Conservatives have long noticed the telltale signs of left-wing insincerity and hypocrisy. Barack Obama’s $12 million Martha’s Vinyard home qualifies as one of those little tells that define the insincerity of his speeches. Located barely above sea level, the home would not withstand the melting Greenland and polar ice predicted by the hysterical scenarios peddled by the climate alarmists. If he really believed in the climate catastrophe, why would he buy a home that exposed Michelle and the hundreds of birthday guests he planned for his recent birthday bash? Then there is the great Al Gore and those of his followers who fly to climate conferences in private jets with trailing entourages of followers. The issue may be conflated with his ego, but he must realize how it looks. He is not unintelligent. Still, he understands people read the headlines and the details, not so much. There is also a Vice President’s sense of entitlement, but we will let further comment on that issue rest on the psychiatrist’s lap.
But there is more to the issue than hypocrisy indicators. There are the real nuts and bolts of going beyond the talk stage and taking the next step toward the implementation of a climate agenda. Climate alarmists have an idea that imminent death from climate change can be avoided by a massive overhaul of our infrastructure.
Recently a Homby Hills developer of what is billed as the most expensive home in the United States at $500 million dollars was giving a tour of the still unfinished home. The foyer alone was as big as an average house, and on each side of this large space was a series of flowers placed in vases one bouquet after another. The presentation was stunningly beautiful. As the developer walked by, he said, “We use plastic flowers for sustainability.” Yet, the massive home consumed a small towns worth of energy just running the electronics of the place. It was licensed for 900 in its disco club, the amount of marble and wood could have built a block of upscale homes out of the 105,000 square feet of space created after the mountain top was leveled and all for the benefit of a single owner.
But there is a larger issue beyond the extravagant hypocrisy of woke zillionaires. First, start with staggering corporate welfare subsidies in the billions which the U S government uses to promote the Green New Deal. By agreeing to buy electric vehicles and building charging stations for the electric vehicles the American taxpayer is on the hook for more than the sticker price of the vehicle. Additionally, there are EV tax credits for being American Made, Union made, and basic credits, some of which go to the nuclear industry. Now every company is coming to the US government if they can attach the word green to their business to get the green. If crony capitalism continues, there won’t be enough money left in the treasury to buy a hot dog.
Actually, we know how this goes. The government will continue to print money, thus devaluing what is in circulation and in your pocket and bank account.
The plot thickens, for beyond massive subsidies, there is a secret behind the Green New Deal fantasy: It is impossible. In an interview on August 7, 2021 with Larry Kudlow on his Fox News Show, Kudlow, Mark Mills of the Manhattan Institute runs through the consequences of trying to achieve Green New Deal objectives. He points out that the resources to create a battery driven economy is impossible because there is no plan to supply the needed resources for it.
Consider that battery cars use 300% more copper per car than an internal combustion vehicle. More cobalt, nickel, manganese, and aluminum. You will need aluminum to lighten the car in order to compensate for the half ton of battery weight of an electric car. The International Energy Agency has pointed out that the world is not planning or prepared to produce the quantity of minerals necessary to support the batteries governments are talking about. Advocates claim the cost will come down. But we will need to raise the global production of minerals 300% to 6000% over what is produced today. The result of competition between France, Germany, the United States, China, and other countries demanding scarce and expensive resources will drive the cost up.
Consider, also, 60’% of the cost in a car’s battery is in the commodity materials itself. But we’re told that the price of batteries is coming down. This is not possible as the scarce resources become more sought after. Additionally, the electric grid will cost more to accommodate the electricity production from approved, green sources.
Overall, a 10-fold or 1000% increase in materials is required to make the same unit of electricity if you compare wind, solar to a gas turbine. That’s just the concrete, steel, and glass. For the minerals requirements such as cobalt, nickel, manganese, chromium it will require a greater expenditure of energy to produce on the order of 400% to 5000%. The US will have to import massive amounts of materials. As Mills says,
“We are going to throttle a massive liquids and gas producing industry that produces revenue for America—hundreds of billions of dollars—and we are, instead, going to import three times that amount of materials in the form of those minerals needed to make green machines and batteries.”
The Greenies have shut down much drilling in the U.S. and much of the mining. How then, do you build energy resources to supply cars, industry, and homes with adequate energy? The answer is the economy will forcibly be downsized. Fewer vehicles will be produced because only a few vehicles can be produced. Who is the beneficiary? China is the answer. They are the major source of rare earths and metals and will be digging furiously to provide them. Who will come first in that scenario? They will, of course.
The end game for the climate alarmists is to reduce the use of world resources at the expense of every country in the world by suffocating economies with expensive solar and wind, and by denying mining and drilling operations permits and breeching dams so that they can brag about how green the United States is. In the meantime, third world countries will suffer the ecological damage as they pull in desperately needed foreign exchange money with less than clean mining practices.
The practical implication of a green victory is the collapse of modern life as we know it. Utopian dreams of a world in harmony with nature will cause everyone to suffer. Good intentions are no substitute for good judgement. Relying on a technology that works only when the sun is out or the wind blows is a prescription for brownouts and failures. Get your gasoline generators now.