Environmentalist zealots continue to claim that California can run its energy grid entirely on renewable energy sources. They remain wrong, and the problem is only going to get worse as California’s reckless energy policies continue.
Amid a heat wave, California’s grid on Sunday relied on natural gas (40% of the power supply) more than renewable sources (34% of the power supply). Renewables were only the largest source of energy during peak sunlight hours, as California relies heavily on solar energy. But the highest demand for electricity came around 7 p.m., well after peak sunlight hours, leading natural gas to account for nearly half of the state’s power.
JACK SMITH’S DANGEROUS CRIMINALIZATION OF DISSENT
The Golden State’s energy problem is entirely self-inflicted, as state Democratic leaders took the loony climate predictions of environmentalists and decided to govern according to them. That includes the state’s war against nuclear energy, which is clean and far more efficient than solar or wind, which some California Democrats are struggling to retreat on.
The self-inflicted issues are only going to grow in the coming years. California is at the forefront of the movement to ban all gas-powered items, including furnaces, water heaters, and gas stoves. The state has already promised to ban gas-powered cars in the coming decade. The decision to electrify everything in California won’t save the world, but it will rapidly increase energy demand in California. For reference, we are talking about California adding some 15 million electric vehicles to the roads, and the grid, in the coming years.
The state is running out of options. Wind and solar are not progressing at the rate California needs them to. California already imports anywhere from 20% to 33% of its energy from other states. The one nuclear plant left in the state provides roughly 9% of the state’s energy, but it is getting suffocated by environmentalist demands.
California even now has to ask residents to dial back energy usage, including charging the electric cars the state will be mandating. What happens when nuclear energy is finally chased out of the state while some 15 million more electric cars hit the roads?
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Like almost all of California’s problems, this was entirely preventable.
State Democrats, in their arrogance, thought they could save the world and make better decisions for residents about how they should live their lives, and they were wrong about both. California is not going to solve climate change, but it is going to cripple its grid even more than it already has if it doesn’t backslide into a full embrace of fossil fuels again first.