The White House ran clean-up once again on Thursday after President Joe Biden made an erroneous claim about renewable energy savings.
What did Biden claim?
After announcing the release of 180 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Biden said the real solution to the ongoing gas price crisis is to “reduce our dependence on fossil fuels altogether.”
Biden went on to push his renewable energy agenda, saying Americans “need to embrace all the tools and technologies that can help us free us from our dependence on fossil fuels and move us toward more homegrown clean energy technologies.”
Moving from gas to electric vehicles, Biden said, will save Americans on average $80 per month at the gas pump. Then he claimed outfitting your house with clean energy sources will save you $500 per month.
“If your home is powered by safer, cheaper, cleaner electricity, like solar or heat pumps, you can save about $500 a month on average,” Biden said.
President Biden delivers remarks on efforts to lower gas prices at the pump — 3/31/2022 youtu.be
But what did the WH do?
After Biden’s press conference, the White House published an updated transcript of his remarks. The White House scratched through “month” and replaced it with “year.”
The edited transcript was posted online around the same time the Associated Press published a fact check explaining that Biden’s savings promise was wildly incorrect, noting “the average person in the U.S. spends far less than [$500] every month on electricity.”
Interestingly, the Associated Press explained how Biden’s promise of energy savings is misleading, although the outlet did not use that language.
“Even yearly savings, though, would take years for homeowners to realize, given the upfront cost of installing solar panels and heat pumps in homes,” the AP explained.
Anything else?
As gas prices remain at historic highs, Biden and senior administration officials have repeatedly touted electric vehicles as a solution to the current crisis. That is why Biden is using the Defense Production Act to incentivize production of minerals required for electric vehicle batteries.
However, the president never discussed the cost of electric vehicles.
According to Kelley Blue Book, the average cost for an electric vehicle in February was $64,685 while the average cost of a compact car was $26,196 and the average cost of a compact SUV or crossover was $33,732.
Considering the median household income in 2019 was $67,521, the reality is that most Americans cannot afford electric vehicles without taking on a massive amount of debt.