You don’t need liberty-aligned bloggers to tell you that the renewable energy scheme is an expensive scam. The state laboratory of California is doing a fine job of that. It is the movement’s mentor and demon poster child for failure.
And if you are saying it’s California, who cares? Several New England States (my corner of the world) have adopted the left Coast strut on energy transition. Vermont is the best example. They proudly look for ways to go 100% renewable without a care for what is going on in their mentor state and what it is doing to not just the poor (wealth transfer) or the economy but also how it has failed to reduce emissions.
California’s “renewable energy” incentives account for over 25% of electricity generation, driving the cost to an average of 28.9 cents per Kwh. They are not the highest in the US, but they rank third behind Connecticut and Hawaii, but not for long. Mandates continue to push prices higher, and the infrastructure projects necessary to accommodate the new energy future add tens of billions in spending, all of which will end in ratepayer bills.
Vermont, are you listening?
These are not the Emissions You’re Looking For
California leaped into the big green litter box years ago, and in the beginning, there were emissions reductions (again, based on the lie that this is good). But at some point, they stopped seeing improvement despite the continued rise in solar installations and electric rates.
The cost per kilowatt hour is up 109%, which means nothing to rich people with solar on their rooftops but everything to lower-income folks.
According to a study done for the California Public Utility Commission, residents who have installed solar systems have household incomes 68% higher than the state average. Ashley Brown, executive director of the Harvard Electricity Policy Group, calls the proliferation of rooftop solar systems and the returns they provide to lucky people like me, “a wealth transfer from less affluent ratepayers to more affluent ones.” It is, Mr. Brown says, “Robin Hood in reverse.”
For all their talk of climate justice, the Proglodytes have turned electricity (living, working, basic comfort) into a luxury more and more Californians can’t afford. It is an inevitable outcome playing out next door to me in Vermont. The Democrat legislature is not only pushing forward with its green dreams (remember, Vermont has legislatively linked itself to California’s emissions goals), but it is also ignoring and belittling anyone who dares to suggest it is bad for Vermont and Vermonters. This is the same template the Democrats in New Hampshire want to see deployed, and that is the goal at the national level: to make water and electricity (food, shelter) too expensive for anyone but the ruling class for no measurable gain.
Californians are paying a considerable price to reach a stated emissions goal they must lie to achieve, which means it will be easy for them. They’ve been lying about everything else.
Net Zero was never about fossil fuel emissions. It was a goal for your lifestyle. When they’ve wrecked enough of it and enough people with it, they’ll just declare wherever that is as almost there (you can never quite get there), which looks a bit like feudalism. They’ll be living in luxury, eating grass-fed beef, and you’ll have nothing to live for and a near-constant fear of a boot on your neck.
