Underground Infrastructure - September 2023 - 6

EDITOR'SLOG
Robert Carpenter | Editor-in-Chief
Liberty in Retreat
Twenty years ago, or heck, even
five years ago, who would have
dreamed that you could be prosecuted,
and definitely persecuted,
for owning a gas stove? The same
goes for using a gas-powered dishwasher,
gas to heat your home, or
even a gas water heater. It's actually
happening in predictable, anti-natural
gas states like California and New York, with other
such states considering similar actions.
Sadly, not only are these radical moves only nominally effective
at best, when one factors in the cost of replacing gas
appliances with electric, consumer costs skyrocket to make the
forced transition, joining the long list of government spending
or required " investment " that drives inflation. In California,
where all this nonsense is flourishing, the average homeowner
will spend between $5,000 and $20,000 to make such a switch.
Further, to generate the additional electricity necessary,
more use of carbon fuel (primarily natural gas) is required to
fuel the manufacturing plants producing electric appliances.
In a normal world, that would seem like an extreme paradox,
but in today's crazy world of radical environmental influences
upon our government, anything that at least symbolically battles
the use of natural gas is worth the effort.
Anti-carbon-based environmental recommendations and
regulations just keep surfacing. Now there is talk of forcing
people to purchase environmentally friendly ceiling fans that
cost roughly $80 to $100 more and contain coatings/materials
that have been demonstrated to be unhealthy for residents.
Is that really the direction we want to go?
Still, the danger of the coated blades from environmentally
friendly ceiling fans is just a drop in the bucket compared to
the potential problems from the blades of wind power machines.
It has recently come to light that the special coatings,
combined with the fiberglass materials used in the manufacturing
of massive windmill blades, release toxins into the air.
Just how dangerous and to what degree this will start impacting
people's health is still to be determined.
By now, most of us have experienced, in some form or another,
the mad rush to electric cars. " Buy an electric vehicle
and save the world, " scream progressives from the treetops.
President Biden's administration has played an extremely active
role in supporting this cause.
The latest celebration coming from the electric car zealots
centers around Toyota, Volkswagen and Porshe's announce6
SEPTEMBER 2023 | UndergroundInfrastructure.com
ments of their " breakthrough " in solid-state battery technology.
In theory, this will dramatically boost mileage and potentially
last longer while weighing less. Over the next three
years, those companies plan to introduce limited models on
the market. Of course, we rarely hear about the issues with
such developments.
Solid-state batteries will require vast increases in the precious
metals such as lithium and nickel, which are already in
finite supply. The world's governments and electric vehicle
manufacturers have been amazingly quiet about child and
slave labor used to mine these materials from third-world
countries. The cost of solid-state batteries right now will probably
be more than the car itself, further emphasizing the " carof-the-rich-and-famous "
ethos. The fact remains that as long as
there is a dearth of truly fast-charging stations, EVs will be regulated
as the second car, good for primarily commuting only.
And if a battery should fail, don't even think about recycling
- it's just not possible yet, so who knows where we'll
start stashing old batteries, poisoning our soils and anybody
around them. Further, a recent Harvard study points out that
while EVs are cleaner to drive, they are much dirtier to build.
It takes up to 68,000 miles before an EV surpasses conventional
automobiles in carbon savings just for manufacturing.
But hey, you may be able to double or triple your mileage, so I
guess it's worth the hoopla.
The modern environmental movement is so concerned
with forcing its ideology upon the world that exploring and
legislating such nonsensical paths are forcing us to toss aside
common sense. As the old saying goes, " don't let facts get in
the way of your truth. "
As a culture we are drawing ever closer to a pivotal point
in time where errant conclusions and directions will take us
down a path with severe repercussions for decades - repercussions
that could be devasting to both our economy and the
health and safety of our citizens.
It occurs to me that in our rush to renew/replenish the
world so we can obtain cultural and political sensitivity, we
create solutions before there are answers to the inherent problems
of things like EVs, forced transitions to electric appliances,
and total abandonment of oil and gas products.
EVs could, and probably will, be a great thing in the future.
But all in due time. Let's try solving serious, sometimes
devasting or even deadly problems before we cheer our accomplishments.
Let's not create more serious environmental
issues than we already have. Our planet and our lives cannot
survive on the " rob-Peter-to-pay-Paul " principle. UI
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Underground Infrastructure - September 2023

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