Destroying the Green New Deal fantasy

The Green New Deal will require a completely new way of thinking plus the “next big thing” to become a reality.  As Demo-Dopes rally to AOC’s side (to avoid being singled out for a primary challenge by one of her whacko acolytes or, more likely, to avoid being called a racist for deviating one mil left or right from the accepted point view on anything of the Nation’s Bartender) the Dopes - who claim to be the “party of science”* - are going to be beaten over the head with immutable knowledge when it comes to energy production.

*NOTE:  Sure the Dopes are the party of science except for when it comes to the X-Y chromosome, global cooling warming change disruption science (in the case of global cooling warming change disruption there is an absolute lack of scientific proof), or when it comes to ultrasound that proves a baby is a baby, or the simple math science of adding a column of numbers until it reaches the sum of 270. 270 is the number of Electoral College votes to WIN the presidency of the United States of America.  Dopes still have not accepted the simple science that PDJT achieved then exceeded that number in the 2016 election.  So sure Dopes are all about science until the science fails to cooperate with their nit wit point of view.  When that happens the Dopes simply announce that “the debate is over” or whoever points to the contradictory scientific evidence is a racist.   

Lex, of the long list of things you nothing about “science” is pretty near the top.  What qualifies you to offer this opinion?  The simple answer is that it’s my blog, but there’s also this awesome article by people who do understand science.  OK, I had terribly hard time getting through it.  It’s long.  It’s detailed.  It’s complicated.  It talks of physics. Still, in the end, it all made perfect sense to my chemo addled brain.   

Here’s Lex cliff notes version.  All of the low hanging fruit in solar and wind generated power has been harvested.  It’s like raking leaves in the fall.  It’s easy to get 80% of them up in an hour or so.  It takes the rest of the day to get the other 20% out from under the shrubs, out of the flower beds and gutters. 

So it is with solar and wind power.  It’s not a matter of being smarter or working harder, longer and faster.  It’s all physics. It was hard to wrap my small mind – whose math skills run out at figuring a tip and balancing a checkbook – around some of this, but the authors make a compelling case. 

I was able to get my mind around the concept of stored energy.  The requirements for stored fossil fuel energy versus that of storing large quantities of solar and wind generated energy using batteries jumped off the page and is simple enough for even the public school kids to get.  As an aside, the authors note the environmental disruption – i.e. the number of tons of earth that would need to be moved to produce the batteries – which is at odds with the supposed goal of the GND.

Now I have heard several times in recent days from people promoting the GND that, “The Chinese are eating our lunch when comes to wind and solar technology.” My advice is to let the Chinese chase that 8 track tape technology of energy production down as many rat holes as they care to.  It’s a dead end.

What it is going to take to make thee GND workable is embracing nuclear power or “the next big thing.”  What’s the next big thing?  I don’t know.  If I did I’d invest in it today – heavily. Hydrogen fuel cells?  I don’t know, but somebody does and big oil is buying up all the patents.  When gasoline goes to $.98 a gallon, you’ll know we’re on the cusp.