This weekly newsletter, focused on environmental issues, highlights relevant analysis done by the John Locke Foundation and other think tanks, as well as items in the news.

1. Green energy: shifting our energy dependence from OPEC to China

 

The idea that usable renewable energy–like wind and solar– is domestic energy is a myth. The wind and the sun generate energy, but, like oil, coal, and natural gas, they do not generate energy that is directly usable. We must use processes and equipment to change the wind into something that is actually valuable–electricity. As it turns out, most of the equipment used to do this is imported. It is well known that the vast majority of wind turbines and solar panels are manufactured outside of the US, but what is not typically understood is that these, and other green energy fads, are totally dependent on the use of certain minerals called "rare earth metals," or REEs, which are mined primarily in China. According to this article from the National Center for Public Policy Analysis:

REEs… are critical if "green" energy is to replace today’s carbon-based fuels, as most "green" technologies require vast amounts of these metals. For example, the permanent magnets used to manufacture one wind turbine use two tons of REEs and electric cars such as the Prius use up to 25 pounds of REEs. Furthermore, without REEs, there would be no such thing as a compact fluorescent light bulb… worldwide demand for REEs has tripled from an annual demand of 40,000 tons to 120,000 tons in the past decade.

Here’s the kicker:

Between 2005 and 2008, the United States imported 91% of its REEs from China and most of the rest from Russia, Japan and France.

Controlling 97% of global supply, China is a veritable REE powerhouse and is wielding its authority accordingly by severely restricting export of the precious resource. In the past seven years alone, China has reduced its exports of REEs by 40% the amount available for export. The Independent newspaper in Britain reports that by 2012 China could halt exports entirely, producing only enough to satisfy its own domestic need… Former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping foreshadowed China’s material dominance when he said, "The Middle East has oil, China has rare earth metals."

2.  Emissions from generating useful wind power greater than coal

 

As noted in the discussion above, wind must be transformed in order to provide useful energy. Another issue that arises is the fact that wind doesn’t blow steadily at a constant rate. As we know, there are calm winds, slow winds, gusty winds, hurricane winds, etc. Unfortunately, we do not use electricity only when the wind is blowing at the proper velocity. This causes problems, as discussed in a recent Washington Times article by David Schnare:

As Science reported in April 2009, "In the afternoon of Feb. 26, 2008, the winds died down in a stretch of west Texas that is home to thousands of tall wind turbines. Over a span of three hours, the turbines’ combined contribution to the state’s electricity grid fell by 75 percent. That 1500-megawatt (MW) drop – equivalent to the output of three midsized coal-burning power plants – coincided with a spike in demand." In response, the grid operators shut down several large industrial customers.

Thus, in order for wind to be made useful, it needs a backstop. Consequently, all wind power plants need conventional back-up power plants — like coal and natural gas — to ramp up when the wind ramps down and to ramp down when the wind ramps up. The problem is that ramping conventional power plants up and down actually creates more pollution than simply running them at a steady rate (which would produce enough electricity to replace all the power being produced by the wind turbines). According to Schnare:

Wind isn’t just unequal in terms of reliability; windmills actually cause more air pollution than coal plants operating as designed. Texas is a nasty reminder of this. Along with other facilities, state utilities often depend on two coal-fired plants to "balance" the wind power, which means they fill in when the wind stops and must continue to "spin" when the wind blows. They still must burn coal to prevent the windmills from crashing the electrical grid when the wind drops, so they can instantly fill in electricity when needed.

3. Weekly Ozone Report

Each week during the summer ozone season, this newsletter will report how many, if any, high-ozone days have been experienced throughout the state during the previous week, where they were experienced, and how many have been recorded during the entire season to date. While many environmental groups express concern about air quality, the John Locke Foundation is the only organization that keeps up-to-date track of the actual ozone data and reports it in an unfiltered manner on a regular basis.

The ozone season began on April 1 and ends October 31. All reported data are from the North Carolina Division of Air Quality, which is part of the state’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

During the period from August 8 through August 14 there were no reported high-ozone readings in the state of North Carolina. So far this season, there have been 83 readings on various North Carolina monitors over 22 days that have exceeded federal standards of 0.75 parts per billion.

 

Click here for the Environmental Update archive.