I learned recently in an interview with Phil Kerpen from American Commitment about a study by the Manhattan Institute, which indicates that “the widespread deployment of electric vehicles would only reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1 percent while increasing emissions of S02 and Nox and particulate matter (real air pollution).” How could this be?
As it happens, 77 percent of all the electricity in America is still produced by fossil fuels. Specifically, 33 percent is produced using coal, meaning a significant number of electric vehicles are actually powered by coal. Coal, of course, doesn’t burn as clean as does our newest gasoline-powered internal combustion engines. Accordingly, an electric car that is electrically charged by way of fossil fuels is not any cleaner or greener than a car that runs directly on fossil fuels.
Mr. Kerpen revealed the rest of the country is getting wise to the fact that they are subsidizing wealthy Californians, who are buying up the majority of the electric cars on the market. Namely, the lion’s share of the $7,500 tax credit for the purchase of an electric vehicle is going to California residents making $200,000 a year in search of a green status symbol. Most all the rest of the vehicles are purchased by households earning more than $100,000 a year. That means this tax credit is nothing less than a vehicular wealth transfer.
The same goes for the people who signed up for subsidized solar in our region. The majority of people who signed up are middle- and upper-class wage earners. Our local poster child for all this? County Supervisor Joan Hartmann, who sits proud and pretty driving her Tesla that she charges via her own home solar installation. As she cruises to rallies pontificating against the use of fossil fuels, she remains oblivious to the fact that many of her constituents can’t afford her lifestyle.
On a related topic, how it is that so many people have been duped into believing that stranding nuclear plants, along with oil and gas energy sources, is a good thing? The Institute for Energy Research recently followed up on a report by a U.S. Senate Subcommittee that revealed that “educational” foundations, funded in part by hostile foreign actors such as Russia (which doesn’t want our oil production competition), have been funding this effort to brainwash Americans, as it affects our goal of becoming energy independent. One would think that all those peaceniks who claimed the war in Iraq was a war for oil would like us to become energy independent.
The IER report is called “Big Green, Inc.: The Money Fueling the Environmental Left,” and it highlights 14 foundations that have funded and directed over 1,900 “grassroots” (read that AstroTurf) activist groups by way of over $4.2 billion in funding. Some of this money is directed toward policy makers, journalists and academic institutions that serve as the gatekeepers of information in our society, and it is an understatement to say it is working.
