Terry Stokka has lived in Black Forest for 29 years. He is president of the Friends of Black Forest, chairman of the Black Forest Land Use Committee and chairman of the Black Forest Water & Wells Committee.
Editor’s note: This month, Terry Stokka submitted an opinion piece for his column. The piece does not reflect the opinion or views of The New Falcon Herald or anyone associated with the newspaper.
Green Power – what is up with that?
By Terry Stokka
Everyone has heard about climate change, global warming, green new deal, green power or other similar terms. We are constantly being bombarded about these issues and that hype leads to fears and concerns about the future. What is really happening?
First of all, let me state a few personal disclaimers. I believe that climate does change over long periods of time with no influence from humans. Sunspots have cycles, the Pacific Ocean warms and cools in different years and ocean currents affect temperature and weather over periods of decades and longer. Unfortunately, climate models have used the most drastic assumptions to conclude a doomsday scenario that is not even close to what has really happened.
The early 1800s had a period of lower temperatures that affected crops and the lifestyle of Europe. The Dark Ages around the 1500s were dark because colder temperatures made life more difficult. While the average temperatures only dropped a few degrees, it was named the Little Ice Age. Those changes were part of natural cycles.
Long term statistics show that we are not experiencing more severe weather than the averages over the past 100 years. None of the 10 most deadly weather disasters (tornadoes, hurricanes, wildfires and winter storms) occurred in this century. Property damages are much higher because we have a more dense population. Warmer temperatures are part of nature’s climate cycles. Go to https://www.cfact.org or https://www.co2coalition.org for a different perspective that has more accurate and long term data.
I am all for solar and wind power but I believe politics is pushing the changes to these renewable energy sources before the technology is mature. We are shutting down our traditional sources of electricity such as coal faster than solar and wind can compensate. While natural gas is cleaner than coal, the green advocates are against that as well because it is a fossil fuel. Not only are solar and wind unreliable energy sources for 24 hours a day, but the weak link in this equation is energy storage when neither source is generating power. Battery storage lags far behind wind and solar technology. Look at a picture of Los Angeles at night and imagine powering that city and all those lights with batteries. Those massive batteries haven’t been built yet.
Let’s talk about greenhouse gasses. Green power advocates say that carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that must be reduced. Carbon dioxide is not dangerous like carbon monoxide or methane. It is an important element of life that is absorbed by plants that in turn give off oxygen. More carbon dioxide means more food for plants that improves crop yields and nurtures trees and plants. We need carbon dioxide and our current levels of CO2 are lower than many other times in history.
The push for powering everything with electricity is putting a demand on our power grid that the grid is not designed to handle. This results in increased power outages and brownouts because the grid cannot handle all of the demand at the same time. The advent of electric cars and artificial intelligence will even put a higher load on power generation during the nighttime hours when batteries might be used.
You may think I have my head in the sand, but my statements can be proven by accurate and long term data. I believe that humankind has little effect on global temperatures. I believe that climate change is part of nature’s cycles from the sun and the oceans. I believe that politics are driving the green energy train much faster than technology can supply and we are headed for crisis points in the next few years where wind, solar and batteries are not enough to compensate for all the coal plants that we have shut down. Furthermore, the supply of lithium and copper simply cannot meet the demands of the proposed green energy world.
Let’s take a deep breath and acknowledge that the climate change hype has been grossly overblown and we are not experiencing the drastic changes in sea level rise and temperature changes that the models show. Remember, the models are using worst case assumptions and so far those assumptions have been far off the mark. If we believed the models, New York City would be under water and the polar ice cap would have melted years ago.
