Are Celebrities Advocating a Complete Switch to Renewable Energy Willfully Ignorant?
Many self-labeled "fractivists" say drilling ruins drinking water and farms — think the fictional disaster spun in the Matt Damon vehicle "Promised Land" — and makes no sense, since it's possible to quickly transform our society to one that's powered by clean, renewable energy such as wind and solar.
Yet the boom has created jobs, reduced imports of oil and gas, and lowered energy bills. In contrast with Baldwin's claim, local landowners have received billions of dollars in royalties, and the typical royalty of 18.75 percent is higher than what many novelists, actors or musicians are paid.
Pennsylvania dairy farmer Shawn Georgetti said he was struggling before signing a gas lease. Now, he's been able to buy better and more fuel-efficient equipment and says the drilling hasn't caused any problems. "It's a lot more fun to farm," he said.
As for Fox's claim about the ease of shifting to wind, solar and hydropower, "if that was true, we'd be doing it," said Stephen Ansolabehere, a Harvard University professor who has studied public attitudes toward renewable energy. "People think wind and solar are cheap; it's just not right. They see what the prices are, and the support drops."
Wind energy currently provides about 2 percent of total U.S. energy, and solar less than 1 percent. Hydropower is about 3 percent, and building more dams would also have environmental effects. In practical terms, it will take decades of nonstop solar, wind and other renewable investment to phase out fossil fuels.
Many celebrities are just beginning to embrace renewables. Sean Lennon told the AP in January that the family farm in upstate New York is still conventionally powered.
"I'm actually looking into it. It's a long process," Lennon said. "I've met with a lot of solar companies. I'm looking for the best possible solution, and there are a lot of options out there."
Redford spokeswoman Joyce Deep wrote in an email that he installed passive solar in his home in the mid-'70s, but she didn't know details about more recent installations. "Passive solar" means using windows or other materials in an energy-conscious way, not solar panels. Deep noted that Sundance, the Utah resort Redford helped found, uses some renewable energy.
Baldwin declined to comment about how much renewable energy he had installed, and Ono's spokesperson said Lennon spoke for her, too.
Ruffalo, an Academy Award-nominated actor, made the switch to solar last year on his property in New York's Catskill Mountains, also near gas reserves. "In fact, I have a 14 KW system on my single property," Ruffalo wrote in an email. "It is a beautiful system." And Fox said he uses electricity from wind power on a Pennsylvania property.
But experts note that even renewables need conventional backup, since the sun doesn't always shine and the wind doesn't always blow.
Read the whole article here."It demonstrates the ignorance of renewable power advocates to suggest that renewables can run without gas. We don't get to say, 'I only want solar and wind,'" Shellenberger said.
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