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As the Italian poet Dante pointed out many centuries ago, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

And when it comes to renewable energy and the push to net zero, the intention of many Australian politicians is good. Federal Labor Energy Minister Chris Bowen had this to say in a recent National Press Club address:

‘Renewable energy is incredibly cheap because its fuel is free, whether that is sunshine or wind. When the wind is blowing and the sun is shining, we have ample power flowing into the grid at zero marginal cost, which brings down the wholesale cost of power to zero and even delivers negative prices in parts of the day.’

But is that the case? Are we facing a clean, cheap, reliable energy future? Or is there more to renewable energy than free sunshine and wind?

According to journalist Chris Uhlmann in his new one-hour-long documentary “The Real Cost of Net Zero: The shocking truth of the renewable energy push“, renewable energy sounds good in theory, but the reality is vastly different. Think ‘grand-canyon-level’ difference between Labor’s promises of cheap energy and what we’ll experience when our nation switches to 80% renewable energy by 2030 (yes, that’s only six years away).

It was one of the most disturbing yet enlightening documentaries I’ve watched in a long, long time. And if you’re not left asking serious questions after watching this documentary, check your pulse.

Because he’s the thing we need to keep front and centre:

Cheap, reliable energy lifts people out of poverty. But expensive, unreliable energy will send them back.

Energy is life.

It’s like food, water, and shelter. Life can’t happen without it. And we in the modern world have taken this reality for granted. While our ancestors toiled, froze, boiled and went hungry (as do billions who don’t have access to cheap, reliable energy), we now cool and heat a house at the push of a button. We cook food by turning a dial. And we buy goods and services at massively reduced prices compared to what our ancestors paid.

All because of cheap, reliable energy.

But not having access to cheap, reliable energy is like not having access to affordable food, water and shelter. It holds societies back from developing, with the poor paying the biggest price.

And if, as Christians, we are concerned for the welfare of the poor, we’ll be concerned about policies that affect their wellbeing. Such as energy policies.

And this is Uhlmann’s point: large-scale renewable energy can’t deliver the energy we need to thrive. While I urge you to watch the documentary for yourself (it’s only an hour long), here are three  lies Uhlmann exposes about our renewable energy transition:

Lie #1 – Renewable energy is reliable

In recent weeks, New South Wales sweltered during a few hot days. And the NSW Premier asked NSW residents to limit their air conditioning for the sake of our energy grid.

That’s right: in one of the richest countries in the world, a country with abundant energy resources, during peacetime, the government asked people to ration their electricity use. That’s a failure of energy policy if ever there was one.

But according to Uhlmann, that is but a minor taste of what is coming our way with renewable energy. For the biggest lie behind the push for renewables is that renewable energy is reliable.

Uhlmann interviews various experts in the energy sector both here and overseas, and it becomes clear that renewable energy is, unsurprisingly, beholden to the weather and the earth’s rotation. At best, renewable energy will produce energy around 30% of the time (compared to 90+% for coal and nuclear). This might be fine if you’re only powering a hobby farm, but it’s problematic if you’re powering cities, hospitals, schools, businesses and homes.

So how will the government get around this problem?

By building energy storage. Hydroelectric dams and batteries will be used to store surplus energy and then use it when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow.

But here’s the disturbing truth: the large-scale battery technology needed to store the required amounts of energy for the time required (days or possibly even a week) doesn’t yet exist.

And no other nation has yet gone to 80% renewable energy.

In other words, we’re embarking on a nationwide high-risk experiment with a commodity fundamental to life, namely energy.

And this is where we run into the second lie.

Lie #2 – Renewable energy is cheap

Chris Bowen’s assertion that renewable energy is cheap runs afoul of fundamental physics: to get renewable energy happening, you need to build massive amounts of wind and solar farms (causing vast amounts of environmental damage; see next point), along with the hundreds of thousands of kilometres of cables to take the energy from the remote wind and solar farms to the cities (again, with a substantial environmental footprint through pristine bush and farmland), and then mind-boggling amounts of battery and hydro storage.

Oh, and then there’s the running cost.

So, what are some ballpark figures?

The Centre of Independent Studies has summarised the costs based on CSIRO figures.

Taking just the cost of storage and transmission: hydro storage, transmission lines, and batteries together, they calculated an eye-watering total of $301.8 billion. That doesn’t include tens of thousands of hectares of solar panels and wind turbines (the part that generates the electricity).

Who’s going to pay for that? You, the consumer – through higher taxes and higher electricity bills.

With 1 in 4 households already struggling to pay their electricity bills, how will a bill increase – think of a 50% – 200% increase, along with the proportional increase in goods and services – impact people? Here are some possible consequences:

• Your elderly parents will have to choose whether to turn their aircon on during the hot summer or their heating during the cold winter.

• The single mom will have to decide which meal she (and even her children) skips.

• The stay-at-home mum of the three-year-old and one-year-old will be forced to return to full-time work and put her two young children into full-time childcare, against everyone’s wishes.

• And those at the bottom of the social-economic ladder will be forced onto the streets because they can no longer afford electricity or rent.

Lie #3 – Renewable energy is environmentally friendly

Another problem with renewables is the massive amounts of land needed for energy generation.

While coal and nuclear plants have a small, contained land footprint, solar and wind turbine projects will require tens of thousands of hectares of land to be cleared to generate the necessary amount of energy. This will threaten koala habitats, bushland and farmland, among other environmental concerns. How many native birds and bats will be slaughtered by the thousands of wind turbines that will blight our landscape?

And because turbines and solar panels have relatively short life spans (20-30 years), these must be disposed of. Currently, there is no way to recycle most of their parts, so tens of thousands of these will need to be buried… considering solar panels have highly toxic chemicals in them, this poses a risk to the water table below the land.

It’s also worth noting that most rare earth metals and solar panels needed for renewables come from China – not exactly a place with stellar environmental or workplace health and safety standards.

We need an adult conversation about energy and net zero

We live in a culture where renewable energy is unquestioned orthodoxy.

To merely raise questions about the rush toward renewables risks being branded a climate heretic/denier. But these reactions are informed more by emotion and fear (‘the planet will die if we don’t go to renewable energy’), rather than sober, calm, reasoned discussion.

And to put it bluntly, good policies arise from calm, rational discussion. We need a conversation about energy driven by facts and data, not fear and panic. If we as a nation are serious about net zero, then we should carefully explore all the options for our crucial energy future.

By way of example, we can have carbon-neutral, affordable, reliable energy. An energy source exists that doesn’t harm large swathes of the environment. It’s an energy source that doesn’t create economic distress or drive people into poverty. It’s an energy source we could have up and running by 2040 — a decade before our net zero deadline. It’s an energy source many nations already benefit from (no need to experiment on our nation!).

But it requires us to have an adult conversation, because it’s called nuclear energy. And Chris Uhlmann also explores this alternative in his documentary.

You can watch Chris Uhlmann’s documentary ‘The Real Cost of Net Zero’ for free on YouTube, below:

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Republished with thanks to AkosBalogh.com. Image courtesy of Pexels.