There is a strong tendency for those who subscribe to what Thomas Sowell called the “unconstrained vision” to believe that wishes are horses. We’re all for aspirations. But not for delusions, especially when the planners’ delusions translate into blackouts for the rest of us. When we hear things like “The Clean Energy Future Is Arriving Faster Than You Think“ from the New York Times (h/t The Manhattan Contrarian) we can’t help thinking the dreams have been a substitute for engagement with reality. Not to mention the head of “Climate Action Network Canada” tweeting about Canada’s amorphous plan to end all fossil fuel subsidies except the good ones, without knowing which are which, boasting that “Today’s announcement is the result of tireless work by @CANRacCanada members, and allows us to start imagining the 🇨🇦 government as accelerating the energy transition rather than slowing it down.” Imagine that.
NBC claims that “Summer has been no sweat for California’s increasingly green energy grid, but the hottest days may still lie ahead”. We enter our usual objection to news stories about bad climate stuff that might happen. But the key is the subhed: “As the state braced for triple-digit temperatures, its energy grid has had a surplus of power with the help of renewable energy, battery storage capacity, and relatively lower demand.”
In short, demand was low because it wasn’t very hot. See:
“Energy demand has been relatively low despite sizzling temperatures in the deserts and valleys. More than two-thirds of the state’s nearly 40 million people live along the coast, where temperatures have largely been normal or below normal.”
So much for that heat dome. And in consequence, the Golden State got away with having foolishly replaced much of its reliable energy with trendy renewables, so far at least. Kind of a different feel, isn’t it? Even if some reporter says:
“Experts say California’s increasing reliance on renewable energy, and its rapidly growing ability to store nature’s bounty on lithium-ion batteries, has better prepared it to face a warming planet while also maintaining a device-crazed, climate-controlled lifestyle.”
The problem is, California politicians deal in fantasy even more than most. And they will continue to build, or not build, power plants based on this hallucination.
Back to the New York Times. One of their “Climate Forward” zealots wrote that:
“During a summer of hellish wildfires, searing heat, boiling oceans and torrential storms, it’s easy to lose sight of the real progress being made in the fight against climate change.”
This guy even hallucinates fire, as the United States enjoys one of its quietest fire seasons ever. And nobody with access to the historical records thinks the place is having more storms than it used to, while nobody who has been near one thinks the oceans are boiling. (That would be 100°C not um 20.96°, shattering 2016’s 20.95 “as climate breakdown from burning fossil fuels causes the oceans to heat” or something.)
He’s not done. He also visits Tulsa and, perhaps because of a heat-induced mirage, discerns that:
“Wind and solar are rapidly displacing coal, oil and gas. Sales of electric vehicles and heat pumps are soaring. And a gusher of government subsidies and private capital is fueling record investment in clean energy.”
We even had a bit of a laugh at a Globe & Mail business column headlined “China’s net-zero pledges are starting to look like a fantasy as the emissions of the world’s biggest polluter keep rising”. Starting to? You only just noticed? Still, better late than never because so many don’t see it. Although that piece started:
“The blast-furnace heat this summer in large parts of the world, including the Mediterranean countries, the Southern United States and China has delivered fresh urgency to the notion of net-zero emissions.”
Wikipedia says a modern oxygen blast furnace operates at three temperature levels: “the reduction zone (523–973 K (250–700 °C; 482–1,292 °F)), slag formation zone (1,073–1,273 K (800–1,000 °C; 1,472–1,832 °F)), and the combustion zone (1,773–1,873 K (1,500–1,600 °C; 2,732–2,912 °F)).” If it was anywhere near 250°C where you are, let alone 1,500, don’t call us because you are in hell.
P.S. The Climate Action Network Canada, which predictably is located on “Unceded Algonquin Anishinaabe Territories [OTTAWA]”, doesn’t say where they get their money, nor do they seem to publish annual reports that might reveal such a thing (at any rate they are not available on its website). But to be fair its tweet quoted above did include “The real test: implementation across all gov and forms of financial support.” Oh. Just that?
And if next summer is really hot in CommieFornia(the norm),what then?Those surpluses they claim now will dry up faster than a puddle in mid-july in Death Valley.At least the G&B got it right about Communist China's Net Zero pledges!It's fantasy,no, worse.An outright lie.