In the article "There is no green energy revolution: pretending otherwise makes us poor," published on January 25, 2025, The Telegraph, and located behind an annoying paywall, environmental critic Bjorn Lomborg argues that despite significant investments in renewable energy, fossil fuels continue to dominate global energy consumption and will likely do so for the foreseeable future. He contends that the intermittent nature of solar and wind power necessitates substantial backup from fossil fuel-based systems, leading to increased costs. Lomborg highlights that countries with higher shares of solar and wind energy often experience elevated electricity prices, citing the UK's annual electricity bill rising to £90 billion—£59 billion more than if prices had remained at 2003 levels. He also points out that current battery storage solutions are insufficient for managing renewable energy's intermittency, with the UK's existing batteries capable of powering less than 13 minutes of consumption.
Lomborg concludes that the current approach to green energy is economically burdensome without significantly reducing reliance on fossil fuels. While being primarily concerned with the UK, Lomborg's argument, more detail below, applies as well to Australia which is going blindly down the same path as the UK, to economic oblivion. Unless we can stop it.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/01/25/no-green-energy-revolution-pretending-makes-us-poor/
"There is no green energy revolution: pretending otherwise makes us poor" says Dr Bjorn Lomborg, President of the Copenhagen Consensus Centre and a Visiting Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
"Policymakers need to invest more in research and development to overcome the major flaws in today's green energy. It is time to reckon with the reality that green energy is not yet ready in the UK or elsewhere.
The delusion that we are on the verge of a green revolution is both manifestly untrue and incredibly costly, as it perpetuates misguided policies that ignore the need for real innovation and undermine global competitiveness."
The entire article is here.
" Fossil fuels are still what sets the world to work – and that is not changing any time soon.
The myth that the green energy transition is inevitable and will make cheap electricity for everyone is one of the most dangerous self-delusions of the global elite.
Despite two decades of policy attempts, fossil fuels in 2022 still meet 81 per cent of global energy needs, down from 81.2 per cent in 2000.
On the most optimistic trend, fossil fuels will still supply two-thirds of all energy in 2100.
Yet, Western governments that have most enthusiastically pursued these expensive policies have received plaudits from multilateral organisations, climate activists and the media, who all mistake spending money with achieving results.
After decades of nearly unrestrained green efforts, electricity costs in the UK, Europe and progressive US states like California have soared.
The United Kingdom is paying a heavy price for leading the world on the climate agenda: its inflation-adjusted electricity price, weighted across households and industry, has tripled from 2003 to 2023, mostly because of climate policies.
It need not have been so: the US electricity price has remained almost unchanged over the same period.
The total annual UK electricity bill is now £90 billion, or £59 billion more than if prices in real terms had stayed unchanged since 2003. That is equivalent to wasting 2.1 per cent of GDP each year. This unnecessary increase is so costly that it is twice the entire cost of UK primary education.
Had prices stayed at 2003 levels, an average family of four would be spending £1,882 on electricity – which includes indirect industry costs. Instead, it now pays £5,425 per year.
There is a strong, clear correlation between more solar and wind, and much higher average energy prices.
Indeed, no country in the entire world has combined significant solar and wind energy with low electricity costs.
Data from the International Energy Agency shows the average electricity cost in a country with little or no solar and wind power is about 10p per kWh. For every 10 percentage points of additional solar and wind, the cost increases by more than 4p.
The unsurprising result is that the UK and Europe are struggling to compete.
European businesses pay triple US electricity costs, and nearly two-thirds of European companies say energy prices are a major impediment to investment. More than 30 million Europeans are energy poor.
We are failing to transition away from fossil fuels because of green energy intermittency and unreliability. They require almost one-to-one backup power systems to ensure grid stability, and that typically comes from fossil fuel-based generation. Taxpayers end up paying for two power systems.
It's logical to ask why we don't solve this problem with batteries. To make an impact, batteries would need to supply energy not only through the night when there is no sun, but in winter when there is higher usage, less sun and long periods of low wind.
Currently, the UK's batteries would power less than 13 minutes of its consumption. A Royal Society study found that to meet all electricity needs with solar and wind, storage would need to be at least 10,000 times bigger.
With batteries, this would cost £15 trillion, or about five times the current UK GDP. Factoring in the need to replace batteries every 15 years, the cost would be one-third of UK GDP each and every year.
Fossil fuels remain indispensable for fertilizers, steel, cement and plastics and for energy-intensive sectors like aviation, shipping and heavy industry.
Global energy consumption is increasing by 2 to 3 per cent each year, with innovations such as fracking driving down the cost and increasing the availability of fossil fuels.
Under President Trump, the US – already the world's leading oil producer – is set to abandon costly green policies and expand fossil fuel production further, while the growing economies of the Global South will continue to increase demand.
At the same time, emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, electric transportation and large-scale data centres require even more energy.
Policymakers need to invest more in research and development to overcome the major flaws in today's green energy. It is time to reckon with the reality that green energy is not yet ready in the UK or elsewhere.
The delusion that we are on the verge of a green revolution is both manifestly untrue and incredibly costly, as it perpetuates misguided policies that ignore the need for real innovation and undermine global competitiveness."