By David Jenkins, Conservatives for Responsible Stewardship
As a lifelong conservative who has spent decades working on energy-related issues, including serving as a campaign surrogate on energy for John McCain’s 2008 presidential run, I recall that the GOP ethos on energy has been solidly rooted in the catchphrase “All of the Above.”
That phrase is in keeping with a genuinely conservative belief in the free market and its ability to drive investment to the smartest and most cost-effective energy technologies.
Not only is that approach naturally suited to keeping our energy costs low, it also can best ensure that America leads the global race to dominate future energy markets.
So, it was disappointing to hear Sunshine State gubernatorial candidate Paul Renner (a Republican) seemingly abandon “All of the Above” in favor of a hairbrained energy cancel culture that results in more rate hikes and threatens our energy future.
During an interview with Drew Steele on the digital news outlet Florida’s Voice, Renner trotted out tired old myths about the reliability of solar energy that haven’t been true in more than a decade.
While sunny Florida gets a measly 11% of its energy from solar and wind, which are now our cheapest sources of electricity, Texas is getting more than 30% of its energy from those sources. In fact, solar and wind are credited with making the Texas grid more reliable and stabilizing it during unprecedented electricity demand in 2025.
Texas is not the only red state to take advantage of wind and solar energy. Oklahoma, another oil state, gets 42% of its electricity from renewables, and Iowa leads the nation with wind and solar accounting for a whopping 61% of the state’s energy. South Dakota and New Mexico are not far behind at 59%.
These states are letting the market decide which energy sources to invest in, and the market is overwhelmingly choosing wind and solar.
As Floridians labor under skyrocketing electricity costs and one utility rate hike after another, it’s worth pointing out that the price of solar-generated electricity (with storage) is typically less than half the cost of the electricity generated by natural gas plants.
And the price of natural gas is only going up. Due to liquified natural gas (LNG) exports, data center demand and other factors driving up gas prices, Florida electric bills are projected to increase by roughly $40 billion over the next 10 years.
But Renner’s trip down the rabbit hole of ignorance didn’t stop with his outdated reliability claims. He then implied that we should reject solar energy because too many solar panels — and the batteries used for storage — are made in China.
It’s a good thing the United States didn’t take the Renner approach in the 1970s and decide that since Japan was flooding the market with quality cars and trucks, we should just stop driving.
The patriotic American response to such competition is not to, as Renner suggests, surrender, but to meet that competition in the marketplace and beat it.
The fact that the Sunshine State gets a mere 11% of its electricity from solar energy, which is produced in-state and not subject to global supply disruptions, represents a colossal failure.
Apparently, Renner — and others who have hopped on the energy cancel culture bus — have decided that because solar and wind energy is embraced by folks on the political left, they must be against it.
That logic is about as dimwitted as deciding to boycott all vegetables because some liberal vegetarians also happen to like them.
Solar energy is Florida’s cheapest, most abundant and most secure source of energy. And in this age of ever-rising electric bills, power-hungry data centers and global unrest, Floridians need leaders who will ditch the foolishness and get serious about lowering energy costs.
That means a common-sense return to “All of the Above,” rejecting this wacky energy cancel culture and fully embracing this state’s God-given solar.
David Jenkins is president of Conservatives for Responsible Stewardship, a national organization with more than 11,000 members in Florida. Banner photo: A rooftop solar array being installed in Broward County (Paul Krashefski/U.S. Department of Energy, Public domain, via Wilimedia Commons).
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