Tag: green energy

Net Zero to Cost Taxpayers £800 Billion, Warns OBR

Britain’s move to a Net Zero economy will cost taxpayers more than £800 billion over the next two decades, the OBR – the UK’s fiscal watchdog – has said. But even this is based on implausibly generous assumptions, say critics. The Telegraph has the story.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said Government plans to limit climate change will cost the public purse £30 billion every year until at least 2051, as tax revenue from the sale of petrol and diesel fuel dries up.

This includes nearly £9.9 billion of spending every year on tech investments – for example updating the electricity grid – as well as £20.5 billion in revenue losses from declining fuel duty from petrol cars, as electric vehicles (EV) become more common.

Investments in green technology will initially make up most of the Net Zero cost before lost tax receipts become the bigger factor, the OBR said.

“In the next decade, expenditure accounts for the bulk of the fiscal cost, particularly public investment in residential buildings, removals and surface transport, which start to decline from 2036 to 2037,” it said.

While the sums are significant, the fiscal cost of Net Zero has been revised down from £1.1 trillion since the OBR last reviewed it in 2021. The watchdog said this was because of fuel duty freezes leading to lower lost receipts and a higher-than-expected uptake of EVs.

It also assumes the Government will spend less on the transition after the Climate Change Committee revised down the costs across the whole of the economy.

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The Green Lobby’s Dishonest Crusade for Solar and Wind

You wake up to an alarm, flick on the light, brew coffee, and drive to work. Every step requires energy – the stuff that shares the coin of physical reality with matter, the E in E = MC2.  It keeps homes warm, food fresh and economies running. 

Supplying 80% of the world’s primary energy, coal, oil and natural gas make up the lifeblood of modern civilization. Yet, there continue to be calls for the abandonment of these fuels without any feasible, scalable replacement in sight. 

It is dishonest for “green” lobbyists to claim that electricity from wind and solar can replace fossil fuels, when currently most of the energy used in the world is not even in the form of electricity.

Electricity represents only about 20% of global final energy consumption. That means four-fifths of the world’s energy use comes from fuels that power ships, planes, trucks and industrial furnaces. Oil fuels vehicles, natural gas provides heat for homes and industry, and coal is critically important for the manufacture of steel from iron.

Demand for hydrocarbons is expected to exceed that of electricity for many decades.

You’ve probably heard it before: “Solar and wind are now cheaper than fossil fuels.” This is a falsehood supported by a misleading metric – the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). When Mark Twain spoke of “lies, damn lies and statistics,” he had LCOE in mind.

LCOE purports to present an apples-to-apples comparison between various energy sources. However, the measure is meaningless because it ignores key costs such as those of providing backup power to compensate for the intermittency of solar and wind. Something must be available to step up when the wind and sun are not available for power generation.

While it may be true that sunshine and wind are “free,” converting them to a form of energy that works with modern power grids and integrating them into the 24-hour operation of electrical systems supplying millions of customers is difficult and expensive. 

A 2022 study by Robert Idel exposes LCOE’s flaws.

First, LCOE assumes constant output, but solar and wind produce only 20%-30% of their designed capacity, compared to 80%-90% for plants running on coal, natural gas or nuclear fuel.

Second, integrating solar and wind requires expensive infrastructure, including new transmission lines between population centers and remote industrial installations of wind turbines or solar panels or to natural gas plants standing by as backups. 

Third, LCOE ignores more subtle but, nonetheless, important operational considerations. For instance, as the output of solar and wind rises and falls with changes in the weather or daily westward progression of the sun, fossil fuel plants must ramp up or down, reducing efficiency and raising costs.

The rosy numbers of LCOE don’t reflect the reality of electricity bills. In California, where so-called renewables make up more than 50% of electricity generation, residential rates hit 30 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2023 – more than double the U.S. average.

Higher energy prices infiltrate every corner of life – manufacturing, logistics, heating, cooling, farming, data storage and more.

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Wind Turbine Blade Hospitalizes One Person After Crashing Onto Busy Interstate in Maryland

A wind turbine blade crashed onto I-70 in Maryland on Monday morning.

The Maryland State Highway Administration reported, “At approximately 5:30 a.m., a tractor trailer traveling westbound on I-70 was pulling a wind turbine blade that struck the guardrail causing the blade to go partially into the eastbound lanes.”

SHA added, “The blade was then clipped by a tractor-trailer traveling eastbound.”

The incident hospitalized one person and closed the westbound lane on I-70 for several hours.

A video of the incident was uploaded on X.

Per Fox 5 DC

A wind turbine blade detached from a tractor-trailer early Monday, blocking traffic in both directions of Interstate 70 in Washington County, Maryland State Police said.

The crash occurred around 5 a.m. near Exit 26 at Interstate 81 when the blade crossed the center median and landed in the eastbound lanes.

Maryland Department of Transportation traffic cameras showed the massive blade stretched across the highway. Officials say one person was transported by ambulance to Meritus Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries.

Drivers experienced delays throughout the morning commute.

In the last year, Democrat Governor of Maryland Wes Moore, who is speculated to run for President, has signed legislation to create offshore wind energy off Maryland’s coast.

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Blue states with net-zero emissions goals consider nuclear as hopes for 100% wind and solar fade

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), Monday directed the New York Power Authority (NYPA) to develop and construct a nuclear power plant of not less than one gigawatt. The new plant was needed, Hochul said in her announcement, in order “to support a reliable and affordable electric grid, while providing the necessary zero-emission electricity to achieve a clean energy economy.” 

It was a surprising announcement for a state that closed and dismantled the Indian Point nuclear power plant only five years ago. The consideration of nuclear in the energy mix is part of a pattern seen in other blue states committed to eliminating electricity generated from fossil fuels. California has now delayed the closure of its only nuclear power plant, and Michigan is looking to restart a previously shuttered nuclear power plant. 

In all three cases, it appears that the states are coming to grips with the reality that intermittent wind and solar backed up by short-duration, expensive grid-scale batteries won’t be enough to supply the power needs of the state, especially as AI places more demands on the grid. Still clinging to the hope of a fossil fuel-free grid, these states are looking to nuclear as a more politically tenable option. 

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Green agenda is killing Europe’s ancestry

Western Europe’s new green regime reorders the continent through policies of territorial cleansing and restriction, replacing the lifeways of rooted peoples with a managed wilderness shaped by remote technocrats and mandated compliance. What arrives with the language of environmental deliverance advances as a mechanism of control, engineered to dissolve ancestral bonds.

In the soft light of the northern dawn, when the fog rests over fields once furrowed by hands and prayers, a quiet force spreads, cloaked in green, speaking in the language of “sustainability,” offered with the glow of planetary care. Across Europe, policymakers, consultants, and unelected “visionaries” enforce a grand design of regulation and restraint. The new dogma wears the trappings of salvation. It promises healing, stability, and ecological redemption. Yet beneath the surface lies a different pattern: one of compression, centralization, and engineered transformation. This green wave comes through offices aglow with LED light and carbon dashboards, distant from the oak groves and shepherd chants that once shaped Europe through destiny and devotion. Traditional Europe lived through the pulse of the land, its customs drawn from meadows, its laws mirrored in trees, its faith carried by the wind over tilled soil and cathedral towers.

The terms arrive prepackaged: “rewilding,” “net zero,” “decarbonization,” and “climate justice.” These sound pure, ringing with the cadence of science and morality. Their syllables shimmer with precision, yet behind their clarity stands an apparatus of control, drawn from abstract algorithms rather than ancestral experience. They conceal a deeper impulse: to dissolve density, to steer the population from the scattered villages of memory into the smart cities of control. The forest returns, yet the shepherd departs. The wolves are celebrated, while the farmer disappears from policy. Across the hills of France, the valleys of Italy, and the plains of Germany, the primordial cadence falls silent. Where once rose smoke from chimneys, now rise sensors tracking deer. Where once stood barns, now appear habitats for reintroduced apex predators. Rural life, the fundament of Europe’s civilizational ascent, receives accolades in speeches, even as its arteries are quietly severed.

The continent reshapes itself according to new models, conceived in simulation and consecrated in policy. Entire regions are earmarked for rewilding, which means exclusion, which means transformation through absence. The human imprint recedes, and in its place rises a curated silence: measured, observed, and sanctified by distance. The bond between man and land, established over centuries of cultivation, ritual, and kinship, gives way to managed wilderness.

Yet this wilderness unfolds without its own rhythm, shaped and maintained through remote observation and coded intention. It remains indexed and administered. Every creature bears a tracking chip. Every tree falls under statistical oversight. Drones scan the canopies. Bureaucrats speak of ecosystems the way accountants speak of balance sheets. The sacred space, once alive with sacrifice and harvest, turns into a green exhibit in the managerial museum of Europe.

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City of Sydney BANS gas appliances for all  new homes: ‘Dirty fossil fuel that has no place in homes’

The City of Sydney council has banned gas appliances for all new homes and businesses built from January 2026. 

Lord Mayor Clover Moore’s council on Monday night unanimously adopted the motion banning gas from all new residential builds from December 31 to wean homes and businesses off the fossil fuel.

The council said the move would save each household up to $626 on their power bills every year. 

The change would see an update to development control rules for the use of electric stoves, ovens, heaters and coolers in all newly built apartments and houses. 

Gas hot water systems will still be permitted under the current regulations. 

‘We remain in a climate crisis, which means we need to pull every lever we have in order to keep reducing our emissions,’ Clover Moore said. 

‘To rely on gas means a continued cost for our hip pocket, a continued cost for our health and a continued cost for our planet. It is a price that we simply cannot afford to pay.’

It joins six other NSW councils which have already banned indoor gas appliances in new builds, while seven other councils are also working towards the same regulations.

The City of Sydney also proposed a ban on gas appliances in other developments including serviced apartments, new offices and hotels. 

Councillors voted on gathering public feedback on a plan which would ‘require’ the use of renewable energy in the developments if a ban on gas is passed. 

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Natural Gas Projects Reboot After Officials Wake Up To Stark Realities

When the government abuses its powers in pursuit of far-left political goals at the expense of commonsense policies, entire states and regions often suffer.

Such was the case in recent years when numerous projects centered on traditional energy were derailed by environmental extremists who leveraged the tools of government to erect roadblock after roadblock. Most famously, the Biden administration canceled the Keystone XL project in 2021, which was designed to carry 830,000 barrels of oil sands crude per day from Alberta to Nebraska.

Rather than play losing hands dealt from stacked decks, frustrated energy companies eventually began pulling the plug on one project after another, all to the detriment of businesses and families. Meanwhile, the government artificially propped up wind and solar projects, promoting energy sources that raided taxpayer wallets and were more expensive, less reliable and less efficient than traditional sources of energy.

Among the natural gas pipeline projects that ground to a halt were the Constitution and the Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) pipelines, both designed to transport natural gas to New York. Activists agitated against the projects, often centering their arguments on supposed clean water concerns and the alleged dangers of fracking. Even though the fracking was happening in Pennsylvania – and the projects had received approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission – New York state officials ultimately caved to the pressure from the far left and denied permits.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) was a leader among the anti-pipeline forces. In 2019, Cuomo had “signed into law the state’s goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050,” as NPR previously reported. Of the pipeline efforts, Cuomo pledged that “any way that we can challenge it, we will.”

After years of costly battles – and in the face of New York regulatory officials and politicians determined to stand in their way – company officials threw their hands in the air and gave up on the Constitution project in 2020, doing the same just a year ago in regard to the NESE pipeline.

Environmental groups were ecstatic. When the Constitution project shut down, Earthjustice staff attorney Moneen Nasmith said, “At this critical moment for our climate, we cannot afford unnecessary fossil fuel projects that will lead to more fracking and exacerbate our climate crisis.”

As evidenced by increasingly frequent blackouts and faulty grid performances, the so-called “alternatives” favored by self-labeled “environmental groups” have proven to be poor substitutes for affordable and reliable traditional energy resources. Among those resources, natural gas leads the way in both cost effectiveness and cleanliness. Natural gas has become increasingly “green” with a low carbon footprint compared to other fossil fuels.

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Sunnova International just another EMBEZZLEMENT FRONT COMPANY as part of the Biden Regime’s FAKE GREEN movement – now BANKRUPT

Obama was the king of creating fake green companies, funding them with millions and billions of dollars, then watching them all magically go bankrupt as the money completely disappeared (went into the offshore accounts of all the executives involved). Biden was even worse, participating in these scams and schemes on a much higher financial level, running up trillions in unaccounted funds, while claiming to be supporting “climate science” and “climate change” initiatives. All big lies for embezzlement. Sunnova is just another pawn in the big “climate” game of racketeering and fraud.

  • Obama’s Green Energy Scams: The Obama administration funneled billions in taxpayer dollars into fake “green” companies like Solyndra, Abound Solar, and Fisker Automotive—only for them to collapse as executives pocketed the money. These ventures were never meant to succeed, just to launder funds to political allies.
  • Biden’s Bigger Fraud Scheme: The Biden Regime has taken green energy corruption to new heights, pushing trillions in unaccountable “climate” spending while companies like Sunnova and SunPower declare bankruptcy after executives siphon off subsidies. The entire “renewable energy” push is a front for embezzlement and control.
  • Sunnova’s Collapse Exposes the Scam: Sunnova Energy, propped up by federal loans and tax breaks, just filed for bankruptcy with up to $50 billion in liabilities—proving yet another “green” company was a taxpayer-funded Ponzi scheme. CEO John Berger and other insiders got rich while employees and customers were left holding the bag.
  • The Green Energy Grift Continues: From solar to EVs, the government’s “climate” agenda is a racket designed to bankrupt the middle class while elites profit. With more collapses coming, sites like ClimateAlarmism.news expose how these companies were never about the environment—just theft.

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The 5 Worst Green Energy Projects Funded by Biden

Despite the Department of Government Efficiency’s failures to cut spending and the president’s support for a bill that will add $2.4 trillion to the federal deficit over the next 10 years, some wasteful government projects have been cut under the Trump administration. 

Energy Secretary Chris Wright recently canceled 24 grants approved by the Energy Department under former President Joe Biden. The action netted over $3 billion in savings. Earlier in May, Wright axed an additional $7 billion of green energy loans approved by Biden. 

Unfortunately for taxpayers, the savings that Wright has identified are only a drop in the bucket of the wasteful spending that the Biden Energy Department approved. Here are five of the most egregious examples:

1. $10 Billion for Ford’s Electric Vehicle Push and Eminent Domain Abuses 

In December 2024, the Energy Department’s Loan Programs Office (LPO) closed a $9.63 billion direct loan to BlueOval SK LLC, a joint venture between Ford and South Korean conglomerate SK On. The loan was approved to fund “the construction of three manufacturing plants, to produce batteries for Ford Motor Company’s future Ford and Lincoln electric vehicles [E.V.s],” according to the award announcement. 

BlueOval has begun or completed construction for these facilities—one in western Tennessee called BlueOval City—and two in Hardin County, Kentucky, known as Kentucky 1 and 2. 

In addition to allocating millions of dollars in tax credits for the rights to house BlueOval City, the Tennessee Legislature also created the Megasite Authority of West Tennessee, reports Reason‘s Joe Lancaster. The board was granted the authority to execute contracts on behalf of development, which includes the power to seize private property through eminent domain. In most cases, the board lowballed local property owners, including Ray Jones, who was offered “a measly $8,165” for his acre of land, even though the going rate was $200,000 per acre. There is no set date for when the plant will open. 

Kentucky 1 has faced numerous occupational safety and health complaints from its workers. A review from The Courier-Journal found “dozens of workplace injuries; hospitalizations related to respiratory issues; unshakeable mold contamination; a bat-infested training facility; blocked emergency exit doors; and chemical exposure risks.” The state has opened investigations into the plant, which is scheduled to begin production later this year. Kentucky 2’s opening has been indefinitely delayed. Michael Adams, CEO of BlueOval SK, recently told WDRB, that the plant’s opening date will be a market decision, but “the market is telling us that Kentucky 2 is not ready.”

2. Facility Upgrades for ExxonMobil

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed in 2021 created a new office within the Energy Department called the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED), whose goal is to finance first-of-a-kind clean energy projects through private-public partnerships. One of the largest beneficiaries of the program has been Exxon Mobil. 

The oil major was awarded a $332 million grant from OCED to “enable the use of hydrogen in place of natural gas” at a textile and plastics facility in Baytown, Texas. At the time of the announcement, the Biden administration said the project would prevent 2.7 million metric tons of carbon emissions per year. While an interesting technology, the project did not need taxpayer support. In the same year that Exxon received this disbursement (2024), the company reported annual earnings of $33.7 billion. The project’s funding was canceled on May 30 by Wright. 

3. Reducing the Carbon Footprint of Ketchup 

No industry was spared from corporate welfare under the Biden administration, including condiments. In October 2024, Kraft Heinz was awarded a grant of up to $170.9 million from OCED. The award was intended to fund energy efficiency upgrades, the installation of heat pumps and electric boilers, and renewable energy technologies at 10 of the company’s facilities. 

The grant was also rescinded on May 30. Kraft Heinz says it will continue to invest in upgrading 30 of its manufacturing facilities and will invest $3 billion over the next five years “to modernize” its domestic supply chain infrastructure.

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Wind and solar can never be a meaningful power source, and they are more expensive

The subsidised wind and solar chickens are coming home to roost: power prices are rocketing out of control in any jurisdiction attempting to run on sunshine and breezes. Adding mega-batteries only makes matters worse. With the ever-present threat of total blackouts, rent-seekers and their propaganda machines are still attempting to deflect and bury what occurred in Spain and Portugal last month, but the mob always works you out.

Which brings us to this week’s roundup.

First up, Guy Mitchell taps into the laws of physics – the very same immutable laws that mean dilute, diffuse weather and sunshine-dependent wind and solar can never amount to meaningful power generation sources. Ever.

Read: The Achilles Heel of Wind and Solar, American Thinker, Guy Mitchell, 15 May 2025

Meanwhile Down Under, hard-pressed households and embattled businesses are being lined up for another 10% hike on what are already the world’s highest power prices and, as the team from Jo Nova explains, the worst is yet to come.

Read: Bang! Price bomb sinks Transmission lines: Plan B says let’s pretend cars, home solar and batteries will save “Transition”, Jo Nova Blog, Jo Nova, 27 May 2025

In this two-part essay, Russ Schussler places focus on how subsidised and intermittent wind and solar have totally wrecked once orderly power markets and why you pay the ever-increasing and exorbitant price for that entirely deliberate destruction.

Read: Why “cheaper” wind and solar raise costs. Part I: The fat tail problem, Climate Etc, Russ Schussler, 13 May 2025

Read: Why “cheaper” solar raises costs. Part II: The hidden costs of residential solar, Climate Etc, Russ Schussler, 22 May 2025

In this video, David Turver takes a look at the same phenomenon in the UK – where colossal subsidies to wind and solar are driving out cheap and reliable gas-fired power and, you guessed it, consumers are paying the price.

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