Why Fossil Fuels Kick Butt

“In countries such as Germany, billions have been spent on wind turbines and solar panels – yet fossil fuel use has risen.“

Big Picture News, Informed Analysis

SPOTLIGHT: 1970s activists said wind and solar energy would replace fossil fuels. Five decades later, that’s still a fantasy.

BIG PICTURE: More energy equals less suffering and more flourishing. When machines that run on energy wash our clothes and plow our fields, humans are freed from back-breaking, mind-numbing labour. We have time to go the library and to school. We have time to create art, and to discover medical breakthroughs.

To be useful, energy needs to be reliable. No one wants to be in an operating room where the electricity flickers on and off. Food safety is compromised when freezers and refrigerators work only sometimes. High tech manufacturing depends on exacting factory conditions that aren’t possible without a stable power supply.

In The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels, Alex Epstein explains that the reason wind and solar aren’t useful substitutes is because “the sun doesn’t shine all the time…

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