The End of the Green Movement: A Retrospective Analysis
Written by Matthew McKean, CEO and co-founder of Frontieras North America (LinkedIn)
Just before the Thanksgiving break, the Northeast woke to a significant storm. Temperatures dropped as fast as the snow – which in some places was more than 6 feet in 24 hours. As communities rallied together and provisions were gathered, a nagging thought must have played in people’s minds – “what am I going to do if we lose power?” While you might think this would not be a concern in the United States and other industrialized countries, it is in fact very much a concern, and one shared across the globe as the energy crisis peaks this winter. When trying to resolve the energy crisis, and the production and distribution of energy, there are many solutions to consider, from renewable energy to fossil fuels.
Over the past decade, embracing renewable energy has become popular in the mainstream media - a focal point of political stumping, and a war cry for the environmental activists. This green movement, masked under the broader Environmental, Social and Governance story, has created regulations, diverted billions of tax payor dollars to subsidize the renewable market, and promised new job creation with the rise of new industries supporting the growth of both solar and wind markets.
While the green movement sounds exciting and provides fodder for a great political speech, we now have the benefit of taking a retrospective look at the renewable movement to see the harm it created over the past two decades. The introduction of renewable markets has created a platform for fraud, as well an unreliable energy source that cannot scale to meet the needs of a growing population. In addition, the green movement’s greatest crime against our generation is the misinformation campaign that’s led the average person to believe “green energy” is the only way forward, production of fossil fuels is bad, and our energy problems will be solved by simply embracing unreliable renewable energy sources. Below are a few examples of how the shortcomings of renewable energy have been exposed:
Fraud A recent Bloomberg article touched on the demise of Toucan Energy Holdings 1 Ltd., which owns 53 solar farms across the United Kingdom and was owned by the financier Liam Kavanagh. Toucan, on the brink of financial collapse borrowed $773 million over four years from Thurrock Council to fuel its expansion. Opposition to the Thurrock Council is now calling its investment into Toucan “a scandal of huge proportions.”
Unscalable: Rise of Energy Prices The New York Times reported that energy traders in Europe are witnessing price increases that are hard to comprehend. Natural gas, used to generate electricity and heat, now costs approximately 10 times more than it did a year ago. In the U.K., the wholesale price of a megawatt-hour of electricity (enough to supply about 2,000 homes for an hour) hit a record daily average of about 500 pounds, roughly five times the level of last August, according to Rajiv Gogna, a partner at the consulting firm LCP.
Backpedal: The Decommissioning of Operational Power Plants The need to address the delivery of affordable energy had several European countries removing the caps on production at coal-fired energy plants. This caused several coal plants that were set to be decommissioned to become fully operational once again. Specifically, Finland and France have led the way to bringing “mothballed” coal-burning power plants back online.
While I believe that renewable energy has its role in the broader energy market, it should be considered one of many choices - it certainly is not the definitive solution. The green movement has begun to implode as both wind and solar have proven to be unreliable in delivering energy at the scale necessary to keep citizens safe, and to keep up with the population growth. At Frontieras, we believe the way forward is through continued investment in innovation and embracing clean technology. This path forward allows us to address the energy crisis, while taking maximum advantage of existing fuel supplies in an efficient, profitable, and environmentally friendly manner.
Frontieras’ breakthrough in clean energy technology fills the gap created by renewables to deliver abundant, available, and affordable energy for all. As an energy and environmental technology company, Frontieras brings breakthrough fuel-discovery innovation to solid hydrocarbon materials. Frontieras’ clean technology processes coal in a way that provides a smart and sensible pathway for the world to transition towards cleaner energy while addressing the current global energy crisis. The Frontieras FASForm plant’s zero-waste approach to energy production repurposes captured volatiles, significantly lowers the carbon footprint, and reduces CO2 emissions while making maximal use of solid hydrocarbonaceous materials. Specifically, the benefits of the FASForm thermal cracking process include:
• FASForm is much simpler, less expensive, and less polluting than conventional gasification and liquefaction technologies (CTL).
• FASForm does not require makeup water and does not produce CO2.
• FASForm reduction of CO2 is less expensive than carbon sequestration and capture/re-use technologies.
A closer look at the renewable market illustrates how little progress has been made toward the creation of energy sources that can consistently and reliably power our society. Without reliable and affordable energy, countries and economies around the globe will continue to struggle and buckle under the pressure. While renewable energy tech matures, it’s critical we continue to invest in efficient and environmentally friendly energy technology that provides the energy necessary to create societies that can flourish. The continued investment in clean technology is essential to addressing the current crisis, and to avoid future scenarios where energy demand outstrips energy supply.
To invest in Frontieras North America or to learn more about its patented energy technology solution, please visit www.Frontieras.com.