Marjorie Taylor Greene suggested that solar and wind energy don’t work at night, prompting online mockery.
TheRepublican was speaking in front of an audience in her home state of Georgia when she suggested that if the US takes measures to move to the use of more renewable energy, including wind turbines and solar panels, it would lead to fridges, washing machines, and air conditioners becoming unusable.
She appeared to suggest that electric lights would only work during the day and that there wouldn’t be sufficient power for all the appliances in a modern home.
“Thank god for air conditioning. Let’s talk about refrigerators. I personally like my refrigerator. I know you all like yours. What about washing machines and dryers? Lord please God don’t make me scrub clothes in a bucket and have to hang them out on a line when we switch over to wind turbines and solar panels,” she said. “I’m gonna be really pissed off about that. I mean, how absurd is this? I like the lights on. I wanna stay up later at night. I don’t wanna have to go to bed when the sun sets. It’s so silly! I mean, all of this is insane.”
Ms Greene was speaking shortly after the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes $62.7bn in clean electricity credits, a $30bn nuclear energy credit, $51.1bn in wind and solar tax credits, $37.4bn for clean manufacturing, and $36.9bn in individual green energy credits, according to The New York Times.
The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy states on its website that “the United States is a resource-rich country with abundant renewable energy resources. The amount available is 100 times that of the nation’s annual electricity need”.
“She thinks solar power only works when it’s sunny and wind only works when it’s blowing. What an absolute idiot,” Fred Wellman, a political communications advisor, wrote.
Daily Beast Political Editor Matt Fuller tweeted: “The thing here is there really aren’t great arguments against wind and solar energy, so if you’re against wind and solar, you kind of have to make up s**t.”
“Luckily we invented a little thing called the battery that will keep your power on overnight,” Thor Benson added.
“Seriously, these people are an embarrassment to the country. Someone should sit down and explain to this woman all the different ways we have to store energy produced by the sun during the day. Marge will s**t her pants when she learns about batteries,” another Twitter user said.
Democratic Tennessee State Representative Gloria Johnson added: “Oh my stars and bless her heart, she is that dumb y’all.”
“You can not teach this level of dumb. Nor can you fix it. Don’t bother telling her that solar powered lights don’t automatically turn off at night. You will just confuse her,” David Samson wrote.
“She’s stupid, the people in the room listening to her are stupid. There is nothing you or I could say to change their stupid minds. The only power we have against these people is our vote. Please, for the love of god, use it,” Twitter user Andrea said.
