So Minnesota’s colossal investment in wind energy has been a total failure, in its own terms-a failure for which the state’s consumers and businesses have paid dearly. Historically, Minnesota enjoyed the advantage of relatively cheap electricity. Generally, electricity prices were around 18% lower in Minnesota than the national average. This was a big deal in a state where some other costs-e.g., the price of heating your home in the winter-were inevitably higher than average.
So what has happened to that 18% price discount during the years when billions have been spent on windmills and transmission lines? It has disappeared. In fact, 2017 is the first year on record in which the price of electricity in Minnesota is above the national average. Way to go, greenies.
A little song to cheer things up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM-Vn_IZHx8
A little song to cheer things up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM-Vn_IZHx8
– So. Did anybody learn from this? Not really:
1) All the deniers now know that “renewables” are heavily-taxpayer-funded horse@%#$@%!!! – but we knew that already.
2) All the people in power, and the greeeeen weeeeenies they camp-out with, know the figures are wrong – and biased – and ‘fake news’ supplied by Big Oil – and all such criminal blather and nonsense while they’re accomplishing their sacred goal to SAAAAAVE THE EARTH!!!!!!
Minnesota. Old Chippewa word meaning, “smart like Ontario.”
The VWs, the virtue signallers, the rent seekers, and the scamsters are all very pleased.
People compelled to pay for the idiocy, not so much.
Minnesotans for Global Warming.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMqc7PCJ-nc
The problem with democracy is that bad rulers, unlike the days of old, can’t be overthrown and executed (along with their whole family). Furthermore, even if they’re kicked out of office, the tax payer is still on the hook for funding their gold-plated, indexed-for-life, substantially-more-than-the-average-income pensions.
Obama told them, “electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.” Barack Hussein Obama (January 2008)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlTxGHn4sH4
They won’t even believe it when their own guy says it.
They believe in windmills and solar panels, just like they believe in fairy dust and unicorns.
It was clear and obvious that “common sense” was disappearing from society 15-20 years ago. The elders who recognized this was happening, have mostly passed away now. We need to go back and choose the “other” fork in the road, otherwise a major meltdown will be coming.
I believe the fork in the road, was when we first allowed the court/judicial systems to reward and “protect” people, WHOSE FEELINGS WERE HURT!
Physical attacks and battery, yes of course, but we never should have allowed courts to protect peoples’ feelings.
Why are people still saying it ever had anything to do with the environment? Power and control; all it has ever been, all it ever will be. Why does anyone still say that any bad thing was not intended from the beginning? Every politician, who has ever agreed to wind energy, needs to be run out of office. On a rail. Tarred. Feathered. Permanent banishment.
Brad Wall still has many fan slaves here. Brad Wall built lots of unreliable generation for Saskatchewan. Brad Wall backed down from protestors instead of building nuke power like a sane leader. Eventually, Saskatchewan will have energy costs of $650,000 per kilowatt hour. But don’t worry, you will have a guaranteed living wage of $15 an hour.
“Physical attacks and battery, yes of course,”
What, exactly, do you think measures the inches on the road? Every law anyone ever had, sounded like a good idea at the time. Everyone agreed with it at the beginning. Then it is tweaked. And tweaked. And expanded…
You start with “you cannot make colored people sit at the back of the bus”. I do not know where it ends, but some of the steps along the way are
It is always, and forever, about power and control. And people like Trudeau senior played the long game while our parents all agreed with the CBC that his charter was the greatest thing Canada had ever done. Heck, most people still repeat the lines like robots to this day. Thank you government education. Living flesh and blood tributes to their indoctrinators.
A safe prediction is that in cold climates solar and wind power *can* lower CO2 emissions but only if electricity becomes so expensive that it first drives out businesses and then drives out young people, young families and ambitious people – all of whom follow job opportunities. This in turn produced a smaller tax base and less economic activity that causes revenue shortfalls. The resulting debt/deficit, higher taxes and fees, underfunding of pensions and core public services then creates a vicious cycle that causes more people to flee the prov or state. So, there’s lower emissions but only due to a governmwnt created recession and energy poverty. See The Ontario example. BC was usually used as the counterexample but no one seems to talk much about them lately, I wonder why. If only activists understood the economic chain reactions as well as they understand ecosystems and food webs.
But no, they’ll quote wholesale electricity instead of retail prices. Ignore the cost of variability and non-dispatchability. They’ll point to levelized costs without being honest about it’s weaknesses or explain alternative measures of economic and environmental cost effectiveness. They’ll scream about FF vs. RE subsidies but not that FF specific subsidies are mainly 3rd world consumption subsidies to the poor while RE specific ones are production subsidies going from middle class taxpayers to the rich and politically well connected. They would also understand the difference between climate change “deniers” and lukewarmers. They wouldnt wave away the effects of energy poverty.If they were honest brokers or the least bit interested in finding out the best solutions then they’d explain all sides of the issue and robust debate. Yknow instead of calling for jail and persecution of climate change heretics.
” In short, levelised costs are poor at comparing different forms of power generation. To get around that problem Charles Frank of the Brookings Institution, a think-tank, uses a cost-benefit analysis to rank various forms of energy.”
https://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21608646-wind-and-solar-power-are-even-more-expensive-commonly-thought-sun-wind-and?fsrc=rss%7Cfec
The installations of (Delingpole’s words) “Bat chomping, Bird slicing eco-crucifixes” (google the quote) is not about (bad) economics or electrical engineering but about religion and the feel good relief from the delusion of doing something about pimped hysteria. Logic and reason has nothing to do with it. It is about the reunification of state and theology.
I am not happy about the continued building of wind generation or the carbon capture project. I think the money spent on those should have gone towards nuclear power or natural gas. The fear of nuclear power makes it unlikely so natgas is the next best alternative. On the positive side, saskpower is still building natural gas plants to replace the aging coal fleet. QEPS in Saskatoon was converted to combined cycle natgas over a decade ago and a 350MW gas plant (to compare: Sask’s biggest individual coal units are all 300MW) is under construction in the SW part of the province. Ideally, they’ll keep building big natgas facilities and just make wild, unrealistic promises about wind and solar goals. Converting to natgas from coal will reduce CO2 emissions by 50% at a very reasonable cost and with excellent reliability, especially if done slowly enough to allow the old coal plants to complete their lifespan before decommissioning. The youngest coal plant was built in the early 90s.
IMHO, a commitment to affordable, reliable power needs to again be the primary concern for saskpower while maximizing practical, affordable ways to decrease environmental impact.
This is a Canadian website. I’m in Minnesota, USA, right at your border.
I have just one question for this crowd:
Why the hell would we want to discourage global warming?
Oh, the poor people on the tropical islands might have to back up a few feet on the beach? Their pina coladas might melt just a bit faster? Cry me a river.
With a little warming, our crops will feed you even better than they feed you now, and my dog will stop freezing to the porch.
Win-win.
Exactly, and the rubes have been suckered.
Kevin and LC Bennett, well said.
The REAL Fork in the ROAD….was when we Allowed public Servants to UNIONIZE…everything after that (Inlcuding Christian Morality), went in to the stinking Shit pit of Leftardness…. Femi-Nazism, Climate Change, Gender identity, LGBTQEIEIO (deviants on display parades), BS are the result of decades of their social engineering garbage.
As for Wind / Solar…what is there left to say other than I TRULY Hope we in Alberta can prevent the Communists in Redmonton from going the identical route as Ontario and elsewhere. Wind on its own cannot survive, Creates no Jobs, and is a blight on the landscape as well as killing bats and other flying critters. Solar..? yea right on a sunny day in Canada you get 7-8 hrs light and 2-4 max hours where a panel will give you some power…useless for all intents and purposes. As for home style set-ups, Most simply have never looked at the electrical engineering, battery requirements, line voltages (loss), and initial cost to not only install said panels, but the inverter you will need. Or a wholesale swap over to 48VDC should you decide to forgo an inverter.
IT AINT Cheap – and like Jason Kenney said to the question of home owner subsidies. “NO, WE’RE BROKE”
Both are feel good pills for the illiterati (Climate Change Eco-nazi’s), and do nothing but create Energy POVERTY For Canadians and our businesses.
Marxist feel good BULLSHIT. Pure – Simple & purposefully DESIGNED that way IMO.
something else to print and shove in the face of the local lieberal mpp
been doing that relatively frequent with THIS one, there’s just, so, so much ammunition !!
The point is that they want us to be poor and then we will be more controllable. Won’t be able to buy ammunition.
It is the destruction of consumerism and stuff like that. Slavery is what they have in mind.
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