DID YOU KNOW THESE GREEN ENERGY FACTS?

• Vehicles contribute about 15% of worldwide carbon buildup. 
• If half of the world's vehicles become electric, transforming worldwide transportation may equal a 7% carbon saving.
• Electric batteries weigh 1,000 lbs each and require precious metals (lithium) from China
• None of the earth’s minerals are renewable
• 3 million new turbines are needed to produce half of the world’s electricity from wind
• One wind turbine requires 45 tons of plastic (processed from petroleum), 900 tons of steel, 2,500 tons of concrete, and 2 tons of rare-earth elements. Costs of solar are higher.

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MORE ON GREEN ENERGY - IMPACTS NM

Minerals: China controls about 80% of  rare-earth minerals and their cost.   

Creating Electric Power From Renewable Wind And Solar:  If we want to produce half the world’s electricity from wind, we will need to build about 3 million more turbines requiring about 2.7 billion tons of earth materials.  (Environmentalists did you know this?)

Wind Turbine Cost: 3 million turbines will cost in the neighborhood of $9 trillion, plus annual maintenance cost of $45,000 each ($135 billion for the world). 

After a turbine life-cycle of about 20 years, start all over. 

Energy from solar power requires even more cement and steel than wind turbines to produce the same amount of electricity.   

BATTERY POWERED VEHICLES:   The global warming break even point for an electric vehicle is about 9 years. Then the 1,000 pound battery will need replacing in approximately 10 years.

GREENER COMMON SENSE ALTERNATIVES TO CURRENT GREEN ENERGY INITIATIVES

ALTERNATIVES TO ELECTRIC VEHICLES?

Liquefied and compressed natural gas are inexpensive and fuel-efficient for powering vehicles. They reduce carbon monoxide emissions by over 90% compared to gasoline power.  The U.S. has an abundance of recoverable reserves of natural gas.

ALTERNATIVES TO POWER FROM WIND AND SOLAR?   

As well as relatively in-expensive, nuclear power is the largest source of safe, clean, and reliable carbon-free electricity in the country. This power source is well recognized by China. In 2050, nuclear power should exceed 400 new nuclear reactors in China, a trillion-dollar investment.  

However, the face of nuclear energy is changing.  Mini-nuclear reactors are on the drawing board. Small reactors, brought online quickly can provide the U.S. with cheap, clean, safe power.   For example, the U.S. Navy commissioned its first nuclear-powered ship in 1961.  There are currently 80 nuclear-powered ships in the U.S. Navy with over 5,700 reactor years of safe operations

CONCLUSIONS: 

The sustainability of a long-term supply of lithium is at risk.

Electric vehicles may end up transforming worldwide transportation for a nominal 7% saving.    

We will likely have a world with billions of junked EVs with no batteries starting in the next century.  

The price of most electric vehicles too high for billions of people worldwide.

The mining, transporting, and processing of wind and solar farms require such massive amounts of earth materials and power that the net carbon reduction is drastically reduced; a factor rarely mentioned.  

Power demand and consumption will continue to rise, and current green energy initiatives are an inefficient, expensive means of power which cannot meet these growing energy needs.

Source: Marvin L. Covault, Lt Gen US Army, Retired

June 12, 2022

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