Debunking green myths and embracing a practical future: Robert Bryce’s “Power Hungry”
04/02/2025 / By Ramon Tomey
Robert Bryce critiques the unrealistic expectations surrounding wind and solar power in his book “Power Hungry: The Myths of ‘Green’ Energy and the Real Fuels of the Future.” He argues that they cannot alone meet global energy demands due to limitations in scale, intermittency and power density.
Despite claims of obsolescence, coal remains highly efficient—exemplified by the Cardinal Mine in Kentucky that produces energy equivalent to 66,000 barrels of oil daily, rivaling total U.S. wind and solar output.
Even with heavy wind energy investments, Denmark’s emissions haven’t declined; it relies on coal and imported hydropower during low-wind periods and exports excess wind power due to grid instability.
The proposal by the late T. Boone Pickens to replace oil with wind and natural gas fails because gas plants can’t be easily ramped down for wind, and wind’s unpredictability increases gas dependency, raising costs without cutting oil imports.
Bryce advocates for natural gas as a transitional fuel (lower emissions than coal) and nuclear power for reliable, zero-emission baseload energy, emphasizing practicality over idealism in energy policy.
https://www.climate.news/2025-04-02-debunking-green-myths-robert-bryce-power-hungry.html
