How Will New York's Energy Madness End? The "Don't Do It!" Report
July 26, 2024/ Francis Menton
I frequently write about how the mandates for energy transition that New York has adopted are impossible and irreconcilable in the real world; and therefore it is inevitable that they will have to be abandoned at some point when implementation of the project runs up against physical reality.
Probably the most frequent question that I get asked is, OK, how and when will that occur?
The question is important because for as long as the impossible mandates remain in place they are causing massive ongoing damage to our electricity system and to consumers. As examples, on the electricity generation side, natural gas power plants that currently supply about half of our electricity are slated for forced closure at the rate of several a year until all of them are closed by 2040. The longer the net zero fantasy goes on, the more difficult and costly it will be to re-open these plants (if they are even still standing), or build new ones. Wind and solar facilities are getting built at the cost of billions, with huge subsidies, producing essentially no useful power. Every time another one gets built, the taxpayers and ratepayers are on the hook to pay its costs for its entire life. On the consumer side, residents of large buildings are under a mandate to discard their current natural gas or oil heat systems in favor of inferior electric heat pumps, at costs estimated at $100,000 per housing unit or more for older buildings. When the net zero project gets abandoned, these massive investments will be a deadweight loss. And there are many other examples of the ongoing damage being caused by the mandates.
https://www.manhattancontrarian.com/blog/2024-7-26-how-will-new-yorks-energy-madness-end