The Green New Deal was a proposal introduced by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) in response to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s report that the world will be doomed in twelve years if humans don’t take conscious efforts to get climate change under control.

While its aspirations are noble, the proposal contains no information in detail about how it will accomplish any of its goals, including how the United States will operate on one hundred percent renewable energy in the next ten years. I agree that it is critically important that we stop the destruction of our own planet and home, but it’s goals are so unrealistic that there isn’t even a detailed plan to achieve the goal that it set.

Some of the goals of the Green New Deal include electrifying all buildings in the United States, and replacing current power grids with “smart” power grids in order to accommodate for renewable energy sources. In 2017, eighty percent of America’s total energy output came from fossil fuels such as gasoline and coal, while only nine percent came from renewable sources. For America to become totally independent from fossil fuels would take a miracle, not to mention huge leaps in technological advancement and a massive amount of money.

Some experts say that America’s electrical grid cannot accommodate solar and wind farms because the amount of electricity produced is inconsistent due to changing weather. A wind farm won’t produce any power if there’s no wind, and a solar farm won’t produce electricity if there’s no sunshine. Because of this, there wouldn’t be enough energy to supply the electrical grid at all times. Fossil fuels are able to be tapped more quickly than renewable sources of energy, and batteries that store renewable energy typically last only four hours. Without advances in technology, it will be extremely difficult for the Green New Deal to reach its goal.

The cost of electricity would also be a heavy burden for households if the nation could no longer rely on fossil fuels to produce power. Considering the unreliability of wind and solar power, a shortage of power wouldn’t be able to meet consumer demand, causing the price of electricity to skyrocket. A limited supply of a crucial resource like electricity will mean that people must pay more if they want to continue to have power in their homes.

People also must be given an incentive to reduce CO2 emissions as well, starting with taking away tax subsidies for fossil fuel companies and imposing a carbon tax. Imposing a carbon tax would raise money to fund the creation of solar and wind farms, as well as investment in green technology, such as electric cars and renewable energy batteries. Fossil fuel subsidies only help promote and encourage the use of fossil fuels, which is what causes the rising temperature of the earth. We have to get rid of the roadblocks first before we pave the way to progress.