Keeping warm for less

iStock_000001627655Large

iStock_000001627655Large

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the United States generates 39 percent of its energy from coal, 27 percent from natural gas, nineteen percent from nuclear, one percent from petroleum, and slightly less than one percent from other gases. That means that approximately 68% of American energy comes from sources that the left deems “objectionable.”

Looking at the relative costs of energy sources shows that these sources are clearly far from objectionable. Looking once again at data from the EIA, the 2012 average cost of energy from coal was $60 per megawatt hour, while natural gas sources ranged from $14.30 to $40.2 depending on the technique used. Meanwhile wind energy clocks in at $64.10 or $175.4 per megawatt hour depending on if the wind farms are located offshore or not. Solar Thermal costs $195 per megawatt hour, while Hydro energy rings up at $72 per megawatt hour.

In these seasons of giving and thanks, it is important to be thankful for basic necessities as well. Also, in these seasons of giving and thanks, it gets very cold in Minnesota and the rest of the northern United States. According to Intellicast, January in Minneapolis sees history record an average low of four degrees Fahrenheit, and an average high of twenty-two degrees. There’s an average of thirteen and a half inches of snow, and a record low of forty-one degrees below zero.

Take away the advances of technology and the industries that provide cheap, reliable energy, and Minnesota and much of the rest of the planet would return to being much more difficult to inhabit for large stretches of the year. Food production would shrink enormously as many people would cease to live fulltime in the grain belts as it became less comfortable, leading the already significant problem of world hunger to grow immeasurably.

If the left had its way, and wind, solar, and hydro energy won out, there would also be far less energy produced. Taking away 68% of America’s energy and prices would cause prices to skyrocket. Forget $195 per megawatt hour, people would end up paying triple, quadruple, immense amounts more than the otherwise would. Demand would not decrease all at once like supply would, and the only people who would be able to afford these new even more ridiculous prices of renewable energy would be the very people the left likes to demonize most: the über-rich.

Unless the left wishes to return to chopping their own wood day to day they should realize that it is cheap energy that allows them to congregate in places such as New York, Chicago, and Minneapolis. It is to be doubted that they would take on such a task.

In these seasons of thanks, it is to be hoped that everyone who lives in a heated home is thankful to do so, for going without heat in Minnesota is a challenge no one would wish to attempt.