China, not America, has the real emissions problem – The Spectator World
If continued use of fossil fuels is essential for China s economy, why do Democrats who voted for the $400 billion Inflation Reduction Act believe America is any different especially given that, unlike China, America has vast reserves of coal, oil, and natural gas? Much of the bill s spending will go to subsidize wind and solar projects, which Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says will kick-start an era of affordable, American-made clean energy. The evidence points in the opposite direction: renewable energy raises costs makes energy scarce and leads to structural under-investment in the generating capacity needed to keep the lights on and the electric grid stable.
In his dazzling new book deconstructing anti-fossil fuel ideology, author Alex Epstein unearths a highly revealing statement by Amory Lovins, one of America s foremost advocates of wind and solar. If you ask me, it d be little short of disastrous for us to discover a source of clean, cheap, abundant energy because of what we would do with it, Lovins told Mother Earth News in 1977. We ought to be looking for energy sources that are adequate for our needs, but that won t give us the excesses of concentrated energy with which we could do mischief to the earth or to each other.
While Democrats tell voters that spending hundreds of billions of dollars on wind and solar will make energy more affordable, true believers know it does the opposite and that s the whole point. Renewable energy constrains growth and undermines America s ability to protect its position in the world what Lovins would consider mischief.