Lately the top discussion among friends and family seems to be around growing food and fuel costs. According to AAA.com Gasoline prices is now average over $4.599 per gallon. Up over 50% compared to last year.
Biden called the record-high retail fuel prices in the U.S. part of “an incredible transition” away from oil and gas. In one 2020 campaign appearance, Biden told a young supporter, “I want you to look at my eyes. I guarantee, I guarantee we’re gonna end fossil fuel.”
Left-leaning politicians and environmentalists have joined together, pushing for electric cars to replace gas burners. It’s all a part of the “green energy” solution they foresee in their utopian dreams.
While going green sounds good in theory and on paper, reality is Solar and Wind Power is not reliable. Solar only works when the sun is shining and Wind Power only works when the wind is strong enough to push the turbines. These green power solutions do provide additional capacity while in operation, however, green energy solutions must be backed up and supported with traditional power generation systems such as coal, nuclear, etc.
Environmentalists love to point to countries like Iceland, Nepal, and Paraguay, whose total power production is “green.” Nonetheless, what they fail to mention is that just about all the energy production in those countries is from hydroelectric power plants, and not from wind and solar. So, their argument is invalid.
The US is ranked 4th in the world for producing hydroelectric power, yet it is not enough to support the demand. While electricity usage has been flat over the last few years, it is expected to rise considerably in the future. More and more systems throughout the country are being electrified, thereby generating more demand for electricity. Electric cars will merely add to this problem and strain a system that is already running at near capacity.
A 2019 study by the U.S. Department of Energy estimated that increased demand for electricity — much of that for electric vehicles — could rise 38% by 2050.
Powerplants are already struggling to keep up with current demand due to additional summer loads caused by heavy a/c usage. A typical residential a/c unit pulls up to 30amps of power while running. A Tesla requires a 50amp circuit in order to charge. So imagine if the average household had two Tesla’s. These vehicles could require up to 100amp draw on the grid in order to charge.
So if the grid is struggling to keep up with a single 30amp a/c unit per household how in the world could the already stressed grid handle an additional 100amps to charge cars?
