The public deserves to learn about the differences in energy literacy between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris BEFORE the elected one is allowed to set energy policies for Americans.
It is apparent that the architects of the ‘Green New Deal’ are clueless that “renewables” such as wind turbines and solar panels ONLY exist to generate occasional electricity under favorable weather conditions, as they CANNOT make tires, toilet paper, iPhones, or any products or transportation fuels to support lifestyles and economies in American and around the world!
Those in the media have the responsibility to share with the public the extent to which these candidates comprehend America’s energy needs. So, as an energy expert, I took the liberty of providing some serious questions that demand answers. These questions will initiate and stimulate conversations that will expose the extent of the candidates’ energy literacy to the American people.
There is a difference between electricity and products: As US government policies continue to pursue reductions in crude oil production and increasing occasional electricity generation from wind and solar, there is a lost reality that the primary usage of that black cruddy looking crude oil is NOT for the generation of electricity but to manufacture oil derivatives and fuels, which are the ingredients of every product and fuel needed by economies and lifestyles to exist and prosper, i.e., all the products that did not exist before the 1800s.
Eradicating the world of crude oil usage would ground the20,000 commercial aircraft, and ground more than50,000 military aircraft, and the 23,000 private planes in the world, leave the50,000 merchant shipsand 33 million pleasure boats tied up at docks, and discontinue the military and space programs! Ridding the world of crude oil without a “replacement” that can continue to support the supply chain of the more than6,000 productsnow demanded by the 8 billion on this planet could result in the loss of billions of lives from starvation, diseases, and weather-related fatalities.
(1)Knowing that all electricity came about AFTER the discovery of oil and that there is a vast distinction between ELECTRICITY and PRODUCTS, how do you plan to support a supply chain of the products and fuels demanded by our materialistic society and economy, as America reduces its dependency on crude oil without a backup plan to support the supply chain of products and fuels now being demanded by societies and economies?
(2)With National and State policies moving to the reduction or elimination of crude oil production, how is your energy policy going to sustain the supply chain demands for the more than 6,000 products made from crude oil that now support the infrastructures that did not exist 200 years ago such as hospitals, airports, communication systems, militaries, planes, trains, and vehicles that are based on the products made from fossil fuels, thus, what is your plan to avoid a transition to lifestyles that existed before the 1800s?
Modern-day humanity has become a materialistic society: Our demands for smaller and faster electronics and more extensive and faster planes, ships, and launches into outer space are the only reasons that crude oil is needed.
(3)How will electricity generated from wind and solar be able to support the materialistic demands of humanity? Before we chastise “big oil” for impacting climate change, should we ask ourselves, “How dare WE continuously demand the products and fuels made from oil that make OUR lives more comfortable”?
We had a zero-emissions society before the 1800s!The elephant in the room that no one wants to discuss is that we’ve become a very materialistic society over the last 200 years, and the world has populated from 1 to 8 billion because of more than 6,000 useful products and different fuels for planes, ships, trucks, cars, militaries, and the space program made from crude oil that did not exist before the 1800s. We also know that wind turbines and solar panels only generate electricity but are incapable of manufacturing any products or fuels.
(4)Since all hospitals, airports, communication systems, militaries, planes, trains, and vehicles are based on the products made from fossil fuels, what is your plan to avoid a transition to lifestyles that existed before the 1800s? Basically, what is your backup plan to support the materialistic demands of societies and economies around the world for all the products and fuels made from crude oil?
(5)In addition, how will your policies continue to support the fuels, now manufactured from crude oil for the20,000 commercial aircraft, 50,000 military aircraft, 23,000 private planes,50,000 merchant ships, and 33 million pleasure boats, all of which did not exist 200 years ago, before crude oil?
Clean Energy Exploitations: Most of the exotic minerals and metals needed to go “green” with EVs, wind turbines, and solar panels are controlled by China, and Africa has minimal labor and environmental laws that result in environmental degradation and humanity abuses to their people and their lands that support “clean” electricity in wealthier countries like America.
(6)Do you believe it is ethical and moral for America to continue subsidies to go “green” as it provides financial encouragement for China and Africa to CONTINUE exploiting “their” poor with yellow, brown, and black skin and financially supports the environmental degradation to “their” landscapes, just to support the construction of EV batteries, wind turbines and solar panels in America’s backyards”?
Economies and societies need continuous, uninterruptable supplies of electricity. Hospitals, airports, military sites, data centers, AI, computers, and telemetry all need continuous, uninterruptable supplies of electric power, but wind turbines and solar panels only generate electricity under favorable weather conditions.
(7)With the ongoing efforts to shutter coal-fired power plants, natural gas power plants, and nuclear power plants, all of which have been providing the generation of continuous, uninterruptable supplies of electricity, how do you plan to support the need for continuous uninterruptable supplies of electricity from weather-dependent wind and solar?
Decommissioning and waste recycling: For the “green” movement, lithium and cobalt mining involve unimaginable horrors that are never discussed in wealthier countries by environmentalists or government leaders. The sites in poorer developing countries for the mining of materials required to build wind, solar, and EV batteries are under minimal to nonexistent labor, wage, environmental, reclamation, and worker health and safety regulations. The mere extraction of those exotic minerals presents social challenges, human rights abuses, and environmental degradations in those developing countries but is of no significance to the wealthy countries benefiting from those “green” materials.
(8)With the inevitable millions of tons of wind turbine blade waste, solar panel waste, and spent EV batteries projected to be produced EVERY YEAR, are you in support of an urgent need to establish decommissioning, restoration, and recycling standards just like we have for decommissioned mines, oil refineries, or nuclear sites in America?
The above open-ended questions for presidential and presidential candidates will stimulate energy literacy conversations about the depth of their energy literacy and how their policies can support the supply chain of products and fuels demanded by today’s materialistic lifestyles and economies around the world.
