High Cost of Combating Climate Change
Introduction
This hub is an attempt to assess the current efforts and the associated costs to combating climate change. The international community have decided on this path to reducing CO2 and converting to green energy. The question is, are all these efforts cost effective?
- May 2017
Background
The list of green energy is long. It includes wind and solar and nuclear and geo thermal...These various forms have been adopted with incentives such as tax credits to help develop these new technologies with the hope of getting them to market faster and be competitive. In addition, electric vehicles have been proposed to replace gas powered engines to help reduce emissions and pollution. All these efforts promoted by government carry a cost. The hope is that they will help with our climate change worst case scenario.
Costs...
There are many costs beside just dollars when it comes to investing in green energy. Systems like wind mills, and solar farms and geo thermal are part of this equation. The initial installation cost also includes tax subsidies that tax payers are footing. Next, is the higher cost of energy associated which the consumers are expected to pay. Intangible costs includes higher noise level, wildlife endangerment, rare earth mining, and even esthetics.
- Wind farms
- solar farms
- solar roof installation for homes and businesses
- electric vehicles
- geo thermal power plants
Detail on Windmills in Palm Springs
In one example, I cite the San Gorgonio windmill farms in Palm Springs, CA. This was one of the first large scale implementation of ind power Started in th 1990s. The average life span of a turbine is 30 years. These units are starting to fail and being abandoned. What have we accomplished?
Detail on One Solar Panels Project in NJ
The State of NJ embarked on a state wide effort to increase their green energy installs. They chose to install solar panels on street poles all over the state. They are an eye sore and most importantly, they didn't work very well. It was a total waste.
A List of Costs...
Not all costs are in dollars and cents. Some are intangibles...
- Aesthetics of streets
- lost jobs by coal miners
- higher electricity rates
- Abandoned wind mills
- wildlife birds migrating in path of wind farms
- high noise levels around wind turbines
- More expensive electric cars
- solar panels on rooftops
- solar farms covering large areas
Summary
It is clear to me that many of these projects were over sold to the public. The environmentalists and green movement were able to convince our government to go along with this by offering tax incentives. Many of them did not pan out. Some also have long term effects on our community.
