Font size:
By Jason Hayes
Research from the Mackinac Center shows that a recently enacted Michigan law will cost state residents thousands of dollars a year while having a negligible effect on the environment or climate.
Senate Bill 271, which Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed into law Nov. 28, requires the state to achieve “net zero” emissions of carbon dioxide. As the codification of her MI Healthy Climate Plan, the law will force residents to rely on weather- dependent energy sources such as wind and solar.
These mandates will raise energy costs by $1,500 to $2,750 per household, according to new research from the Mackinac Center. The move away from reliable and affordable electric service will cost the people of Michigan between $206 billion and $386 billion by 2050.
Our modeling indicates that net zero mandates with wind, solar and battery backup pose serious risks to consistent electric services. A grid based on wind, solar and battery would expose Michigan residents to repeated service interruptions and blackouts. During the most severe disruption, blackouts could last for as long as 61 continuous hours in late January, when cold temperatures drive the greatest demand for a reliable electric supply. Attempts to electrify homes and transportation, as seen with Ann Arbor’s A2ZERO plan and the statewide MI Future Mobility Plan, only demonstrate the need for reliable electric service.
The state could also achieve net zero goals while allowing existing coal and large natural gas plants to operate for their full intended life cycles, rather than closing them before their useful lives are up. If the state must reduce CO2 emissions, it can do this by retrofitting fossil-fueled plants with carbon capture and storage technology. As these plants near the end of their intended operations, new nuclear facilities could replace them. This scenario would avoid the potential for blackouts and lower the expected costs to achieve net zero from $386 billion to $206 billion by 2050, according to our modeling.
Regardless of what plan the state follows to achieve net zero mandates, meeting these goals would reduce average world temperatures by an almost imperceptible amount: 1/1,000th of a degree Celsius.
Gov. Whitmer’s net zero plans ensure that Michiganders will face extreme price increases for energy. To the extent that her plans require state residents to rely on wind and solar generation, they vastly increase the likelihood of electric service instability and extended blackouts. Michigan is on a road to higher costs and frequent service interruptions, for a result that will have no impact on the climate.
If Michigan’s elected officials choose to ignore the problems their net zero mandates cause the state, they should at least attempt to minimize costs and maintain grid reliability by accepting the lower-cost option that relies on nuclear and fossil energy with carbon capture technologies.
