The Impact Of Biden’s Plan On Electricity Prices, Brace Yourself

At just the time when we are more reliant on electricity than ever before, the President plans to raise the price even higher. That’s right, the cost of electricity is slated to go much, much higher. Mark it down, circle the date on your calendar, and put it on your smartphone.

In the next few days, the White House will issue new regulations that will severely impact the nation’s power plants. Aimed explicitly at coal-powered plants, about 20% of our electricity is produced by coal. Also, natural gas-powered plants, 32% of electricity produced by natural gas, and fuel oil power plants make up 36% of our electricity. Add these fossil fuels producers up. They make up 80% of the nation’s electricity.

That’s right, the lion’s share of all the electric power we use to light, heat, and cool our homes, power our electric cars, and run all those gadgets we are so enamored with, from wide-screen television to smartphones to computers of all kinds, more than three-fourths of all the power used is from fossil fuels. Imagine a world in which you could only use your cell phone one-quarter of the time, or your TV, or cool your home. But that’s the President’s objective: eventually eliminating all fossil fuel-generated electricity.

Utilizing the Clean Air Act, the Biden Administration will attempt to redefine new types of air pollution. Within days the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA will publish an entirely new set of rules that will gradually do away with fossil fuel-powered electric plants. By all reports, these new EPA Rules will utilize a novel approach, never been tried before.

To understand how this sleight of hand is proceeding, we need a little background in Chemistry. Currently, the EPA and the Clean Air Act severely limit a toxic gas named Carbon Monoxide. CO is a poisonous gas that is manmade and usually results from the incomplete burning of carbon-based fuels. That kind of combustion can occur in your automobile, some industrial equipment, etc. Too much Carbon Monoxide can kill you.

Sounding almost the same is another harmless gas called Carbon Dioxide. For you Chemistry majors, it’s a carbon-based gas with two Oxygen Atoms (CO2) instead of the one Oxygen Atom of Carbon Monoxide (CO). That extra Oxygen Atom makes all the difference, from a deadly gas to a harmless one. It makes all the difference, except to the Biden Administration. They’re attempting to outlaw CO2, Carbon Dioxide, just like Carbon Monoxide is currently.

And because every time you burn a carbon base fuel, like oil, gas, or coal, you produce CO2, depending on how they enforce this new regulation, they could immediately put some of these plants out of business. Of course, President Biden has repeatedly said that’s just what he wants to do, get rid of fossil base fuels.

Remember, from what they’ve said so far. We’re still days away from seeing the new regulations. It is expected that the new Regs will close all of the nation’s coal-based electric plants. That’s more than 10% of our electric production. That loss of supply is bound to raise electricity prices significantly.

The counter to all this is that we’ll use renewable energy sources to replace the fossil fuel sources we want to phase out. Wind, solar, and hydroelectric will take the place of fossil fuels. That, at least, is what the politicians in Washington want us to believe. Unfortunately, the numbers don’t currently support that answer.

The Energy Information Agency publishes detailed data on the nation’s energy production and usage. In looking at renewable electric output over the past ten years, we see an increase in Renewable production of about a third. In other words, we are producing one-third more electricity from renewables this year than in 2013. The problem is that we are increasing our electricity consumption even faster. Just think about it, the number of electric gadgets we discussed earlier continues to grow, creating a greater and greater draw on electric power.

Our increasing electricity demand has meant renewables as a viable source are losing ground. In 2013, Renewables supplied 15 to 16% of our total energy needs. Today the percentage of total energy provided by renewables has declined to only about 12% of our needs. As a side note: these numbers do not reflect those of you who generate your electricity; you may have a solar array on your roof. So, if I read the data correctly, you are excluded from this dataset.

But overall, with current technology, renewables will not replace fossil fuel-produced electricity any time soon.

Finally, for those who remain concerned about the effects of Carbon Dioxide on the environment, CO2 is a natural byproduct of our own metabolism. That’s right, every time we breathe out, we exhale CO2. Altogether we exhale about 2 ½ pounds of CO2 in a day. CO2 that the plants around us “breath” in as part of photosynthesis.

Now, if you’re like me, we don’t get too involved with the happenings in Washington. But we need to make an exception this time. The EPA will be coming forward with these new proposals shortly. They will ask the public for our opinion. Go online, tell them what you think. It’s crucial, especially in this economic cycle, that we keep costs down.

We’ve all seen the devastating effects of inflation over the past few months; these EPA proposals will likely ignite another round of inflation. So please take a moment to respond to EPA.gov

PS These new Environmental Regulations are slated to phase in at the same time President Biden mandates the use of Electric Vehicles. By 2035 Biden proposes that at least half of all cars sold by electric and phase into a higher percentage five years later.

So, on the one hand, this Administration mandates the increasing use of Electric Vehicles, while on the other hand, they dramatically increase the cost to operate those Vehicles. A government that’s working against itself.