The economic realities of wealthy countries and developing economies are that they require the security of an electricity supply at the most cost-effective possible prices to develop their electricity-intensive goods-producing industries.
Societies can raise their economic growth rates and living standards in a modern, competitive global economy. Producing continuous and uninterruptable electricity at the lowest, most efficient, cost-effective price with the security of supply is the biggest employment-generating decision developing country policymakers can make.
Interestingly, the three primary objectives of developing countries are poverty alleviation, reducing inequality, and raising standards of living. These objectives can only be achieved by maintaining a high rate of economic growth, thereby reducing levels of unemployment and raising the standard of living. Electricity is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for economic growth.
Electricity must be controlled and available on demand by society. Of the six electrical generation methods, occasionally generated electricity from wind and solar, have severe demand limitations when compared with the reliable, continuous, and uninterruptable electricity from hydro, nuclear, coal, and natural gas power plants.
If electricity generation is intermittent, variable, or unreliable like wind and solar, it is necessary to have a 100% backup supply of continuous electricity available on immediate demand.
Of the three fossil fuels, coal and natural gas are often used as fuel for power-generating plants, but crude oil, the third fossil fuel, is rarely used to generate electricity. However, the derivatives manufactured from raw crude oil are the basis of more than 6,000 products in our society that did not exist 200 years ago.
Developing countries must raise their economic growth rate by ensuring a sustainable, secure, dispatchable electricity supply at the lowest financial and economic cost.
Policymakers seem oblivious to the fact that all six methods of generating electricity from hydro, coal, natural gas, nuclear, wind, and solar are based on components and equipment made with products made from crude oil derivatives.
The anti-fossil-fuel agendas of “net zero,” the “green new deal,” and thousands of non-government organizations (NGOs) have no substitute for those same fossil fuels to maintain the supply chain of the more than 6,000 products of modern man’s materialistic demands.
- Ridding the world of fossil fuel usage would eliminate electricity, i.e., eliminate insulation, wiring, computers, ventilation, etc.
- Eradicating the world of fossil fuel usage would also restrict the supply chain of products and transportation fuels, resulting in:
- Grounding 20,000 commercial aircraft,
- Grounding more than 50,000 military aircraft,
- Grounding 23,000 private planes in the world,
- Leaving the 50,000 merchant ships and 33 million pleasure boats tied up at docks and
- Discontinuing the military and space programs!
Interestingly, nobody ever uses crude oil in its “raw black tar” format, but once it’s put through the refinery processes, human ingenuity has been able to use those manufactured oil derivatives to benefit mankind. Population growth occurred as a result of the more than 6,000 products in today’s society that are based on oil derivatives manufactured from black raw crude oil, the same products that did not exist before the 1800s.
Today, humanity’s health and well-being are heavily dependent on products from fossil fuels that support our materialistic society.
Renewed interest in nuclear power is being driven by rising electricity demands from AI data centers and the Biden-Harris administration’s push to electrify various sectors, including heating, cooking, and personal transportation. According to an April Goldman Sachs report, data centers are expected to represent 8% of U.S. electricity demand by 2030, up from 3% in 2022.
Nearly all 94 operating reactors in the U.S. have had their licenses extended to 60 years, with two extended to 80 years.
- In Iowa, NextEra Energy is considering reopening the Duane Arnold Energy Center, which closed in 2020 due to significant windstorm damage.
- In Michigan, state legislation passed mandates in 2023 that all electricity comes from carbon-free sources by 2040, replacing the coal and gas-fired plants that currently provide over two-thirds of the state’s electricity.
- The federal government and Michigan are investing close to $2 billion to reactivate the Palisades nuclear reactor located on Lake Michigan’s shore. Once it resumes operation, Palisades will become the first nuclear plant to restart after being decommissioned.
- In the State of Louisiana, nuclear power is an essential part of the current mix of electricity sources that power Louisiana’s homes and businesses. Why? Because nuclear power is clean, reliable, and emission-free. In fact, 92% of the state’s emission-free electricity and an estimated 16% of all the electricity used in Louisiana comes from the state’s two nuclear facilities: River Bend in St. Francisville (West Feliciana Parish) and Waterford 3 in Kilona (St. Charles Parish). Together, these two facilities employ 1,500 highly skilled workers.
Germany was the first larger industrialized nation to proclaim itself ” fossil-free.” Today, Germany has some of the highest electricity prices in the world, and the number of Germany’s corporate insolvencies in March 2024 reached the highest level on record as the Great “Green” Electricity economic debacle continues. Germany showed that renewables are uneconomical and will lead to economic stagnation.
These renewable electricity catastrophes could ensure that those pursuing the “net-zero” and “green new deal” movements in the wealthier countries, that their future will move towards rising unemployment, increasing poverty levels and inequity, and homelessness, along with increasing social and political instability. “It will keep the poor, poor and the rich, rich”!
Most government officials and policymakers are unaware that ALL electricity came AFTER the discovery of fossil fuels, starting with the light bulb made from oil.
Electricity is critically important in our daily lives because it is a basic human need for all the products made from crude oil derivatives that need electricity to operate, such as iPhones, computers, EV vehicles, defibrillators, etc. We use electricity to heat and cool our human-made structures. Energy policymakers tend to look at energy as either fossil fuels or renewables. However, wind and solar can only generate intermittent, variable, and unpredictable electricity.
Utilities now face the dual challenge of meeting the Biden-Harris administration’s net-zero climate goals while expanding overall electricity production.
Energy policymakers need to be cognizant that all electricity came after the discovery of crude oil; thus, the “green” agendas to end fossil fuels would eliminate electricity!
First published at America Out Loud News.
Ronald Stein is an internationally published columnist and energy consultant, and a policy advisor for The Heartland Institute.
