Biden is banning fossil fuel use in new or substantially renovated federal buildings starting in 2030 and has mandated a major reduction in its use beginning in 2025. Since the federal government owns over 500 million square feet of office space, this is a major undertaking. This rule adds the federal government to Biden’s movement to electrify buildings as part of his climate agenda, phasing out natural gas use. New federal buildings constructed between 2025 and 2029 must achieve a 90 percent decrease in fossil fuel consumption, relative to 2003 levels. Those built or substantially renovated from 2030 onward must have no on-site fossil fuel use. The rule will push the cost of energy up in these buildings, raising the cost to taxpayers as it is cheaper to heat buildings with natural gas than with electricity, particularly with intermittent wind and solar power that must have expensive battery back-up or fossil fuel back-up, defeating the purpose of the rule. The government will be billing taxpayers to pay for more expensive energy to house its workforce.

The mandate was authorized by a 2007 energy law signed by President George W. Bush. President Bush signed the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) on December 19, 2007. Inside the 311-page energy policy law is section 433, stating that new federal buildings and those undergoing major renovations would have to phase out “fossil fuel-generated energy consumption” by 2030, i.e. all new and remodeled federal buildings be 100-percent free of fossil fuels by 2030. The provision never went into effect because the Department of Energy did not finalize the regulations needed to implement it and it was halted in part by opposition from natural gas utilities. Opposition by groups such as the American Gas Association, which rightly state that natural gas is more affordable than electricity, helped block the Obama administration’s attempts to establish the rule.

Electricity has increased in price by 27 percent since President Biden took office and will continue to increase as he moves to electrify everything, putting the United States into a one-fuel end-use economy, where brown outs and black outs could become a natural occurrence, as in third world countries. Electric rates may take the place of gasoline prices in political campaigns as Biden is increasing weather-driven wind and solar power on the grid and forced electrification of the transportation, heating and cooking industries through standards and regulations. EPA regulations are forcing existing coal and natural gas generators to retire and be replaced by heavily taxpayer-subsidized wind and solar units that require very expensive battery back-up. Biden also wants expensive offshore wind along the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coasts that will also escalate electric prices as offshore wind is over 3 times as expensive as onshore wind and more than double the cost of natural gas combined cycle technology.

Fossil fuel reductions in federal buildings required by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007

Section 433 of the law, signed by President George W. Bush on Dec. 19, 2007, sets a schedule for reducing fossil fuels in new and remodeled federal buildings based on 2003 levels. Regulations were never finalized to implement the law, and compliance is not tracked.

Power Outages Increase as More renewables Enter the Grid

Power outages have surged 93 percent over the last 5 years, as states have added 60 percent more wind and solar energy because of state renewable portfolio mandates and the Biden Administration’s “energy transition policies.” Texas and California lead the nation in power outages and in wind and solar generation. Since 2019, there have been 263 power outages across Texas–more than any other state–each lasting an average of 160 minutes and impacting an estimated average of 172,000 Texans. From 2019 to 2023, California had 221 power outages, ranking second, and Washington ranked third with 118 outages. Texas has the most wind capacity in the nation and is the nation’s top wind producer and California has the most solar capacity in the nation and is the nation’s top producer of solar power.  The data suggest a correlation between increased amounts of intermittent renewable energy and  electricity outages that can be detrimental for consumers and businesses, especially for specialized equipment.

Grid Capacity Cannot Keep Up with Demand

President Obama’s regulation started a wave of coal plant closures that Biden’s power plant rule is continuing. For coal plants to keep operating, they must now add carbon capture technology that has not been adequately demonstrated as required by Section 111 of the Clean Air Act that is said to give the EPA authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions. As of last year, only one commercial-scale coal plant in the world used carbon capture, and no gas-fired plants did.

Read the rest of the article at the following weblink:

https://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/fossil-fuels/biden-bans-fossil-fuel-use-in-new-and-renovated-federal-buildings/

Wash Post Editorial Board follows orders of megalomaniac billionaires: ‘Humans might need to re-engineer the climate’ – Tout injecting ‘100,000 tons of sulfur per year into lower stratosphere to block solar rays’

“A conversation about the risks and potential benefits of re-engineering the climate is urgently needed.” … “Climate engineering scholars David Keith at the University of Chicago and Wake Smith at Yale think it would take no more than 15 souped-up Gulfstream jets to send up, say, 100,000 tons of sulfur per year into the lower stratosphere to block solar rays, at an annual cost of some $500 million. This could happen in as little as five years.”

Full article at the following weblink:

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2024/04/30/wash-post-editorial-board-follows-orders-of-megalomaniac-billionaires-humans-might-need-to-re-engineer-the-climate-tout-injecting-100000-tons-of-sulfur-per-year/