Dec. 1, 2025, I attended an “energy summit” at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva. I was eager to attend because I had ideas to share for how electric power companies could save millions of dollars (and hopefully pass savings along to customers) using smart meters combined with whole house batteries. This process has been successful in Vermont.

I was also concerned about the retreat at the national level from renewable energy projects — just as electricity demand is dramatically spiking due to staggering increased demand from proposed AI and bitcoin data centers.

The panel included local elected officials, business leaders, and representatives of the natural gas industry and NYSEG. Absent was any individual who understood the workings of the grid and power generation, to explain how we can provide for our electric energy needs while lowering our electricity costs and reducing our carbon footprint — a combination that is possible today.

The U.S. clearly has a problem with energy demand. As demand for electricity increases, if supply does not simultaneously increase, rates will continue to climb. New York State electricity costs have increased by 60% since 2024, and there is a proposed additional increase of 35%.

Using renewables as energy sources would obviously contribute to solutions. But the Trump administration is ending renewable sources of clean energy such as solar and offshore wind power

The fossil fuel industry has spent $15 million since 2021 to lobby against New York State’s renewable energy program promoting false and alarmist ideas, including: 1) renewables are unreliable, 2) that solar farms will use up all our farmland so we will not have food, 3) that windmills kill birds, and 4) that offshore wind projects are a threat to national security because they interfere with radar.

We need to examine these claims:

Reliability: Vermont’s Green Mountain Electric (GME) offers an incentive to install whole house batteries when a homeowner installs solar panels, serving two functions. First, it provides power into the grid during high demand periods, ending the need to turn on “Peaking plants.” Second, if the grid goes down, it provides backup power around the clock for the home. GME also saves nearly $2 million a year because having solar homes sending power back into the grid during peak demand periods reduces the cost of power generation.

Solar will use up needed farmland: A white paper entitled, “Enough Land — How will solar development affect upstate New York agriculture?” by Kris Martin [2023 — updated in 2025] provides a chart showing that solar would use 7% of farmland by 2050 but points out that an additional 19% of farmland would be taken for non-solar uses. Instead of barring beneficial solar development, shouldn’t we concentrate on the larger picture including the impacts of less beneficial uses of farmland?

Windmills kill birds: The American Bird Conservancy estimates that for every one bird killed by a windmill, 17,000 birds are killed by cats and over 7,000 birds are killed by flying into buildings.

Windmills are a threat to national security: A March 9, 2026, article in “IEEE Spectrum” noted “U.S. agencies that monitor radar have continued to operate ‘without significant impacts’ from wind turbines thanks to field tests, technology development, and mitigation measures taken by U.S. agencies since 2012.” (Department of Energy)

The meeting in December was, indeed, disappointing. It seemed organized to promote the fossil fuel industry rather than to examine sustainable solutions to the energy problems we face. A young mother spoke up, saying that she was also concerned about the environment and the future for her two young sons. The answer by the panel was that “the meeting was about having enough electricity” and that “concern for environment” was a topic for another venue.

Like that young mother, I worry about what my young, great-grandchildren’s adult lives will be like. What kind of world are we leaving them?

The Washington Post reported (May 2024) that Donald Trump had asked oil executives for $1 billion for his 2024 campaign. The Guardian (Jan. 23, 2024) reported that Big Oil spent $445 million in the 2024 election cycle. The New York Times recently reported that the U.S. government is paying $885 million of taxpayer dollars to cancel two offshore wind projects, being built as an investment at no cost to taxpayers and less expensive per kilowatt than a gas-powered generating plant. The federal government subsidizes the fossil fuel industry (with a vested interest in maintaining the status quo) with $34 billion each year.

In order to turn this around, we must elect people who are not accepting huge sums from fossil fuel industries and instead elect those who are working for the people in their districts.