Energy News Beat Publishers Note: We believe that all people in the world should have access to clean, reliable, and the lowest-cost energy at market capabilities. The only way to achieve this goal to get over 1.8 billion people out of poverty is to have a “Balanced Diet of Power”. The balanced diet could include fossil, renewables, and nuclear in all types. Being good stewards of the earth also means producing the energy with the least impact on the environment. The bottom line: Fiscally producing the “Balanced Diet of Power” at the lowest impact to our environment.
Electricity prices are set to “skyrocket” as President Biden steers the U.S. economy toward a green-energy agenda, according to experts.
Biden has pledged to achieve a net-zero electricity grid by 2035 and a net-zero economy by 2050.
Solar and wind make up a respective 1% and 3% of all U.S. energy, according to a report published last month by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Coal, petroleum, and natural gas account for a combined 79% of U.S. energy.
Biden’s new energy and climate plans are designed to “get coal-fired and natural gas-fired electricity prices high enough that then solar and wind become competitive,” said Gregory Wrightstone, executive director of the CO2 Coalition, which seeks to educate the public about the important contributions carbon dioxide makes to our lives and the economy.
The shale revolution and fracking have caused natural gas prices to plummet over the past decade. Prices were projected to be over $20 per one thousand cubic feet, and instead are today under $2. Coal prices are also declining.
But electricity prices are already going up because of the “wasteful, duplicative solar and wind on our grid,” said Alex Epstein, founder and president of the Center for Industrial Progress, a for-profit think-tank seeking to bring a new industrial revolution.
Because solar and wind are unreliable energy sources and don’t replace power plants on the grid, their costs are not replacement costs and are instead additional costs. Mining for materials and solar panels requires oil and forging the different components of solar panels and wind turbines use coal.
Tens of millions of Americans live in energy poverty, experiencing hardship to pay for basic energy needs. Twenty-five million Americans say they have forgone food or medicine to pay for electricity and 10 million say they’ve kept their home at an unsafe temperature.
The U.S. isn’t the first developed nation to attempt a transformation into a renewable-energy based economy.
Germany began its shift to renewables in 2000 and in 2019 it produced 515.6 terawatt-hours of power with 46% coming from solar, wind, biomass and hydroelectric generation. Germany aims for renewables to account for 65% of total energy production by 2030.
Electricity prices in Germany “have doubled just to get to thirty-three percent solar and wind, and they’re having all sorts of issues,” Epstein said.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DUK | DUKE ENERGY CORPORATION | 94.74 | +0.39 | +0.41% |
| EXC | EXELON CORPORATION | 43.68 | +0.01 | +0.02% |
| ED | CONSOLIDATED EDISON | 71.49 | +0.91 | +1.29% |
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Neither Duke Energy Corp., Exelon Corp. nor Consolidated Edison Inc. responded to FOX Business’ request for comment about how Biden’s plans could impact electricity pricing.
Implementing Biden’s $2 trillion climate plan will take time and money and the results may not result in the desired outcome. The president has already signed a flurry of executive orders aimed at transitioning the U.S. economy away from its reliance on fossil fuels toward cleaner, renewable energy sources like solar and wind.