Nate,
I have not emailed you before, but your latest plans with regards to a Clean energy Future do not make sense. Nor do Mimi Stewart’s concepts about Clean Fuels.
First, your timelines in assuming that we can just magically adapt our power grid to meet your timelines are not realistic. We are NOT on track to make 40% of our grid power by solar and wind by 2025. Nor 50% by 2030.
So promises or beliefs that we can/will meet such standards would require massive changes in how we generate electricity today, assuming, of course, that this power would be coming from solar and wind.
Of course, we are already 50% non-carbon-based electricity due to the Palo Verde plant in Arizona. But your plan is to eliminate Palo Verde as part of the solution. So the one source of electricity that is reliable and non-carbon-based is what you’ve targeted for elimination, which makes zero sense.
Meanwhile, we’re all just supposed to magically be able to afford and switch to non-carbon-based fuels, heating, and cooling? How is that working out? Let’s try an experiment first. Try shutting off all the heating inside the Round House, except for electric heaters. And also cut off all air conditioning unless it’s 100% solar or wind powered.
Also, if solar and wind are such great sources of power, then why are we directing most of the wind-generated electricity to Arizona? Why not simply send it to Albuquerque? Why are we building huge transmission systems and screwing up operations on White Sands Missile Range, when that power would be much more useful in Albuquerque?
Could it be that NM just can’t handle that much intermittent and unreliable power?
Let’s deal with reality. The reality is that most of the solar and wind equipment is coming from dirty mines operated in third world countries, using carbon-based power, refined in third world countries or China using carbon-based power, manufactured in China based on coal-fired power plants, then shipped in diesel-burning ships, and via diesel-engine trains.
The operational life of these systems is only 25 years, after which you end up with a gargantuan ruin on the land (wind turbine) and a concrete base of hundreds of tons that will be there for thousands of years. And the wind blades are unrecyclable, needing to be buried in landfills or left rotting on their mounts. Likewise, who is going to recycle those engines?
The solar farms have nearly the same problem. First, they will take up 46 square miles of land in Dona Ana county alone, destroying wildlife habitat for 25 years. And then what? The panels contain toxic chemicals and cannot be recycled. What will be done with these in 25 years?
The same or worse is true of Electric Vehicle batteries. The Lithium in these is again a hazardous chemical. But as the batteries grow old the lithium is corrupted so that attempting to revitalize the Lithium involves toxic chemicals to remove it, leading to more pollution.
Let’s also mention, parenthetically, that when driving in the summer around here most people need to use their air conditioning. And in the winter need to use their heater. But in an EV these drain the battery. Also, driving up and down hills drains the battery. And there are plenty of hills between here and ABQ, or Tucson, or Alamogordo, Cloudcroft, Ruidoso or out beyond El Paso. So use of EVs in our area is really problematic, as is the issue of recharging every 70-80 miles and having to wait in long recharge lines and/or just the 20-30 minutes it takes to charge.
Forcing people into these vehicles is not going to go over well with the people of our town, our county, or this state. And the same issues related to car heating and air conditioning will apply equally once your jihad against energy attacks home heating use of natural gas and the need for solar/wind based air conditioning.
The bottom line is that so-called “Clean Energy” is neither clean nor renewable since the materials used in the process are in need of continual replacement. And because the backup power is usually diesel-generators, it is impractical whenever the sun doesn’t shine (12 hours a day) or the wind doesn’t blow (3-4 months of the year).
Your plan will not work as stated, but will cost the citizens of our state tremendously as their lifestyle and income is being afflicted by your wrong-headed policies.
As a citizen in your district I strongly object to your bad judgment in these matters.
Regards,
David Tofsted
