Chuck DeVore: 'Green New Deal' preview? Texas town's lofty environmentalism leaves residents with a nightmare

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/gree...m-chuck-devore
It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Georgetown, Texas – population 75,000 – was to be the new poster child of the green movement.
Environmental interest in Georgetown’s big push to generate all of its electricity from wind and solar power was amplified by three factors: the town and its mayor were nominally Republican; Georgetown is in an oil- and natural gas-rich state; and that state is deep-red Texas.
Former Vice President Al Gore and other climate change luminaries feted Georgetown Mayor Dale Ross, and Ross was featured prominently at renewable energy conventions.
TEXAS TOWN’S ENVIRONMENTAL NARCISSISM MAKES AL GORE HAPPY WHILE STICKING ITS CITIZENS WITH THE BILL
Last October, while the green dream was still in full flower, the city applied for a $1 million grant from former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s nonprofit, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and won it.
Ostensibly to be used for energy storage innovation in batteries, the grant’s only real requirement was that the city serve as a public relations platform in Bloomberg’s push to convince Americas to abandon affordable fossil fuels and switch to more costly renewable energy.
Trouble started when politicians’ promise of cheaper renewable energy was mugged by reality.
Georgetown’s electric bills went up as more wind and solar power displaced cheaper natural gas in the power portfolio of the Georgetown’s municipal utility. Politicians scrambled for cover. And the bloom came off Georgetown’s renewable rose.
Now, largely embarrassed members of the City Council are trying to figure out how to unwind the renewable mess they and their predecessors voted themselves into.
With their municipal utility facing a $7 million shortfall – money that has to be made up by the city residents through higher electricity costs – the City Council voted 5-1 in July to instruct the staff to figure out how to wriggle out of the Bloomberg PR deal.
On Aug. 13 the Council voted 5-0 to officially kill the deal. The city is also raising property taxes.
The Council member who asked for the vote said he wasn’t opposed to renewable energy, but that in light of the city utility’s deficit, the city should focus on the basics, rather than “doing experiments.”
Indeed, there’s not a single city in the contiguous 48 states that runs solely on wind and solar power. The reason is simple: electricity gets to cities via a grid, and that grid draws its energy from a variety of sources – mostly natural gas.
Excluding large-scale dams, which fell out of favor with the environmental movement 50 years ago, renewables powered about 10 percent of the U.S. grid last year.
This means that cities like Georgetown, which have contracted to take power from wind and solar farms hundreds of miles away, don’t risk blackouts on windless nights, because reliable power is delivered from a grid getting power from fossil fuels.

As part of the Bloomberg agreement, Georgetown was going to hire a new bureaucrat to oversee the installation of solar panels on homes, while creating a battery storage farm to keep the grid energized when the sun wasn’t shining and the wind wasn’t blowing.
But such arrangements are hardly cutting edge. In fact, the physics and economics of battery storage are well known. And here’s where Georgetown’s 100 percent renewable push merely looks like expensive virtue signaling.
Moore’s Law governs the world of computing – the speed and capability of computers doubles every two years. But computers only manipulate 1s and 0s.
In contrast, we use energy to manipulate the physical world – to cool and heat homes, to move ourselves and commerce faster and farther than we could using our feet (or horses or bicycles), and to bring light to the darkness. Efficiency improvements in the natural world move more slowly and yield to diminishing returns as they reach physical limits.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE OPINION NEWSLETTER
In Georgetown’s case, for it to truly go 100 percent renewable energy using today’s state-of-the-art mass-produced batteries from Tesla’s Gigafactory, the city would need a $400 million battery farm weighing some 20,000 tons to avoid a blackout on a quiet winter night. And, after spending $15,600 for each household to build such a battery farm, its backup power would be drained in 12 hours, with a second windless winter night leaving residents shivering in the dark.
Funding, building and relying on such a lithium-ion battery farm would likely lead to a change in city leadership in the first election following an inevitable blackout. Which, perhaps, is why so many of today’s environmentalists aren’t big fans of democracy – the freely expressed opinions of people stand in the way of their agenda.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
This is where Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s D-N.Y., Green New Deal crashes into reality. Building an energy infrastructure reliant on unreliable renewables will cost trillions of dollars and necessitate a massive increase in mining to produce the materials needed for a nationwide battery storage system.
If the Green New Deal ever moves from fantasy to implementation, the voters will swiftly end the green dream at the ballot box.
Chuck DeVore is a vice president with the Texas Public Policy Foundation and served in the California State Assembly from 2004 to 2010.


A reality check on the SoylentGreen New Deal the DPST's want to inflict on America - bankrupting the country. Under threat of a climate catastrophe in 11 years - despite non-participation of the rest of the world. It is really about socialist control of the Nation.


FYI - a Kalifornia veteran who got out - and found himself right in the middle of Austin Tx socialist foolishness.

What is left out is the cost in fossil fuels to produce these batteries and wind farms and solar panels - and the pollution and cost of renewing the batteries. DPST's characteristically do not see the consequences of their Pie in the sky proposals.

A of S - 1984 hats on!!!!

Mayor Ross is a great guy!

As long as One does not live in Georgetown
Real estate now unsalable
Taxes skyrocketing
Thanks to the DPST Soylent Green New Deal
glad you are impressed - feel free to live there - someOne would be glad to sell any a of s a house.

And get out of Mom's basement!

Additionally, one of the two firms they contracted with went bankrupt within a year - after sucking up untold gubmint subsidy $$. Go figure...

Seems some people learned nothing from Solyndra's robbing of taxpayers before they went belly up.

As long as One does not live in Georgetown
Real estate now unsalable
Taxes skyrocketing
Thanks to the DPST Soylent Green New Deal
glad you are impressed - feel free to live there - someOne would be glad to sell any a of s a house.

And get out of Mom's basement! Originally Posted by oeb11

He has a BIG picture of the four Horse Women of the Apocalypse on his mom's basement ceiling and walls...he calls it spiritual motivation!!

The total costs of solar and wind are rarely economically viable compared to natural gas for power generation.

The total costs of solar and wind are rarely economically viable compared to natural gas for power generation. Originally Posted by friendly fred

I agree Brother. We will get all the green energy when the Exxon's, and other big energy get it figured out. I don't know why everyone freaks out so much

The total costs of solar and wind are rarely economically viable compared to natural gas for power generation. Originally Posted by friendly fred

It seems as though they can't even manage to payback in their own carbon footprint either.

I don't know why everyone freaks out so much Originally Posted by themystic

It's just you "freaking" out and you want others to believe they are! We aren't. Just remember "Georgetown" if Trump isn't re-elected! And I'll be around to tell you .... "I told you so!" These LOONS you support want to wreck this country just like you!

It seems as though they can't even manage to payback in their own carbon footprint either. Originally Posted by Why_Yes_I_Do

It is easier for the DPST's to lie about it.

I agree Brother. We will get all the green energy when the Exxon's, and other big energy get it figured out. I don't know why everyone freaks out so much Originally Posted by themystic

Exactly right - all in good time!

I agree Brother. We will get all the green energy when the Exxon's, and other big energy get it figured out. I don't know why everyone freaks out so much Originally Posted by themystic

Exactly right - all in good time! Originally Posted by friendly fred

And the big "oil" companies are now rebranding as "big energy" and investing the money where it seems economically viable.

That's the beauty of market capitalism.

Some markets are beginning to support(or are willing to pay for) alternative energy sources. This works in capitalism instead of a one size fits all government mandate.

And the big "oil" companies are now rebranding as "big energy" and investing the money where it seems economically viable.

That's the beauty of market capitalism.

Some markets are beginning to support(or are willing to pay for) alternative energy sources. This works in capitalism instead of a one size fits all government mandate. Originally Posted by eccielover

As the "Soylent Green new Deal" socialist takeover proposal
which reads as written by a fourth grader.
DPST's - just stupid.