Sherman Frederick/Properly Subversive

Every time I drive by the wind farms in Palm Springs, pictured below, or that butt-ugly failed solar monstrosity off I-15 at the California/Nevada border, I’m reminded of just what a bill of goods we were sold by the fake environmentalism of this century.

From the start, we knew wind and solar power were more expensive. We knew it couldn’t produce enough juice to satisfy modern demand. Yet, we poured billions of tax dollars into subsidies to produce expensive, unreliable energy sources.

Sherman Frederick

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We should have saved our money because the growing demand for electricity to power artificial intelligence is now laying bare the foolishness of it all. Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimates 63% of global power plants built to fulfill AI’s thirst for reliable, around-the-clock power will be coal, nuclear, and natural gas plants.

Wind and solar? Completely dead technology in the AI age.

We must come off the fairy tale that we can meet our needs with wind and solar. This is even more evident in states that set up stupid artificial deadlines for zero-carbon electricity to our grids.

Look, there’s a reason China is dramatically expanding electrical grids powered by coal. They want to compete in the AI world and dominate if they can.

We’ll need to step up and do the same. The facts are in plain sight.

HARRY REID AIRPORT

Several readers have written to express dismay about the Las Vegas airport being renamed after Sen. Harry Reid. I get the angst because, for as long as he was Nevada’s most powerful representative in Washington, he didn’t do much for Nevada.

But I see changing McCarran to Harry Reid as a fitting thing.

Now, as travellers experience delays and stress as people do in all airports, the name of Harry Reid is irritating people just like it did when he was alive. Think about it: Every day, thousands say: “f-ing Harry Reid.”

That’s perfect, if you ask me.

(Sherman R. Frederick is a longtime Nevada journalist and a member of the Nevada Press Association Hall of Fame. You can read more from him at shermanfrederick.substack.com.)