Considering how much renewable energy has been promoted, groomed, coddled, favored and subsidized over the past year or two, it's understandable to believe the green transition is well underway. [emphasis, links added]
But don't be fooled by fools. Oil and gas are still king.
Less than a year ago, a New York Times headline exclaimed: “A clean energy future is coming faster than you think.”
Another headline on govtech.com last year told us that “California sets new record for renewable energy generation.”
Ahead of Christmas, the Guardian wants readers to know about “Uruguay's green energy revolution” and how its “rapid shift to wind energy is showing the world how it can be achieved.”
Ten years ago, the same Guardian said If the UK stops its annual $4.2 billion “coal, oil and gas industry subsidies”, a beautiful “low-carbon future” is just around the corner.
Subsidy can be a tricky word, especially when used by left-wing activists – such as “journalists” at The Guardian.
They are not always direct government payments, loans or tax benefits targeted at specific industries and sectors.
But the darling of government largesse is the renewable energy industry, which has been gobbling up luxury food in the federal trough…
For example, the fossil fuel industry enjoys tax breaks available to all businesses. It also drills on federal lands — but at a cost. Private companies lease properties, not give them to them.
But the darling of government largesse is the renewable energy industry, which consumes more luxury food in the federal trough than oil and gas companies.
According to the Federal Energy Information Administration, from 2016 to 2022, “Nearly half (46%) of federal energy subsidies are related to renewable energy.”
During that time, “Federal support for all types of renewable energy has more than doubled, from $7.4 billion in fiscal year 2016” to $15.6 billion in fiscal year 2022.
at the same time, Oil, gas and coal receive less than 15% of federal support, and renewable energy receives less than a third of the support. MIT's climate portal said the total “does not include tens of billions of dollars in annual clean energy tax credits from the inflation-reducing bill of 2022.”
Overall global green energy spending (including core in this case – and always should) By 2024, this spending will exceed $2 trillion, twice the $1 trillion spent on fossil fuels.
Taking all this into consideration, there is reason to believe that we are in the midst of a great green revolution, in which traditional energy sources are being marginalized. But we are not.
Check out this chart from Robert Bryce, an energy writer and journalist whose work is becoming increasingly indispensable.
Although global spending on wind and solar energy alone will exceed $4 trillion from 2004 to 2022, hydrocarbon consumption will grow 3.4 times faster.
“We are inundated with news stories about climate change and claims that we are in the midst of an energy transition that will eliminate our need for hydrocarbons,” Bryce said. “Hype has surged during the Biden administration.”
He also pointed out that by 2023, U.S. gas-fired power generation is growing 9.5 times faster than wind and solar power combinedThen China and India generate eight times more coal power than the United States and They are all busy building more coal plants.
“We are not in the midst of a major energy transition. Instead, what we see is a media echo chamber operating.
Popular photo on Unsplash by David Thielen
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