Breaking: Noted Pedophile Hates Clean Energy

Trump had another unscheduled disassembly over Wind Farms in Europe the other day. Guardian did a response, if any is needed.

Guardian:

Trump claimed: “It is the worst form of energy, the most expensive form of energy, but windmills should not be allowed.”

This is certainly not true for onshore wind, which is cheap to build and generates electricity very inexpensively. Offshore windfarms cost more to build but when it is windy produces electricity extremely cheaply. There are costs associated with wind; the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, has recently faced criticism for setting the maximum price at his upcoming renewable energy auction at £113 a megawatt-hour for offshore wind, for record-length contracts of 20 years.

By comparison, the wholesale gas price is £78/MWh at present. However, during the price spike of 2022, wholesale gas went above £170/MWh. Because Britain’s electricity grid has not been sufficiently updated, windfarms are also often paid millions to switch off when it is very windy to avoid overloading the network.

However, even with these added costs, offshore wind is less expensive than nuclear to build, has a stable price compared with gas, which is sold on international markets, and is cheaper to generate than fossil fuels.

Trump has often claimed that offshore wind kills whales and drives them crazy.

It is tricky to make definitive claims about whether or not whales are driven “loco” by offshore wind, as many aspects of whale behaviour are not well understood by scientists. However, it does not appear there is direct evidence that offshore windfarms frequently cause whale deaths. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has said: “There are no known links between large whale deaths and ongoing offshore wind activities.”

Whales could be disturbed during the initial stages of offshore-wind construction. High-resolution geophysical surveys to map the seafloor are carried out that could disturb marine mammals. However, these are much smaller in scale than those conducted for oil and gas exploration.

Most of the known direct causes of whale deaths are related to the fishing industry, with the mammal caught in or ingesting fishing equipment. The warming and acidification of oceans caused by global heating from burning fossil fuels is also a threat to whales’ survival.

Trump claimed: “When they start to rust and rot in eight years you can’t really turn them off, you can’t burn them. They won’t let you bury the propellers, the props, because there’s a certain type of fibre that doesn’t go well with the land.”

This is not true. Wind turbines have a typical lifespan of 20-25 years, and the industry is getting better at recycling old parts; according to the National Grid, 96% of a wind turbine is made from recyclable materials. Their outer shell, shafts, gearing and electrical components are typically made from steel, copper, aluminium, other precious metals and recyclable plastics. The blades are made from fibreglass, which is not biodegradable and is indeed typically sent to landfill. However, scientists have found a way to repurpose them into cement, and the blades have been used to create pedestrian footbridges in Ireland and noise barriers for highways in the US.

Lazard:

1. Renewables Remain Competitive: Unsubsidized Wind & Solar Lowest Cost Generation Sources for Last 10 YearsDespite facing macro challenges and headwinds, utility-scale solar and onshore wind remain the most cost-effective forms of new-build energy generation on an unsubsidized basis (i.e., without tax subsidies). As such, renewable energy will continue to play a key role in the buildout of new power generation in the U.S. as the lowest-cost and quickest-to-deploy generation.   

Michael Mann in Newsweek from 2019 (still fresh):

Unlike President Trump’s inability to pronounce the word “origins,” his recurring anti-wind bloviating isn’t a sign of mental decline. Sure, it is stupid and wrong to say the sound of wind causes cancer (just who is the “alarmist” by the way?) or reduces real estate values (it doesn’t.) But it’s also dangerous. This and other anti-science campaigns like the ones against vaccinations and evolution are not just silly ignorance. They’re weaponized stupidity.

Trump’s tirades aren’t reflective of any deeply held belief or well-informed opinion, but instead appear to be informed by, and in service of, Big Oil’s anti-wind propaganda. For decades fossil fuel companies have attacked clean and renewable competition, from working to block local wind power installations to fighting state policies promoting wind. Key to that effort is spreading myths about wind power’s potential as well as its progress, which our Fox News President predictably regurgitates.

For example, take Trump’s bizarre recurring joke were he pretends to be someone who watches a lot of television (ok—no need to suspend disbelief on that part,) but has to turn it off when the wind isn’t blowing. Trump’s own Department of Energy debunks that ridiculous reliability argument (hi, batteries!) along with other energy myths. Wind power kills less birds than other forms of energy, it poses no human health threat, and it is increasingly more competitive than fossil fuels.

The sad irony of Trump’s weaponized stupidity is that it hurts the rural communities and red states who are benefiting “bigly” from wind power. For example, on November 9, 2016, the very day Trump was elected President, the Omaha World-Herald published a story about how “wind has saved family farms across a wide swath of the heartland.”