At a time when the anti-environmental climate movement should be collapsing alongside renewable energy, the Old Guard is doubling down. And Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, is in denial as judged by his recent op-ed in Salon, “Is there an ‘energy crisis’? Not really — fossil fuels are collapsing, and it’s high time (October 25, 2021).
Pope’s subtitle says it all: “Why are energy prices spiking? Mostly because we’re not making the transition to wind and solar fast enough.” That’s exactly wrong as blackouts and conservation alerts in Texas, California, and around the world demonstrate.
Pope’s essay follows in blue with my comments.
The Economist calls it “The Energy Shock.” Forbes and the Wall Street Journal go further, resurrecting a term from the 1970s: “Energy Crisis.”…
“Exposure to [low frequency noise] from wind turbines results in headaches, difficulty concentrating, irritability, fatigue, dizziness, tinnitus, aural pain sleep disturbances, and annoyance. Clinically, exposure … may cause increased risk of epilepsy, cardiovascular effects, and coronary artery disease.”
“… it is recommended that the government set regulations on the requisite distances of wind turbines from residences, for houses near wind turbines to be equipped with airtight windows for sound insulation, and for residents living in close proximity to wind turbines to have their windows closed most of the time to reduce LFN transmission.”
Once ridiculed, the negative health effects of industrial wind turbines on nearby residents has entered the mainstream. The World Health Organization stated in 2018 “strong evidence that noise is one of the top environmental hazards to both physical and mental health and well-being in the European Region.”…
“… solar’s production boom has left its recycling infrastructure in the dust…. The totality of these unforeseen costs could crush industry competitiveness.”
“A first step to forestalling disaster may be for solar panel producers to start lobbying for similar legislation in the United States immediately, instead of waiting for solar panels to start clogging landfills.”
“The same problem is looming for other renewable-energy technologies.”
In The Dark Side of Solar Power, (Harvard Business Review: June 2021), authors Atalay Atasu, Serasu Duran, and Luk N. Van Wassenhove bring the solar boom back down to earth. Quotations follow from the article (subtitles added):