LETTER: Global warming and the cost of renewables

In her recent letter on renewable energy, Joanne Leovy writes that “wind and solar are now cheaper than oil and gas.” As a former part owner of a windmill company, I would strongly disagree. My partners and I threw in the towel once the subsidies ended. And for further proof, take a road trip through California’s Altamont Pass or Tehachapi Pass and view the vast wasteland of standing — not working — windmills. What an environmental disaster.

Having said that, I have installed solar only because financing was available at 1.9 percent fixed for 25 years, net metering was fixed also at $12.50 per month and a 28 percent tax credit all resulted in a savings of $5 a month. President Joe Biden spent more than I did so I could save that $5. But those deals are long gone. Recent inquiries have indicated that net metering is risen to $100, the best financing is 5.9 percent and the credits have been reduced. Just read where California has lost 17,000 solar jobs recently due to increased total costs.

A few years ago, I traveled to Holland and visited a cathedral which was dated 1066. I asked where the high-water mark was because every non-NEA educated person knows that’s when the Norse farmed Iceland and Greenland. Evidently there were far fewer glaciers then. I was informed that the below sea level cathedral had never flooded. I also note that Plymouth Rock is still at the water’s edge, 403 years after the Pilgrims landed. And with good humor I note the use of climate change and global warming interchangeably.

I am so old that, when I went to college, they were telling us of the doom that would be caused by an oncoming ice age — triggered, of course, by the excessive use of fossil fuels. The cure, of course ,was to stop burning them and associated government controls. Now it’s global warming caused by excessive use of fossil fuels, with the same cure. Which is why I know it will slow the economy. Why else would leftists advance such propaganda?

So I ask: What are you doing to prepare for the coming apocalypse? I have purchased land, which has a coal mine and springs. I know a lot about thermionics, batteries, farming, etc. We will survive. How will you do when the liberals take over? Take some time and watch “Dr. Zhivago.”