Whenever I hear someone praising solar energy or electric cars to the exclusion of fossil fuels, the pragmatist in me cringes.

Aside from the fission of uranium and plutonium in nuclear power plants and possibly the formation of methane deep in the earth’s core from “non-biological processes … creating stable reserves of fuel within the much more extreme conditions of Earth’s mantle,” virtually all of the power we depend on comes from the sun.

The Earth’s vast resources of fossil fuels—crude oil, shale oil, tar sands, coal and natural gas—came from the decay of plant material. And those green plants grew as the direct result of photosynthesis energized by the sun.

When a photon of light falls upon a molecule of chlorophyll—the pigment in the leaves of all green plants—biochemistry happens. Atmospheric carbon dioxide is converted into the cellulosic substances that compose leaves, stems, branches and trunks.  

But oxygen is also a byproduct of photosynthesis. No carbon dioxide, no photosynthesis and no oxygen.  Eliminate all of the atmospheric carbon dioxide and life on Earth would ultimately cease. This is why it is ludicrous to speak of carbon dioxide as a pollutant.

Cut down a tree and use it to build a fire and you’re literally utilizing solar power as a heat source. Similarly, when petroleum, natural gas, or coal is burned, there are years of the sun’s energy being released in the form of heat and light. We use this to power factories, other machines, and the internal combustion engines under the hoods of our motor vehicles.

Wind turbines could not function without wind, and wind is generated by a combination of the sun’s heating of the Earth’s atmosphere and, to a lesser extent, the Earth’s rotation at 1,000 mph. Similarly, without the sun to make weather, there would be no rain, no rivers, no hydrologic cycle, and no possibility for hydroelectric power. 

The process of manufacturing the huge batteries used in the hybrid vehicles the Greens are so enamored with requires fossil fuel during mining operations, transport, and refining.  The batteries themselves are composed of toxic metals—lead, nickel, lithium, and cobalt, the latter exported mostly from the Congo and dug out of the ground by child labor. 

And when it’s time to charge your plug-in hybrid, where do you think the electricity comes from? A utility somewhere, connected to your home and most likely burning a fossil fuel. In other words, from solar energy. 

The usefulness of solar energy generated by photovoltaic cells should not be minimized. But I wonder how many people realize that we are already using solar energy to such a large extent.

Photo by Patrick Selin on Unsplash.