As you well know, a good portion of the nation is experiencing quite the cold snap. While winter is most certainly known to bring colder temperatures, many of our southern states such as Texas and Florida rarely dive much below 30 degrees Fahrenheit. Definitely, they don’t see a lot of snow, sleet, or ice.
This year is different. Not only have temperatures in those southern states been much colder than average, but storms have also brought inches of both freezing rain and snow. And as the states are virtually unprepared for such weather, it seems they have shut entirely down.
It wouldn’t be so bad except that in some states, Texas mainly, many residents rely on green energy to heat their homes and fuel their water supply. And most forms of green energy rely on rather good weather conditions, something the state is not getting right now.
According to the Austin-American Statesmen news outlet, wind turbines powered up to 23% of the state last year, making it the second-largest energy source in Texas, coming in only behind natural gas. Usually, that means some 25,100 megawatts of energy are being created to power residents’ homes and businesses.
But as of last Sunday, 12,000 of those megawatts failed due to ice buildup on the turbines, leaving millions of Texans without water, heat, or power, according to the Statesmen.
The state is now in full crisis mode, trying to restore power to its now freezing residents. Quite naturally, President Biden has offered his assistance.
Per a statement given by White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki reported by Axios, “FEMA has supplied generators to Texas and is preparing to move diesel on to the state to ensure the continued availability of backup power.”
And WFAA-TV’s Jason Whitely confirmed the news.
Now, I’m sure; if you’re anything like me, you’re thinking, ‘Wait a minute… Didn’t Biden just shut down a whole pipeline project that would have brought diesel and other fossil fuels to Texas? And what about his constant yapping that fossil fuels are ruining the planet?’
Well, you have an excellent point.
Throughout Biden’s entire campaign and his short time in office, he has made countless mentions of how dangerous fossil fuels are to our atmosphere. And as such, he’s vowed to do away with them in all forms completely. The cancelation of the Keystone XL pipeline alone is proof that he is serious about this.
And yet, even he can’t deny the usefulness of fossil fuels.
He’s realizing quite clearly that as good as green energy can be, as it does offer a cleaner form of power, it isn’t all that reliable. Wind and solar power rely heavily upon, well, wind and sunshine. So, when it’s really cloudy, rather still, or everything is covered in ice and snow, they offer an inadequate and unsustainable source of energy.
Maybe someday we can invent green energy sources that don’t require perfect weather conditions and won’t need to be bailed out in tough times. But as Texas and Biden are learning, that day is not today.
Fox News’ Tucker Carlson says this is particularly ironic for the southwestern state, as they are one of our nation’s largest producers of oil and gas. You’d think this would make more reliant on such forms and not less… but anyway.
According to Carlson, Texas is now being forced to lie in the bed they’ve made. He said on Monday night, “Running out of energy in Texas is like starving to death at the grocery store. You can only do it on purpose, and Texas did.”
In a state as oil-rich as Texas, there is no way citizens should have been without power and heat for days on end. None at all.
No, the use of fossil fuel is not ideal, but right now, it’s all we have that is reliable enough to withstand nature’s unreliability. And until we find something that is, Biden and the rest of his tree-hugging liberals are just going to have to get over this whole “phasing out” of fossil fuels for green energy kick they are on.
Maybe this winter has taught them a lesson to two. Then again, I’ve never known a very perceptive Democrat.