In response to recent commentaries regarding solar installations in James City County, I feel it necessary to give a more balanced opinion. I don’t doubt the sincerity of the previous authors’ support for solar, but they do not provide all the facts.
The authors are under the spell that if somehow everyone does their part, we can have an impact on climate change. Here are the facts. The U.S. is the world leader in lowering carbon emissions from 2005-2020 — reducing emissions more than the next five countries combined. For every ton of emissions reduced by the U.S., China has increased emissions by nearly 4 tons. Under the Paris Agreement, China will increase emissions another 50% by 2030.
The world has failed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and has demonstrated that current policies and approaches have also failed. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change just released its 6th Assessment, and it has concluded the world will not limit climate change to less than 1.5 degrees, and unlikely to keep it under 2 degrees. Instead of continuing to follow the same failed policies, we need to take a better and different approach.
Who can be against solar — it’s supposedly clean and cheap? It’s neither.
Solar is not clean. Over 70% of all solar panels produced in the world originate in China. They are produced by materials sourced in a region of China that uses slave labor which human rights organizations describe as genocide. They are manufactured in plants that are powered by 100% coal.
Solar is expensive. Arizona has the highest utilization rate for solar in the U.S. However, their panels produce electricity only 29% of the time. The other 71% of the time, they need to be backed up by fossil fuels. In Virginia, the utilization rate is significantly lower around 20%. When you factor in full cost of the 24/7 life support that unreliable solar and wind electricity need, they are far more expensive. Finally, if solar is so inexpensive, why have they needed subsidies for the past 27 years? These subsidies amount to the largest corporate tax cut in U.S. history.
I support landowners’ rights to do what they want with their land. However, the previous authors mention several requirements that are needed so we don’t have to see these hideous installations. I would add two other suggestions. Instead of designating the land under a “special use permit,” it should be rezoned for industrial use. James City County should require the strictest and largest monetary bond requirements for when these installations need to be dismantled. The full cost of disposal should be reflected in the bond price and inflation factors. Future taxpayers shouldn’t have to pay these costs.
There are better and more effective solutions to mitigate climate change, but this blind obedience to renewables is not the answer. Maybe more on this topic in the future.
Lou Hrkman is a resident of James City County.
