Davin News Server

Renewable energy sourcing from wind, solar and even geothermal power has grown exponentially in the past decade. Since 2004, 
global investments in these alternative energy sources have exceeded $2.9 trillion.

While beneficial to the environment and counter-acting climate change, government-mandated renewable energy legislation can 
sometimes lead to an increase in energy poverty. Those suffering from energy poverty, as defined by the European Union Energy 
Poverty Observatory, spend more than 10 percent of their income on power and can often not afford proper heating, cooling or 
lighting.

In light of recent legislation changes (such as the California residential solar panel mandate, ) some energy experts are arguing 
that renewable requirements make the energy-poor poorer. Proponents of government-mandated green energy claim that blaming 
renewables for electricity cost increases is too simplistic of a view on the energy industry as a whole.
Energy poverty is on the rise in Europe

In some countries with widespread renewable energy legislation, citizens have seen electricity rates sky-rocket. Germany, for 
example, has doubled its residential electricity rate since 2000, when the government mandated a transition to wind and solar 
power that added roughly 11 cents per kWh as a renewable energy surcharge and ecological tax. As a result, energy economist 
Dragana Nikodinoska found in his 2017 study by Christian-Albrechts University that 22 percent of German households qualified as 
energy poor in 2013.

The United Kingdom has also seen a rise in residential rates in the past decade. Today, the average household pays nearly 22 
cents per kWh, amounting to a 27 percent increase from 2008's rates; 10 percent of that rate-hike is directly a result of the 
U.K.'s energy and climate change policies, which left 20 percent of British households energy poor in 2015.
The cost of U.S. electricity

Compared to the rising electricity prices in some European countries, electricity rates in the United States have remained 
reasonably low. The national average residential rate is about 13 cents per kWh, with many states' average rates falling well 
below that number.

Advancements in solar and wind technologies have made these energy sources significantly more affordable. Yet in California, a 
state which has always championed renewables (especially solar energy, ) the average residential electricity rate is the 7th 
highest in the nation, at 19.17 cents per kWh. This discrepancy begs the question: Are renewables making electricity more 
expensive?

Joshua Rhodes, a Forbes contributor on all things energy, explains in this article that renewables are not to blame for high 
electricity rates. When adjusted for inflation, the price of generating electricity has actually fallen. A number of factors are 
influencing electricity rates in the U.S. - including record natural gas production and weather variability - but the diversity 
renewables bring to the power grid has certainly helped, rather than hurt, electricity prices.

What has risen is the cost of delivering electricity - which takes into account all the updates utilities must do to maintain the 
electricity grid. Considering the American Society of Civil Engineers graded the country's energy infrastructure as a D+, these 
funds are essential in keeping the grid operational for years to come. Therefore, while adding renewables to the grid does cost 
utility customers, it is by no means the dominant cause of rising electricity rates.

=====

May:

Cold Sweeps Japan After Historic Winter Snow

Record May Snow Slams Goose Bay

Concordia At -106.1F

Antarctica Had Far Less Sea Ice Just 1,000 Years Ago

Snow And Record May Lows Hit Europe

No May Trend

-100F Returns To Antarctica

May Frosts Persist In Europe

Mumbai Logs Coldest May Temp Since Records Began (In 1881)

Volcanoes That Changed The Modern World

NOAA Pulls Plug On "Billion Dollar Disasters" Database

Mumbai Coldest May Temp Since 1985

Tasmania Sees Snow As Cold Front Grips SE Australia

Atlantic Cools Sharply As Global Temperatures Dip

Another New Study Blows Hole In Antarctic Warming Claims

Snows and Sub-Zero Lows Sweep Europe

Ice Recovery At Both Poles

UK Carbon Prices Soar

A Scholarly Takedown Of The Net-Zero Agenda

Mt. Hutt Sees Record Early May Snowfall

Cherry Blossoms In The Snow

NH Snow Mass

Cold US

Greenland Ice Gain At 8-Year High

Another New Study Finds Antarctica Is Gaining Ice

Japan's Summer-Only Ski Resort Opens With Record Snowpack

Historic May Snowfall Hits Moscow Region

Snow Returns To UK

100 Years of Spanish Rainfall Data Destroys The Climate Narrative

UK Weather Data Is Broken

No Warming Across The High Southern Latitudes

Heat Hysteria: A Manufactured Crisis Built On Asphalt

Was It Earth's Internal Heat That Drove Recent Ocean Warming?

Taiwan Shivers Through Cold Spring

Russia Slammed By Record Late-Season Snowstorm

Upper Midwest Still Frozen