Biden Energy Secretary Brags About Solar Setup, Claims to 'Drive on Sunshine' in Electric Car
President Joe Biden’s energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm, told viewers of ABC’s “The View” on Wednesday that her electric car drives on “sunshine” when touting her department’s forthcoming green energy initiatives.
The former Democratic governor of Michigan was bragging about the Department of Energy’s coming solutions to climate change after being pressed on the issue by “The View” co-hosts Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg. According to Granholm, green energy jobs are a future that is being imagined by Biden and other elitist Democrats.
“Joe Biden has said when he hears the words ‘climate change,’ he thinks of jobs. And the opportunity here for Americans in every pocket of the country to experience both the benefits of cost reduction — as a result of clean energy — as well as jobs, is so exciting,” she said. “The mission here is about deploying clean energy and about creating jobs all over the country.”
Granholm then made one of the most out-of-touch statements ever uttered on television by a head-in-the-clouds liberal; she argued that her electric vehicle runs quite literally on “sunshine,” as she’s already living in the future being laid out by her fellow elitists in Washington.
“With respect to cost, just as one example, Joy, I mean I drive a Chevy Bolt, which is an electric vehicle. I don’t have to buy gasoline,” she told Behar. “The average person who gets an electric vehicle saves $600 a year because you don’t have to fill it up.”
“I have solar panels on my house. So I drive on sunshine,” she said with a smile.
“I drive a Chevy Bolt which is an electric vehicle. I don’t have to buy gasoline. The average person that gets an electric vehicle saves $600 a year because you don’t have to fill it up. I have solar panels on my house.
“So I drive on sunshine,” @SecGranholm said on @TheView. pic.twitter.com/FarhSunNCC
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) March 4, 2021
How absolutely gross.
Granholm might be right about not having to fuel up directly. But indirectly, there’s a high probability that an electric charging station somewhere — at some point — charged her Chevrolet Bolt with power while connected to a grid that is reliant on fossil fuels.
She also neglected to mention the true cost of owning electric vehicles, which aren’t actually outfitted with little solar panels and windmills.
According to Car and Driver, while electric cars can be somewhat affordable in the short term with regard to powering them, the vehicles themselves are still problematic and cost-prohibitive for many people.
“The fully electric models of specific cars are always more expensive than their gas-powered equivalents. Basic electric models start at around $30,000 with luxury model prices climbing to $80,000 and more,” Car and Driver noted. “Usually, a car buyer will pay at least $10,000 more for an electric car than they would for the same type of car in a gas model.”
“Some areas have lots of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in various parking lots and on the sides of the road. This isn’t the case in every city. Road trips can be difficult in electric cars. You can’t take your home charging station with you on the road,” the magazine added.
Car and Driver didn’t mention, nor did Granholm, that most of those charging stations rely on fossil fuels to charge electric car batteries, which themselves are challenging and expensive to recycle. The reality is that the technology simply isn’t there yet, no matter how environmentally responsible driving a Chevy Bolt might sound.
The country still needs coal, oil and natural gas — no matter how much people like Granholm virtue signal on “The View.”
Texans learned that lesson last month amid a catastrophic winter storm that blanketed solar panels with snow and froze wind turbines. People paid for the failure of the state’s grid, which relies partially on green energy, with their lives.
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Additionally, when looking into outfitting a home with solar panels, you can also quickly see the issues with Granholm’s argument about cost and efficiency. EFS Energy, a St. Louis-based company that specializes in solar panel installation, cautions that while panels can lower utility bills, they’re not failsafe.
“Keep in mind that solar panels only work when they are in direct sunlight. After the sun is no longer shining down on them, they aren’t producing energy. Peak sunlight hours are when your panels are in direct sunlight,” the company warns. “Depending on your location, your peak sunlight hours can vary.”
The company further notes that solar panels might not be as effective for homes that are in areas with extreme temperatures and rely on central heat and air. Basically, if it’s cloudy or dark, Granholm is stuck relying on the rest of the grid — just like us commoners.
Then there is that solar panel “cost” Granhom bragged about.
“The typical 1500 square foot house can use around a [6 kilowatt] solar panel system. The total cost of the panels and full installation can be estimated at about $18000,” EFS Energy explained.
How many American families, right this moment, have $18,000 sitting around to experiment with putting solar panels — which are not dependable — on their homes? Probably not many of them. In all reality, Granholm probably isn’t producing enough solar power to run her home, let alone charge that Bolt. Even if she is, unless she only charges that sunshine-operated vehicle at her home, she’s a hypocrite.
Green energy might be an option for pie-in-the-sky liberals who have spent their entire adult lives profiting from being on the government dole. For the rest of us, we’re going to have to work, and we’re going to have to budget to keep up with the Biden administration’s skyrocketing gas prices.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
