The environmental left will not admit what wind and solar destroy



Several studies by biologists and ornithologists are raising alarms about the toll so-called eco-friendly technologies are taking on birds and other wildlife. Many researchers who support alternative energy in principle are dropping the pretense that wind and solar are benign.

The problem begins with energy density. To generate the same reliable electricity as a natural gas plant or nuclear facility, wind and solar require thousands of additional acres. That is not ideology. It is physics. Yet in the rush to satisfy arbitrary “net zero” targets, the environment supposedly being protected gets destroyed.

The Mojave Desert tortoise, an ancient survivor of harsh conditions, is also losing to the solar boom.

Wind and solar facilities kill wildlife, fragment habitats, disrupt ecosystems, and leave ecological wreckage far beyond what the green lobby cares to admit. Politicians and well-funded environmental NGOs still sell wind and solar as the natural world’s saviors. The data shows something else entirely: These projects are not merely displacing wildlife. They are killing it on an industrial scale.

One shocking assessment found that wind and solar farms overlap with 2,310 threatened amphibian, bird, mammal, and reptile species globally, or 36% of the world’s threatened species. The green utopia is being built on the graves of the vulnerable.

Another study found that 2,206 operational renewable-energy facilities had degraded 886 protected areas, 749 key biodiversity areas, and 40 distinct wilderness areas. Researchers project that footprint will expand another 30% as more natural refuges are industrialized.

A review of 84 peer-reviewed studies of onshore wind installations documented 160 cases of species displacement affecting birds, bats, and various mammals.

For the golden eagle, the toll is measured in death. In the Western United States, documented mortalities more than doubled between 2013 and 2024, rising from 110 to 270.

An assessment of 42 African raptor species documented an 88% decline over 20 to 40 years and identified wind farms as a major factor. In China, the rush for wind power coincided with a nearly 10% decline in overall bird populations after wind-farm construction. In Changdao County, a critical migration route for 330 bird species, local communities reported reduced bird populations and increased pest activity. In a stunning admission of failure, officials demolished 80 wind turbines to save the ecosystem.

Solar power brings its own damage. Recent research shows that in humid regions, large-scale solar plants can trigger near-total vegetation collapse. Panels block sunlight, alter the microclimate, and destabilize soil. When roots disappear, the ecosystem’s foundation goes with them.

In desert ecosystems, solar arrays disrupt plant growth cycles and harm the microorganisms that keep the desert alive. In China, photovoltaic development has fragmented and degraded more than 2,100 square miles of agricultural, sandy, and grassy terrain.

Solar development also reduces species richness on intact landscapes. Perimeter fencing creates barriers that trap animals and block the genetic flow healthy populations need.

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Sean Rayford/Getty Images

In the United States alone, solar energy is estimated to cause between 37,800 and 138,600 bird deaths each year. One reason is the “lake effect”: From the air, vast fields of solar panels resemble water.

A study from Poland confirmed this effect, showing that photovoltaic farms attract waterfowl because of water-like reflections. Birds descend expecting a lake and instead collide with scorching glass. Researchers identified 70 bird species at risk across six sites, with the highest collision risk concentrated within 650 feet of the installations.

The Mojave Desert tortoise, an ancient survivor of harsh conditions, is also losing to the solar boom. From 2004 to 2014, its population fell 39%. Industrial-scale solar projects have destroyed roughly 100,000 acres of its habitat. We are pushing out a species that has lived in the Mojave for millions of years to make room for panels that will be obsolete in 20.

The reckless expansion of low-density energy projects into valuable ecosystems must stop. The green transition is running red with the blood of the creatures we’re supposed to protect.

A Whistleblower Was Meeting With the SEC, Accusing a Solar Panel Company of Fraud. The Biden Admin Guaranteed a $3 Billion Loan for the Company at the Same Time.

A whistleblower accused one of the Biden administration's top energy loan recipients of maintaining a "hidden" set of financial records while defrauding investors and tax authorities. The Biden administration guaranteed a $3 billion loan to the company anyway, the Washington Free Beacon has learned through interviews and whistleblower reports.

The post A Whistleblower Was Meeting With the SEC, Accusing a Solar Panel Company of Fraud. The Biden Admin Guaranteed a $3 Billion Loan for the Company at the Same Time. appeared first on .

This 7% of Earth’s surface burns more fuel than anywhere



The ruling class trades in carbon outrage like it’s gold. Sanctimony fuels its crusade against oil, gas, and coal — never mind that those very fuels built the modern world. The comforts we take for granted — from longer lives and stocked shelves to clean water and lifesaving medicine — all trace back to the energy abundance that hydrocarbons made possible.

Still, the decarbonization faithful press forward. They dream of a carbon-free Eden, even as the global power grid, still humming on fossil fuels, refuses to cooperate.

Critics keep forecasting a shift away from fossil fuels. Reality keeps proving them wrong.

You won’t find a clearer contradiction than in the Yuxi Circle.

Draw a circle with a 2,485-mile radius around the southern Chinese city of Yuxi. British geographer Alasdair Rae did just that — and inside it resides 55% of the world’s population: some 4.3 billion people crammed into just 7% of Earth’s surface. The region includes China, India, much of Southeast Asia, and parts of Pakistan. Some of it — like the Tibetan Plateau and the Taklamakan Desert — is barren. But the rest is packed with cities, factories, and the aspirations of hundreds of millions clawing their way toward modern life.

Why does this matter? Because this region now anchors the world’s biggest fight over energy, growth, and climate policy.

While bureaucrats in Brussels sip espresso and activists glue themselves to the pavement in London, the real action plays out in Asia’s economic engine. In cities like Shanghai, Delhi, and Tokyo, energy demand soars — and fossil fuels do the heavy lifting. Coal and gas plants keep the lights on, while wind and solar trail far behind.

China burns more coal than the rest of the world combined. India burns more than the United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom combined. The 10 ASEAN countries rank third. Oil use tells the same story: China and India sit alongside the U.S. atop the global leaderboard of consumption. Economic growth, it turns out, runs not on hashtags but on hydrocarbons.

Critics keep forecasting a shift away from fossil fuels. Reality keeps proving them wrong.

Hundreds of millions in the Yuxi Circle are still striving for what Westerners call a “decent life.” That means refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioning — and with them, a dramatic spike in electricity demand.

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Photo by Thomas Lohnes/Getty Images

For context: The average American consumes 77,000 kilowatt-hours of energy each year. The average Indian uses a 10th of that. A Bangladeshi? Just 3% of what the average Norwegian consumes.

Now multiply that gap by a population of billions, and you begin to understand what’s coming.

The living room revolution is only the start. An industrial boom is building behind it — factories, office towers, and shopping malls all hungry for electricity. The coming surge in energy use across the Yuxi Circle will make the West’s climate targets look like a quaint relic of the past.

In this part of the world, the green fantasy runs headfirst into human need. Wind and solar can’t meet the moment. Coal, oil, and gas can — and do.

Just as they did for the West, these fuels now power the rise of the rest. And no amount of Western guilt or climate alarm will change that.

The perfect pick to lead Trump’s Department of Energy



How do you restore a bloated and misdirected U.S. Department of Energy to its originally intended purpose of assuring affordable and reliable American energy? The answer is to appoint a highly knowledgeable and successful energy producer to the position of Energy secretary. Donald Trump made the perfect pick in Chris Wright.

A mechanical and electrical engineer by training, Chris Wright is one of the people most responsible for the fracking revolution that freed America from the whims of hostile oil producers like Iran and Venezuela. He is currently the CEO of Liberty Energy, an oil and natural gas servicing company at the forefront of American oil and natural gas production. He also sits on the board of directors of Oklo Inc., an advanced nuclear technology company.

Under Trump and Chris Wright, American energy policy will return to holding our energy destiny in our own hands.

In other words, Wright possesses impressive knowledge and experience regarding a broad array of energy sources and technologies, and he has a track record of successfully bringing those energy options into the marketplace.

Perhaps most appealing about Wright is his refusal to give in to pressure tactics from leftist climate and environment activist groups. “There is no climate crisis, and we’re not in the midst of an energy transition, either,” Wright wrote on his LinkedIn page. Countering leftist fearmongering, Wright has visually illustrated that fracking fluid is not dangerous by drinking it in public.

Wright stands for an America that dictates energy policy to the rest of the world rather than being held captive by it. America has more oil, coal, and natural gas resources than any other nation on Earth, but we rarely act like it. Under Barack Obama and Joe Biden, government policy was to restrict American energy production under climate change rationale and then beg nations like Venezuela and Saudi Arabia to export more oil to us. Under Trump and Chris Wright, American energy policy will return to holding our energy destiny in our own hands.

The beauty of abundant domestic energy production is that if there is a Middle East crisis, or if OPEC decides to tighten its oil production, America is the nation that most benefits from the rising prices, rather than Russia, Iran, and Venezuela. More American energy production means prices are likely to return to Trump-era lows — but any foreign events that put pressure on energy markets will benefit America rather than other nations.

Under Wright, the U.S. Department of Energy will focus on spurring affordable and reliable American energy, not creating massive and ineffective boondoggles for climate change virtue-signaling. This is in stark contrast to the Department of Energy under the Biden administration and current Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.

Granholm is a career politician and a partisan Democrat best known for giving over-caffeinated speeches at the 2012 and 2016 Democratic National Conventions. The Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate in 2021 approved Granholm as Energy secretary despite Granholm having absolutely no specialized experience or knowledge regarding energy issues. The result was predictable.

The Biden-Granholm DOE website lists climate change as a “top priority” of the DOE and boasts about all the DOE programs and DOE money being spent on climate change — instead of assuring affordable and reliable American energy. Yes, the percentage of wind and solar power in the American electricity mix rose from 11% in 2020 to 15% in 2024. The result of adding such expensive and unreliable energy to our electricity mix is that electricity prices rose a staggering 23% under Biden-Granholm, after rising less than 1% per year in the decade before Biden-Granholm.

Biden-Granholm’s effect on gasoline prices is even worse. Gasoline prices averaged just $2.48 under the Trump administration. They are averaging $3.45 under Biden-Granholm, which is 39% higher than under Trump.

Americans gave Donald Trump a mandate to halt runaway energy inflation. Americans want affordable and reliable energy rather than climate change virtue signaling. With a Department of Energy under the vision and leadership of Chris Wright, America will once again return to energy affordability and energy dominance. Wright is the perfect man for the job.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published by RealClearPolicy and made available via RealClearWire.

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Smoke from Canada's wildfires caused US solar power production to plunge over 50%



There have been massive wildfires burning in Canada since the beginning of June. There are currently 416 active fires in Canada – 215 of the wildfires are considered "out of control," according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center.

Thick smoke has blanketed the Northeast United States in a dense orange haze that has led to air quality warnings. Another issue from the smoke is that it significantly lowered solar power production by over 50% in the United States.

Solar farms powering New England were generating 56% less power during periods of maximum demand than they did the previous week, according to the region's grid operator.

ISO New England, the operator of the energy grid, said on Thursday, "In recent days, smoke from wildfires in Canada has traveled to New England, significantly lowering production from solar resources in the region compared to what ISO New England would expect absent the smoke.”

"The smoke has also lowered actual temperatures in New England compared to what weather models are forecasting," the statement read. "This leads to lower demand on the regional grid, as there is less need for things like air conditioning."

ISO New England concluded, "These two factors — decreased production from solar resources and decreased consumer demand due to lower temperatures — has made forecasting demand for grid electricity challenging."

Matt Kakley, a spokesperson for ISO-New England energy grid operator, told Bloomberg that the situation is "really unprecedented," adding, "We don’t have a lot of historical data to look back on. There is some learning in real time."

The reduced production did not result in any power outages, mainly because solar power is not a prominent source of electricity in the area.

Solar power accounts for approximately 3% of New England's electricity, compared to 52% from natural gas and 26% from nuclear.

Other states across the country also faced diminished solar power production because of the wildfire smoke from Canada.

PJM Interconnection LLC, which provides electricity to 13 states from Illinois to North Carolina, noted that there was roughly a 25% drop in solar energy production from the prior week.

Dan Lockwood, a spokesperson for the PJM Interconnection, said, "Smoky conditions throughout the RTO this week have caused a reduction in visibility, reducing solar, and keeping temperatures several degrees lower than usual."

New York energy grid manager New York ISO stated, "Based on data compiled by New York ISO forecasters, smoke from Canada wildfires that’s blocking sunlight resulted in a combined reduction in peak solar energy production of 1,466 MW for June 6-7, for a two-day total peak production of 4,405 MW."

Previous wildfires have also caused decreased solar power production in Australia.

Solar Analytics, a solar monitoring company, found that rooftop photovoltaic systems in the Australian cities of Sydney and Canberra saw solar power output "plummet by 15 – 45% on heavy smoke haze days."

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House passes bipartisan bill to repeal Biden’s China solar rules

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Green Energy = World Peace?
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Green Energy = World Peace?