueled power plants can be built practically anywhere, and the fossil fuel industry already has a workforce of 500,000 in U.S. mining alone while another 1.8 million workers are employed to fill the need of transporting fossil fuels and making by-products from them. Millions of other workers build and maintain pipelines, drill for oil and gas and deliver supplies to locations as needed.
By-products derived from petroleum include gasoline, diesel fuel, heating oil, jet fuel, petrochemical feedstocks, waxes, lubricating oils, and asphalt.
Others are lipstick, benzene, aspirin, rugs, shampoo, chewing gum, synthetic dentures, clothes, and personal hygiene items such as soap.
Ironically, a petroleum-derived plastic resin is used to produce solar panels designed to collect sunlight that heats the panels that then transfer their heat to the water being circulated through the panels by an electrically powered pool pump. That has been a reliable way of heating swimming pools for more than 50 years.
Considering the expansive amount of products derived from fossil fuels and the fact that there has been a yearly increase for the past four years on the nation’s reliance on fossil fuels, the Green New Deal appears to be a pipedream, no pun intended.
Also, a key hurdle for the Green New Deal to be implemented remains the passage of President Joe Biden’s “Build Back Better Act” which contains financial support for the Green New Deal. The hurdle remains because President Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have failed to gain the support of key members of the U.S. Senate such as Joe Manchin of West Virginia where coal is still king.
The rap against the nation’s reliance on fossil fuels continues to be that burning fossil fuel releases carbon dioxide, methane, and other gasses into the air which increases global warming and causes air pollution that may contribute to health problems such as asthma.
Those proponents of the Green New Deal maintain that fossil fuels are not limitless and will not last forever while citing the health and safety issues of producing the fossil fuels, namely the accidents and deaths of those employed to retrieve them.
They also point out that the government has supported the industries by incentivizing their development via offering tax breaks for investors in companies involved in exploration for gas and oil.
Opponents of the Green New Deal point to the solar energy companies that have been incentivized via government as well, including the colossal failure of subsidized solar energy companies such as Solyndra, Inc. that received a $535 million guaranteed loan from President Barack Obama’s Department of Energy in 2009 only to file for bankruptcy in 2011 after firing 1,100 workers.
For more than 50 years, consumers who have added solar heating systems to their homes and businesses have received federal tax breaks for doing so.
The term climate-smart mining has been coined by the proponents of the Green New Deal who are pushing for the switch from diesel to electrification.
While coal can be removed from underground and easily transported by trucks and railroad gondolas to desired destinations, wind energy cannot be transported.
Also, alternative energy sources require an abundance of sunlight, steady wind, rivers, or oceans for their locations whereas power plants relying on coal can be built wherever they are needed.
The critics of fossil fuels have no counterargument in terms of the location issue because wind energy offshore or onshore relies on wind and cannot produce energy effectively anywhere that lacks steady wind.
Another environmental issue that proponents of fossil fuel point out to their critics is that wind farms, whether onshore or offshore, kill literally hundreds of thousands of birds each year in the U.S. Many also kill large numbers of bats as well.
In the meantime, those in the fossil fuel industry have improved their bottom lines by the process of digitalization that has resulted in improved productivity while lowering input cost by more effectively using resources.
In light of the Middle Warming Period, 950 -1250, and The Little Ice Age, 1303-1860, proponents of the Green New Deal appear to have an uphill battle to convince Americans that their plan offers a practical solution to combat global warming because there were no motor vehicles, factories, airplanes, and other manmade machines back then for them to blame for causing the fluctuation of the Earth’s temperatures.
During the two periods, Earth’s temperature rose to temperatures equal to Earth’s current temperature and then dipped below what the Earth’s temperature is today, all-natural driven rather than mankind driven.
