Posted on 06/16/2014 7:11:05 AM PDT by Kaslin
There’s hope for the future. My generation of Millennials is embracing entrepreneurial oil jobs to keep America’s lights on.
On June 2, the Obama administration proposed new carbon regulations calling for a 30 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2030. Why 2030? Who knows! It’s an arbitrary date, not a number based on sound science.
Coal currently supplies 39 percent of America’s electricity. TIME Magazine reports that Obama’s proposal will promote “fuel switching” from coal to so-called clean forms of energy such as solar. Fuel switching is the politically correct term for putting Americans out of work and the power grid in jeopardy. There are consequences to this knee-jerk switch to government-subsidized “green” energy.
Millennials understand these consequences. Which is why a Pew report issued this spring found that Millennials are “somewhat less likely than older adults to describe themselves as environmentalists—just 32% say this describes them very well…” Millennials care about the environment. But, since science tells us that humans are not responsible for detrimental warming and over 15% of us are unemployed—our priority is jobs.
The Shale Boomers
Our parents are Baby Boomers. Call us the Shale Boomers.
(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
Coal supplies 39% of our electricity? That seems low to me.
That’s an accurate number as of 2013...
Maybe they like the idea of being able to find a job.
And the realization that the green movement is nothing more that a leftist ruse.
It’s trending down rapidly due to EPA regulations.
Latest number I’ve seen is 37%.
They actually mine coal here in Indiana (which by regulation can’t be burned) and freight it down the Mississippi, across the Atlantic, and it’s burned in “green” Germany.
You’re right. Natural gas = 27%, nuclear = 19%, renewable = 13%, petroleum = 1%, and coal = 39%.
Oh, my figures were as of 2011, so it appears coal is continuing to drop.
I find it hard to believe very many millennials put 2 and 2 together like that. Some can, sure, but I’m not convinced it’s even a large minority.
Good article ...
... down to the next to the last paragraph where she pushes her book.
I’m dubious too.
Most of these kids have spent 16 to 18 yrs in the modern US education system.
Most “know” far more about “climate change” than the US constitution.
While the recent fracking based boom is exciting, what is the argument against solar and wind? Plenty of jobs manufacturing, installing and maintaining, and the installing and maintaining cannot be sent overseas, while reducing the amount of oil we need to totally free us from Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria (with its growing Islamic danger) and Russia.
Solar and wind are fine to the extent they actually contribute energy to the grid rather than huge subsidies to regime supporters who recycle the $$ into campaign contribs.
The efficiency rate is far below that of coal, gas, and nuke. You have to have gazillions of turbines or collectors to get the same output one plant can produce. Not to mention battery retention for those cloudy or windless days.
Solar and wind will not displace oil from Venezuela or anywhere else for that matter. Neither one can compete with gas/nuke/coal generated electricity without massive government subsidies and both also cause grid instability. The sooner we shut those forms of generation down, the better off we will be.
Thanks. I hadn’t realized how much damage had already been done to the coal industry.
“Coal supplies 39% of our electricity? That seems low to me”
US coal Probably supplies 30% of China’s electricity and 10% in Europe
Solar and wind are costly, costing more per kilowatt than traditional power sources.
Solar peaks in the summer and day, forcing you to rely on costly batteries or alternate sources (natural gas) for night and winter power.
Solar and wind generation tends to be highest in areas far from the demand, AKA middle of the desert and Great Plains. The cost of these renewables goes up when you have to build a thousand miles of power lines. Whereas you can situate a coal burning plant in a city or natural gas plant fed by pipelines.
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