Yep. You read that right. Green energy, as we know, cannot stand on its own as a large scale energy source for a national economy or even a regional economy. Instead, green energy is a “parasite” in the energy industry only because of the stupid and desperate ways in which liberals and other deep-staters like to think. Green energy is a false category created by only the narrowest form off how we think about energy sources and energy production.
This narrow distinction is understandable and compelling. We get all our energy from the sun first. Wind is the first derivative of solar energy. Two small alternatives are hydropower and geothermal energy. After that is the slow and arduous work of photosynthesis over long periods of time (the debate over oil is not a part of the discussion here). While these are a mix of broad energy solutions (solar and wind) or local (hydropower and geothermal), proponents have a relentless compulsion to think in terms of broad solutions. They are readily available, and easy to implement. Missing from the discussion is a serious analysis of the economics of these different sources.
There is a world of difference between the interesting energy hacks where individuals show how they can gather and manage energy individually, as opposed to many individual units feeding “green” energy into a grid.
From the moment Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez warned that the world only had 12 more years before a human caused climate catastrophe would sweep the planet, the liberals have been all about the Green New Deal. History will show that this was a desperate last gasp for the Green Energy meme. Carbon tax credits, carbon social scoring,
Perhaps the False Dichotomy
The utterly dishonest intellectual exercise of creating non-categories out of whether energy comes from carbon or not leads one into the kind of nonsense this article needs to address. First of all, the discussion is about ENERGY, not credits and scoring. This is a well-defined concept from physics complete with mathematical formula that define energy as a form of work.
The concern over whether energy production involves carbon or not itself rests on the global warming hoax. To date, there are still dueling narratives over whether or not there really is something called global warming. This article only points in the direction of arguments over the subject. Once the basis for green energy becomes irrelevant, then then the lie becomes obvious. But how do we deal with this lie?
A Parasitism Index
This section is a first comment on the creation of an energy parasitism index. Some fundamental questions need to be answered, and terms defined in order to arrive at the construction of this index.
The basic idea behind parasitic energy is to identify the ways and the degrees to which a form of energy production relies, directly or indirectly, on other energy sources. So, with the solar panel, there are several key ingredients: silver, boron, phosphorous, silicon, glass and aluminum. An honest life cycle assessment would include the inputs for producing those components for a solar panel. The same is true for all the manufacturing components for wind energy.
Green energy is the equivalent of a vegan diet. Or at least it is supposed to be. Instead of meat-free, it is supposed to be carbon-free. How realistic is that? The efforts to reduce the reliance on carbon-based sources is a self-limiting fool’s errand. The key side bar is the dramatic increase in energy demand as a result of both the growing sectors for crypto currency and for data centers for artificial intelligence.
The parasitism index needs to account for all the intervening steps required to deliver energy from a given source. Once developed, this index will express a percentage of solar source, wind sources, electric vehicles, etc. which are intended to be delivered as end use energy while really depending on many other energy sources.
Such a model will have to do a better job with current life cycle analysis. It will have to highlight the fact that there is an avoidance of counting the underlying additional energy costs.
The Reality About Energy as We Go Forward
The discussions have only started. The combination of crypto mining and the emerging AI data centers will continue drive needs for cheap energy. The scale of the expected demand growth is so great that it will dwarf what can be provided by “green energy”. Eventually the non-sense about “green energy” will collapse under the weight of a growing world. Then maybe common sense will return to energy policy.
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