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Is green energy truly green?
… the growing pains of green energy
IN THE NEWS:
Green energy is receiving significant attention from governments (it’s part of President Biden’s $3.5 trillion budget), from private companies and even their investors (think Exxon and Chevron). But it’s also receiving attention from an entirely different group: environmentalists. And it’s not the sort of attention that you might expect.
As it turns out, of all the people, some environmentalists are opposing solar power projects. Some of this opposition is regional, i.e, not in my backyard! See WSJ. Other oppositions are more global, such as the argument that the energy for making solar panels comes from coal-burning plants in China! See WSJ.
Environmentalists’ concerns, however, are not limited to solar panels. This headline is from a recent New York Times article: “How Green Are Electric Vehicles?” And even hydrogen as a future green energy fuel is now being questioned by experts. See NYTimes.
How are we to make sense of all of this? Is this just the green energy industry’s growing pains? Professor KK DuVivier seems to believe so. And what she believes does matter, because she is an expert on energy — professionally as well as personally. With respect to the latter, she designed and built a near-zero energy home…
