“I still say this clean energy thing is mostly a bunch of hooey,” groused Ima Douter.
“As they say, ‘You’re entitled to your own opinions, but facts are facts,’” Wanda Know replied. “The lady at Mythconceptions Busters sure cleared up a lot of questions for me. You should go see her.” “OK, OK, I’ll go see for myself!” Ima huffed.
Later at the store – As Ima stepped inside she felt strangely lighter, as if her unconscious biases had floated away. “Er…my friend said you might have some answers,” Ima said to the counter attendant. “For example, is it true that solar farms can only survive with the help of subsidies?”
The woman smiled and typed in the question. Behind her, the huge console blinked, whirred and then spit out a document. “Myth,” Ann Serrs read. “That’s because photovoltaic solar power is the cheapest source of new electricity generation in most parts of the world. On average, gas-generated power costs about 20% more and coal-generated electricity is twice as expensive.”
“What about wind turbines? Doesn’t energy to manufacture, install and maintain them release tons of emissions?” Ima wondered. A few seconds later – “Myth,” Ann announced. “The average lifecycle emissions of wind energy production is roughly 1/77th that of coal. Actually, most of those emissions (90%) come from transporting the turbine components.”
“Even so, we’d need turbines all over the place to get the same amount of energy as a few good-old coal plants, right?” asked Ima. “Another myth. To reach net-zero emissions by 2050 turbines would need a direct footprint of between .6 million and 2.4 million acres. Not much compared to the 4.4 million acres currently used for natural gas extraction and the 3.5 million acres for oil extraction,” Ann read.
“Yeah, but what about all the fossil fuel jobs we’ll lose. Isn’t that a problem?” Ima asked. “Yet another myth,” Ann replied after checking the printout. “Estimates are that a net-zero emissions economy by 2050 would create 6 million jobs and cut just 1 million fossil fuel jobs.”
“Wow! A bunch of us have kinda ‘myth-ed out’ on the truth about this stuff,” Ima quipped. “But it’s no joke. We’ve got to dump the myths and get the facts about caring for our only home because we’re all forever… Earthbound.”
*Resource - 2024 Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, Columbia Law School
“As they say, ‘You’re entitled to your own opinions, but facts are facts,’” Wanda Know replied. “The lady at Mythconceptions Busters sure cleared up a lot of questions for me. You should go see her.” “OK, OK, I’ll go see for myself!” Ima huffed.
Later at the store – As Ima stepped inside she felt strangely lighter, as if her unconscious biases had floated away. “Er…my friend said you might have some answers,” Ima said to the counter attendant. “For example, is it true that solar farms can only survive with the help of subsidies?”
The woman smiled and typed in the question. Behind her, the huge console blinked, whirred and then spit out a document. “Myth,” Ann Serrs read. “That’s because photovoltaic solar power is the cheapest source of new electricity generation in most parts of the world. On average, gas-generated power costs about 20% more and coal-generated electricity is twice as expensive.”
“What about wind turbines? Doesn’t energy to manufacture, install and maintain them release tons of emissions?” Ima wondered. A few seconds later – “Myth,” Ann announced. “The average lifecycle emissions of wind energy production is roughly 1/77th that of coal. Actually, most of those emissions (90%) come from transporting the turbine components.”
“Even so, we’d need turbines all over the place to get the same amount of energy as a few good-old coal plants, right?” asked Ima. “Another myth. To reach net-zero emissions by 2050 turbines would need a direct footprint of between .6 million and 2.4 million acres. Not much compared to the 4.4 million acres currently used for natural gas extraction and the 3.5 million acres for oil extraction,” Ann read.
“Yeah, but what about all the fossil fuel jobs we’ll lose. Isn’t that a problem?” Ima asked. “Yet another myth,” Ann replied after checking the printout. “Estimates are that a net-zero emissions economy by 2050 would create 6 million jobs and cut just 1 million fossil fuel jobs.”
“Wow! A bunch of us have kinda ‘myth-ed out’ on the truth about this stuff,” Ima quipped. “But it’s no joke. We’ve got to dump the myths and get the facts about caring for our only home because we’re all forever… Earthbound.”
*Resource - 2024 Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, Columbia Law School
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