While environmentalists push for electric cars and wind turbines to help the environment, they ignore the environmental problems they cause. The batteries for electric cars and turbine blades for wind turbines have a very short lifespan but cannot be recycled. Many are being buried. Lithium for batteries is also very environmentally destructive to mine. In addition, solar and wind energy are undependable and depend on weather while gas and oil are not. In addition, wind turbines and electric cars are very expensive. The battery for an electric car now costs more than we used to pay for the whole car. In addition, solar fields are destroying large areas of environment and wind turbines endanger birds who are killed by the spinning blades. We are being forced into a program which is undependable and very expensive with very little thought to the problems involved and are not waiting for the problems to be solved. In addition, the changeover is benefiting those who produce the energy. Many of these programs are subsidized with federal money but benefit private companies. There has been a big push to help companies create wind and solar fields but little to help individuals. California produced a solar field covering 150,000 acres in the desert. That energy has to be transmitted over a long distance to faraway cities. Energy is lost in the transmission and there is the possibility of disruption by weather and other factors. Yet, individuals and businesses have large areas of roof and parking lots that could be used to produce electricity and would not have to be transmitted over long distances. While California claims to be trying to help the environment, they reduced the payback for excess energy produced by individual solar panels and wind turbines which hurts individuals by making it more difficult to recoup the costs of installing them, discouraging individuals from purchasing them. As a result, companies are buying cheap electricity from individuals and selling it for a profit.
Environment-K
30
May