Green Quirk part 1
Introduction: permanent solutions for a healthy environment
The five main renewable energy sources; hydro, biomass, wind, solar, and geothermal are the alternative energy sources to electricity produced from fossil fuels and nuclear-powered electric generating stations. The renewables are cleaner but some have their issues including environmental contamination. Fossil fuel energy sources, as we know, have a high ecological footprint because of pollution and nuclear, although clean, produces radioactive wastes and has the potential to release radioactive contamination lasting for millions of years (Fukushima, Chornobyl and Three Mile Island).
Wind turbines and solar panels are inefficient for a large-scale electrical grid system that requires a continuous, reliable source of electricity. Solar and wind are very expensive and not very cost-effective since the sun doesn’t shine every day, and windless days are common even on the prairies.
In 2025 the most efficient solar panel available to the public was 22.8% efficient and that of wind turbines is roughly 20-45%. Dust and snow further reduced the efficiency of solar panels. The panels have to be replaced every 25-30 years and are 94-96% recyclable. If the solar cells are disposed of in landfills chemical pollution (Copper Indium Gallium Diselenide, Cadmium Telluride, Cadmium Hallium (di)Selenide, Hexafluoroethane, Lead, Polyvinyl Fluoride) can become an environmental hazard. Modern wind turbines have a life expectancy averaging 20 years, and the 15% that can’t be salvaged end up in the landfill. Solar and wind farms are open to being destroyed by hail and strong winds, and they take away the allure from the landscape.
Biomass and biofuel electric generating stations have been sold to the public as a clean renewable green energy solution to coal and have become popular in the US, Canada, and Europe. As it turns out burning trees to produce electricity is not the clean energy future that was promised. Biomass burning consumes millions of acres of forests annually coming from forests in Canada, Indonesia, and South America. The forestry companies export chips or pellets worldwide to biomass-burning power plants for a clean and efficient burn. However, some plants use green and damp trees producing temperatures below the optimal level which is generally around 600C. To raise the temperatures some US plants supplement the biomass with natural gas, tire chips and old creosote and PCP (pentachlorophenol) treated railroad ties. Some biomass generators are garbage incinerators. How can this be considered green? They are cutting down forests, displacing indigenous people in South America, causing some wildlife to become endangered or extinct, and polluting the air creating health hazards. This is the opposite of what's been sold to the public. What exactly is renewable Green Energy? How serious are they about the environment? Is Green Energy just an exploitative capitalist tool creating corporate shareholder value and making a few people extremely rich?
In addition, the extensive electrical grid system itself is vulnerable to solar activity, heavy frost, aging, wildfires, and hurricanes. The repair and maintenance costs of this elaborate system are in the millions and billions of dollars. A major solar event, Solar Cycle 10 or the Carrington Event of September 1 &2, 1859, where a solar geomagnetic storm resulted in a coronal mass ejection (CME) caused sparking and even fires in telegraph stations. On July 23, 2012, a larger and possibly stronger CME than the Carrington Event, missed Earth by roughly 9 days. The electrical infrastructure is further challenged by the arrival of the EV.
Battery-powered electric vehicles (EV) have become the alternative to the polluting internal combustion engine (ICE). The EV has overcome many of the initial challenges making them as reliable as the ICE vehicles and their low maintenance has made them attractive initially; however, the replacement battery can be expensive and in 2025 is roughly 32-35% of the cost of the EV. The battery and access to a charging station are limiting factors for the EV. The size of an average EV battery is roughly 40-71 kWh. Currently, the average EV battery lasts about 10 years having an 8-year warranty in the US and Canada.
The Green Quirk blogs parts 1 to 6 are stories of suppressed genuine alternative green energy and healthy environmental solutions that conflict with the established energy infrastructure. The conflicts go further into the ‘shoddy’ environmental solutions attempting to solve man-made environmental problems which in some cases appear to be deliberately introduced. The innovators and their fate for bravely trying to insert their innovations into the established energy and environmental sector will also be discussed. Once you see what has been suppressed you might want to ask yourself a question, how serious is all this ‘environmental talk’ or is it simply exploitive capitalism or a clever way to raise taxes? While you're pondering that question take a deeper look at what the actual driving forces and mechanisms are behind the global economic system, and look at what’s being exploited to sustain an economy. Anyone offering a permanent genuine solution to disease, war, catastrophic events, and problems can easily upset the global financial structure and threaten the national security of any nation.
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Charles Kuss
2025
Updated: 1-30-2025
