Trump was asked during a press conference marking the end of the G7 gathering what the world should be doing to address climate change. He skipped a session on the topic earlier Monday.
And the answer came straight from the horse’s mouth – “We’re the No. 1 energy producer in the world,” Trump said Monday, according to BNN Bloomberg. “I’m not going to lose that wealth. I’m not going to lose that wealth on dreams, on windmills, which, frankly are not working all that well.”
The president failed to answer two specific questions during his press conference – Whether he still harbored skepticism about climate change and what he felt the U.S. and other countries should do about it.
But he defended his so-called environmental policies, saying: “I want clean air. I want clean water,” Trump said. “I want a wealthy country. I want a spectacular country, with jobs, with pensions…and that’s what we’re getting.”
Trump also claims to “be an environmentalist,” even though he has said climate change is a hoax perpetrated by China and has worked to destroy every climate initiative and environmental law put in place by his predecessor, President Barack Obama. Trump also says he knows “more about the environment than most people.”
The real truth about Trump’s windmills
For all his supposed intelligence and claims about knowing more about the environment than most people, Trump is really out of his league when it comes to climate science and the environment. His own Department of Energy has a completely different view of Trump’s “windmills.”
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on Monday released the “2018 Wind Technologies Market Report,” which provides an annual overview of trends in the U.S. wind power market. It was prepared by researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab.
Over $11 billion was invested in new wind power plants in 2018, according to the report, with wind energy capacity contributing to over 6.5 percent of the country’s electric supply. Another 232,000 megawatts of new wind projects are seeking transmission interconnection.
Best of all news is that wind turbine prices have fallen to $700–$900 per kilowatt (kW). The average installed cost of wind projects in 2018 was $1,470 per kW, down 40 percent since the peak in 2009 and 2010.
Added to the good news is that wind energy prices are at historic lows. After topping out at 7¢ per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for power purchase agreements (PPAs) executed in 2009, the national average price of wind PPAs has dropped to below 2¢ per kWh in 2018.
Additionally, solar PPA prices have also declined along with wind, putting both renewable energy sources in an ideal competitive position. Employment in the wind industry is growing by leaps-and-bounds. Wind sector employment reached a new high of more than 114,000 full-time workers at the end of 2018.
