LETTER: Green energy isn’t ready for prime time

Lev Schneiderman Las Vegas

2 years ago

FILE - In this June 1, 2017, file photo, wind turbines, which are part of the Lost Creek Wind F ... — FILE – In this June 1, 2017, file photo, wind turbines, which are part of the Lost Creek Wind Farm, stand against the sky at dusk near King City, Mo. A new study out of Harvard finds that ramping up wind power in America would also dial up the nation’s temperatures. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

I am waiting to see a fully loaded 18-wheeler climbing through California’s Cajon Pass and then climbing the steep hill from Baker to Halloran Summit with the truck engine powered by a solar panel mounted on the top of the tractor cab, Then, I will concede we have successfully migrated from fossil fuels to solar, wind and other clean energy. I will except the inevitable that the landscape will be covered by an array of wind turbines and solar panels.

But maybe — until we see the 18-wheeler described above — we should continue to use fossil fuels while we develop cost-effective and dependable nonfossil fuels. Also, before we stop drilling for oil and mining coal, we should have cost-effective and dependable power storage capabilities for nonfossil fuels to run our society when the sun is not shining and the wind is not blowing.

Apparently, President Joe Biden agrees with me that we are not quite ready yet to abandon fossil fuels, namely oil. In his soon-to-occur Middle East trip, he plans to meet with Saudi royalty and ask them to ramp up their oil production. Saudi Arabia is the third-largest oil producer in the world behind the United States and Russia.

Mr. Biden thinks it is OK to import oil from Saudi Arabia but not OK to drill oil in the United States. Domestic oil production might reduce the price of a gallon of gasoline at the pump, you think?