A few days ago, researchers at Rice University’s Baker Institute released a report warning of the human and economic costs of moving too rapidly to a desired “energy transition” from fossil fuels to renewables and electric vehicles.
The study, authored by Gabe Collins, Baker Botts Fellow in Energy and Environmental Regulatory Affairs at the Baker Institute, and Michelle Michot Foss, fellow in energy, minerals and materials, warns that a premature transition would result in consumers across the globe feeling “energy price pain” on even basic necessities such as food.The study notes that past energy transitions, such as from wood to coal and from coal to oil, took decades to come to fruition and involved moves from less energy-dense sources to more energy-dense fuels. That is not the case with the current energy transition, which proposes a rapid move from high-density to low-density energy sources.Given that and other realities, the authors warn that the negative human and economic impacts from government and investor efforts to force the transition too rapidly “risks destabilizing a global energy-food-water-human well-being nexus that, sufficiently perturbed, would likely delay energy transition efforts for decades.”Europe is currently experiencing a winter energy crisis stemming directly from efforts by governments and investors there to prematurely force a shift from coal, natural gas, and nuclear in power generation to wind and other renewable energy sources, and we now see many of the higher costs and human impacts predicted in this study playing out in real-time.
Clearly, not everyone is ready for green energy and electric cars. Biden Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm should be numbered among those individuals. She recently struggled with a charger at one of the charging stations that the Biden administration is touting as a solution to the gas price crisis.
I suspect that this video will not persuade people struggling to finance a tank of gas to commit to purchasing a car that has a starting price of $27,400.
It also won’t stop Republicans grilling her about Biden’s policies that have led to exploding fuel prices.
Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm will appear before a congressional panel Thursday, and GOP members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee will grill her on the administration’s actions that they say have contributed to record-high prices at the pump and weakened America’s energy security.Ms. Granholm will make the administration’s case for moving away from reliance on fossil fuels to combat climate change, according to her prepared remarks.Chief among Republicans’ security concerns is the country’s reliance on Russian uranium used to power nuclear plants, which account for roughly 20% of U.S. electricity. Republicans say that threatens America’s nuclear energy security and has been exposed by Russia’s unprovoked war against Ukraine.The U.S. relies on Russia and two of its closest allies — Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan — for nearly half of its uranium, according to 2020 data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.Republicans want Ms. Granholm to prioritize counteracting the perceived threats to the nation’s nuclear energy security, including by increasing domestic uranium production and enrichment. That request was laid out by GOP lawmakers in a letter sent Wednesday to the energy secretary, which was first provided to The Washington Times.
There is very robust competition for who will be known as the most incompetent official in the Biden administration. Granholm certainly has fueled her case with her policies and this latest photo-op.
Her struggles with the charge are a pitch-perfect representation of how Team Biden is handling America’s energy problems.
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