Power Grid Fact & Folly in NY Minute

As more reasonable people urge an environmentally positive yet rationale “do over” of nation’s power grid, WSJ’s Jenkins warns of “Western World’s Energy Folly in a NY Nutshell” as “Empire State tries to sabotage” reality.

Opines the columnist: “Why should Europe have all the fun? … The latest report from New York state’s grid operator is a master class in everything wrong with the Western world’s approach to climate change. That is: everything wrong with an approach that consists of throwing money at green business interests in defiance of any practical consideration …” Mr. Jenkins itemizes how the state’s energy “transition” plan is designed to “purge the last 10% or 5% of fossil fuels from the system” at an “exorbitant cost.” The bigger problem in seeing the forest from the trees? He notes what many scientists are warning: “The transition won’t likely do much to reduce global emissions.”

How could that be? Explains Jenkins: “This is the great unmentionable. When New Yorkers use less coal, oil or gasoline becaue of environmental manates, the market price transmits the benefit to other global users, who then use more. Even more unspeakable is the corollary: Emission-spewing activities simply relocate from one part of the world to another. China’s emission growth, from half the US’s to almost 300% of the US’s in 30 years, is partly the product of a transplant of emissions from the US and Europe.” Think, too, what’s going on in India, Russia & growing economies everywhere in between and you get a better picture.

Davd Soul