Nation's reliance on fossil fuels extracts high cost

The Iran war has had a curious though predictable impact on the growth of renewable energy around the world. In his Tuesday Substack, Paul Krugman, Nobel laureate in Economics, posted a graph from ember-energy.org of China's solar exports. Shockingly, they doubled in March. What drove this spike? Rapidly rising fossil fuel prices. The United States produces more oil and gas than we use, but as we have all experienced at the gas pump, having a surplus does not protect us from price fluctuations in the world energy markets. Fossil fuel companies are raking in billions in windfall profits and we are left competing with the rest of the world for our gas. The current U.S. administration is fixated on stopping all progress in renewable energy. Our president possesses a visceral hatred of windmills to the extent that he is paying $2 billion (with a "B") of our taxpayer dollars to energy developers to stop their in-progress off-shore windfarms and instead invest in fossil fuel projects. To what benefit? We already produce more fossil fuels than we use, and upping that won't insulate us from world energy price fluctuations. The Pentagon is blocking all new wind projects by simply refusing to perform the standard national security review required of all wind farms. The beauty of wind and solar is that their construction projects create lots of good-paying jobs and once constructed, there is no pollution, no further fuel cost, and it is completely independent of world oil and gas prices. Yes, managing energy flows is more complicated with solar, wind and batteries (SWB). And yet, the rest of the world is rapidly developing the technology to manage these challenges. They are installing large SWB projects thus setting themselves up for lower energy costs and freeing themselves from dependence upon Middle East peace and fickle U.S. policies. China is investing heavily in SWB such that from 2015 to 2023, their fossil fuel consumption dropped slightly as their economy grew by 55% ($11.38T to $17.61T). They are the dominant player in SWB production, leaving the US in the dust as they establish world dominance in these energies of the future. In stark contrast, the United States is cutting all subsidies for renewable energy and electrification programs while we ramp up our subsidies for gas and oil companies on top of their billions in profits thanks to the Iran war. Why do we subsidize wealthy oil companies while cutting supports for the growing industries that create lots of good-paying jobs and produce clean and predictably-priced energy? These deliberate policies are setting us up for failure. How will we compete with the rest of the world when their energy costs are lower than ours? What good does it do to extract more fossil fuels as the rest of the world decreases their demand for what we're selling? It's time for the United States to wake up and notice what the rest of the world has figured out. SWB is an inexpensive, clean, safe, job-creating and predictable source of energy. ••• Rebecca Cummings is a retired engineer living in Unicoi who, along with her husband of 40 years, enjoys exploring the beauty of the mountains, streams and waterfalls. Her deep Scottish heritage feeds a strong drive to conserve money and resources and to protect the area's beautiful environment for future generations. Email her at ConservationErwin@gmail.com.