Surprise! Surprise! An article in The Wall Street Journal relying on data compiled by the federal government reveals out that solar projects that use new technology fail to live up to their promises of delivering electricity. Despite new innovations using mirrors to replace facilities with older solar panels, the new technology out now could become outmoded. California’s Ivanpah solar facility, for example, is supposed to generate more than one million megawatt hours of electricity per year. The reflected light is used to heat water in boilers which make steam that powers turbines that generate electricity. Recent estimates show that over a year after Ivanaph’s completion, the solar plant is generating less than half of that.

The Wall Street Journal points out:

One big miscalculation was that the power plant requires far more steam to run smoothly and efficiently than originally thought, according to a document filed with the California Energy Commission. Instead of ramping up the plant each day before sunrise by burning one hour’s worth of natural gas to generate steam, Ivanpah needs more than four times that much help from fossil fuels to get the plant humming every morning. Another unexpected problem: not enough sun. Weather predictions for the area underestimated the amount of cloud cover that has blanketed Ivanpah since it went into service in 2013.

Ivanpah isn’t the only new solar-thermal project struggling to energize the grid. A large mirror-powered plant built in Arizona almost two years ago by Abengoa SA of Spain has also had its share of hiccups. Designed to deliver a million megawatt hours of power annually, the plant is putting out roughly half that, federal data show.

While the companies that own new technology solar plants state that everything should work once the kinks are worked out, there is still the issue of expense. Despite the glut in production coming from countries like Taiwan and China, according to University of California Berkeley economics professor Lucas Davis, the new technology for solar power is too expensive and, according to him, it is unlikely that it will ever gain traction in the U.S. The U.S. Department of Energy also estimates that the solar panels in place now cost half as much as the mirrored ones and, overall, solar plants only produce 1 percent of the nation’s total electricity.

In general, renewable energy sources are not adequate to generate enough power to service electricity demand. In Great Britain, for example, The UK Telegraph reported in January that the country’s National Grid said while UK winter electricity demand hit its highest level ever, wind turbines generated only thirty percent of their output. Gas, coal and nuclear power plants instead provided the most of Great Britian’s electricity demand.

Environmentalists propose renewable energy as the replacement for fossil fuels, but not only do they lobby for numerous rules and regulations to delay and even halt the construction of fossil fuel projects but, simultaneously, their proposed mandates delay renewable energy amenities. Not only do they seek to shut down fossil fuel oriented power plants, the process they lobbied for hinders their alternatives. If the data cited by The Wall Street Journal article above is any indication, the cost of new solar technology makes implementing solar power very cost prohibitive. Furthermore, renewables overall cannot service mankind’s energy needs. When taking all of this into account, mankind isn’t left with many choices. However, it is clear, that ending the use of any source of energy in order to usher us into a new Dark Ages is the point of their alternatives.