Mandating 100% Renewables Will Further Fuel California’s Economic Ruin

In pursuit of their emissions crusade, the Governor, Senate, and Assembly have demonstrated their lack of understanding of basic math, with Governor Brown signing Senate Bill 100 into law that now sets California on a path toward 100% renewables and “zero-carbon” sources in electricity by 2045.

For wind farms that generate about three watts per square meter, to replace either the closed replace San Onofre 2,200 megawatt plant, or the to-be-closed Diablo Canyon’s 2,160 megawatts of power in 2024, would require land area six times the size of San Francisco for each closed plant!

The emissions crusade goals (and costs) to reduce California’s one percent contribution to greenhouse gases have already increased the costs of electricity and transportation fuels to be among the highest in the nation and may be very contributory to California having the largest percentage of homelessness and poverty in the nation.

California households are already paying about 40 percent more than the national average for electricity according to 2016 data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Continuation of that emissions crusade at the expense of our 40 million citizens and further funding for the Choo Choo train will further fuel the growth of our homelessness and poverty populations.

In addition, Californians continue to pay almost $1.00 more per gallon of fuel than the rest of the country due to:

• The state’s sales tax per gallon, which is some of the highest in the country;
• Refinery reformatting costs per gallon;
• Cap-and-trade program compliance costs per gallon;
• Low-carbon fuel standard program compliance costs per gallon; and
• Renewable fuels standard program compliance costs per gallon.

More costs onto fuels are projected by 2030 from cap and trade and the low-carbon fuel standard that may add ANOTHER $1.00 to $2.00 per gallon to fuel.

With California energy and fuel costs among the highest in the nation, the State is leading the nation in the numbers of homeless and those on poverty:

• California has 25% of the homeless in the nation, and double the national average of homeless/1000 (page 12)
• State by State Poverty rates, geographically adjusted, places California at 23.8%, the highest in the nation.

Basic math tells us that intermittent electricity from the huge land mass requirements of wind and solar is not, and will not, be running the California economy. SB100 will further fuel the growth of our homelessness and poverty populations.

While California has chosen to have no zero-emission nuclear-power capacity, the world is steadily increasing its nuclear power-generating capacity with more than 50 reactors currently under construction.

China has launched the most aggressive nuclear program on the planet, with plans to add about 150 new nuclear reactors to its fleet, and about 300 more are proposed.

Today there are about 450 nuclear reactors operating in 30 countries. Additionally, there are 140 nuclear-powered ships that have accumulated 12,000 reactor years of “safe” marine operation.

Closing PG&E’s Diablo Canyon’s 2,160 megawatts of power in 2024 which will eliminate 9% of today’s electricity from the grid.

Thus, California ratepayers’ electrical needs will more heavily rely on procuring power from other States, usually at a premium, or rely on unreliable, intermittent electricity from solar and wind to meet our energy requirements.

An understanding of basic math by our elected officials should be obvious that displacing fossil fuel consumption within California would virtually:

1. Shut down the military operations in California.
2. Shut down the aviation industry at 145 California airports (inclusive of 33 military, 10 major, and more than 100 general aviation) that use 13 million gallons of aviation fuels each day.
3. Shut down transportation that use 10 million gallons/day of diesel fuels and 42 million gallons/day of gasoline to support its 35 million registered vehicles.
4. Shut down the Ports of San Diego, Long Beach, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
5. Shut down the cruise-liner industry calling on California ports.
6. Raise the costs of materials of 6,000 products from petroleum used by every infrastructure that are made from the chemicals and by-products that are manufactured from crude oil.
7. Stymy the 90 percent of our population that cannot afford an EV, leaving them without transportation.

The future economic viability of the California economy will be dependent on our citizens electing representatives that have an understanding of basic math.

Read more at CFACT