The Physics Problem Policymakers Won’t Face

By John A. Nichols, Guest Contributor

After years of fighting Delaware’s energy subsidies, I’ve learned that some truths are tough for leaders to accept. I asked an AI, Claude, to challenge three ideas: wind and solar only succeed because of subsidies, reliable power needs dependable sources, and people need lots of energy to thrive. Claude couldn’t prove me wrong—the facts were clear.

Let’s look at subsidies. In 2010, taxpayers paid $56 for every megawatt-hour of wind energy but only about 64 cents for coal or gas. By 2022, renewables got $15.6 billion in federal aid, while fossil fuels got $3.2 billion, even though renewables produced less energy. If all subsidies ended, only dependable energy sources would survive. That’s not politics, it’s just how physics works.

The problem is basic: Solar doesn’t work at night. Wind doesn’t work when it’s calm. Germany saw this in November 2024, when renewables supplied just 30% of power for days; fossil fuels and imports filled the gap. Even with the best setup, renewables are unpredictable. We always need a backup.

Backup means either huge batteries or keeping fossil fuel plants ready. To fully rely on renewables, the UK would need enough battery storage to power the country for 27 days, which would take decades to build. The other option is to pay for both renewables and backup plants, so we pay twice.

This leads to the “missing money” problem. Subsidies let wind and solar sell electricity cheaply, which lowers prices and hurts traditional power plants. In my area, this caused a big issue: the 2027/28 auction for backup power fell short by 6,625 MW, even though prices were high. Old plants can’t make enough money to stay open.

Renewables also make the grid less stable. Unlike old power plants that help keep the grid steady, solar panels and wind turbines use electronics that can make the system more fragile and increase the risk of blackouts.

This matters because data centers—especially those running AI—are using more and more power and need reliable electricity all day, every day. Renewable energy’s ups and downs just won’t work for them. But current policies are making the grid weaker by supporting unreliable energy and not encouraging steady power sources. Then we wonder why new power plants aren’t being built.

The stakes are high. Poor countries use less than 500 kWh per person per year—just enough to run an American fridge all year. Richer nations use 4,000 to 6,000 kWh. That extra energy means hospitals, schools, and clean homes. Abundant energy is not just nice, it’s essential. No country has ever prospered with too little energy.

We have to choose stable power or current policies. Physics doesn’t bend. Solar and wind only work when the weather cooperates. Batteries can’t store enough. Backup plants need funding. These are facts, not opinions.

In the age of AI, both humans and machines need lots of affordable, reliable power. We can either have that or face blackouts and high costs. We can’t have both unstable energy and a stable grid. I asked Claude to prove me wrong. The AI couldn’t. Maybe leaders should ask themselves why.

John Nichols is a long-standing advocate for affordable and reliable electricity in Delaware.

Delaware Needs Certificate of Need Reform for Better Health Care Access

By: Jane Brady, Chair, A Better Delaware 

“We must reform Certificate of Need to increase both access to and competition.”  So said Governor Matt Meyer, in his State of the State Address on January 22, 2026, as he spoke about health care in Delaware.

What a relief to hear those words. We at A Better Delaware have advocated for reform of the certificate of need law, or Certificate of Public Review, as it is now called in Delaware, for a number of years. We have cited to repeated studies that show that removing the certificate of need requirements will increase access to, the cost of, and the quality of, health care in Delaware.

A certificate of need (CON) is, essentially, permission, required to be approved by a committee appointed by the political process, to open a new facility or expand healthcare services, even to adding new imaging technology or adding more bed space to an existing facility. Those who serve on that committee often operate competing facilities. That process has been shown to keep new competition from entering the market, leaving fewer healthcare choices for patients.

While the federal government first thought certificate of need laws would improve prices and service, in the mid-1980s Congress repealed the law requiring such a program, acknowledging that the law had failed to meet the goal of controlling health care costs.

Since then, most states have repealed their certificate of need laws.  They have concluded, reasonably, that they do not help the citizens of their state receive quality health care at a reasonable cost in a reasonable period of time.

As with many issues, the cost of certificate of need laws was made more clear during the COVID pandemic. One study, published in the Journal of Risk and Financial Management, found that hospitals in states with a certificate of need law were 27% more likely to run out of beds. The capacity was not there, because those laws restricted expanded access to care.

The impact also extends to cost. In a Cost of Care survey, conducted by Carescout and Genworth, Delaware was found to be in the top 10 most expensive states for the cost of assisted living, and semi- and private care facilities.

Delaware also has the third longest wait for emergency room care in the country – over 214 minutes. When you consider that many hospitals have opened smaller, emergency care facilities throughout the state, some of which see a patient before they are fully checked in, the actual time in the emergency rooms can be much longer. Indeed, before Delaware hospitals opened those smaller facilities, the average wait time in Delaware emergency rooms was over 5 hours.

In addition to the high cost of, and restricted access to, health care, Delaware suffers a severe shortage of doctors. According to the U. S. Health Resources and Services Administration, as cited in Becker’s Hospital Review, Delaware stands last among states nationwide for access to primary-care physicians, according to figures released this month.

Recently the federal government has made it even clearer that these laws are not effective and should be repealed. Federal assistance to states for rural health care and hospital programs has, in some instances, been conditioned on the repeal of certificate of need laws. Other states have simply taken the initiative to repeal or reform them. Delaware would be well-served to follow their path.

We are pleased to hear the Governor’s words, and hope that he will take charge and lead an effort to encourage more access, lower costs and better-quality health care for Delaware patients.

Jane Brady serves as Chair of A Better Delaware. She previously served as Attorney General of Delaware and as a Judge of the Delaware Superior Court.

Saving Delaware Kids Is Our Responsibility

By Nancy Mercante, Guest Contributor

What will the future hold for our kids, grandkids, and especially those who live in poverty in Delaware?

Are any of us happy that student performance in Delaware ranks fourth from the bottom in national testing?  On the contrary, this is an embarrassment and a disgrace to deprive Delaware’s children of a good education. Think about it: 49^th in eight grade math and reading scores are at a 27-year low with 41% reading below basic proficiency. In a 2025 survey, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce reports that four out of five managers say high school students are unprepared to enter the workforce.

The problems begin in the lower grades and become critical and hard to overcome by fourth grade. Since 2013, this group has lost more than 30 points and ranks 49^th in the nation. Compare this to Mississippi, one of the poorest states in the nation, which leapfrogged over Delaware during the same period.

Far too many Delawareans don’t know these facts. That’s why later this month we will launch a state-wide “Wake Up Delaware” campaign. Nothing will change until more people, especially parents, understand how serious the problem is.

Truth is that school boards tackle many vital issues plaquing education today, but they can and should elevate academic outcomes to the highest order of business. That’s the whole purpose of schools, isn’t it? We need people who feel passionate about giving kids a better education to run for their school board.

Boards have a vital oversight role that includes setting education policies, approving multi-million-dollar budgets and above all, holding superintendents accountable for delivering improved academic outcomes. Board members serve as liaisons between the education system and the people who are its customers.

I’m not going to kid you – it requires work to get candidates up to speed and know how to work effectively with other members who may have different views. The good news is that Citizens for Delaware Schools is creating a network of useful resources to ease candidates into the role.

Thirty-four seats are up for election across the state in May. With the March 6 filing deadline looming, we need more people to run so we voters have choices. Our Republic depends on this kind of local civic involvement from citizens. If this role is not for you, print out this recruitment flyer and hand them to friends, family or associates saying, “I think you’d be good at this.”

Equally important, we the people – parents, grandparents, taxpayers, teachers, you, me – must step up big time to be part of the solution. One way is to insist that school boards lead differently and put all children on the path to academic excellence. Another is to get informed and step up in small but meaningful ways: Monitor and speak up at school board meetings; sign up to get our newsletter; read our online Voter Guide before you go vote on May 13.

This fight is not about blame or numbers. It’s about saving lives.  Think about your kids or grandkids, and all children in public schools who might be lost in a system that is broken. They matter. Let’s stand up for them while there’s still time and help them find their way to the American Dream.

Nancy Mercante had a career in corporate communications for major companies in the financial, pharmaceutical and telecommunications industries. She founded Citizens for Delaware Schools, a nonpartisan nonprofit, two years ago to advocate for a better education for every student in Delaware.

Tackling Delaware’s Housing Crisis

By: Jane Brady, Chair, A Better Delaware 

Delaware is known as The First State, a source of pride for us. We think of our state as a good place to live, work and do business.  But, behind that pride, there are eroding numbers.

Take, for instance, housing in Delaware. We don’t have enough, and what we do have is not affordable for a lot of us.

Delaware has a housing shortage.  Some estimates put the number of housing units we need for those who are in need at over 20,000.  The number may vary, but the shortage is not a new development.  You would think there would be some urgency on the part of our state leadership to resolve the issue.  After all, homelessness affects so many aspects of one’s life.  The lack of stability is pervasive. Children, students, workers, mothers and fathers suffer the effects of the uncertainty lack of housing generates.  Their physical and mental health suffers.

Recently, Kevin Smith, CEO of Habitat for Humanity of New Castle County reportedly stated, “Every delay in building affordable housing shows up in a child’s life sooner or later. We see it in instability, a lack of sleep, higher stress levels, and academic struggles.”

What are the policies that can change the dynamics of this situation? Well, to begin with, we can make it easier and less expensive to get permits to build. That reduces the time it takes to get to construction, and the costs, ultimately, of the housing that is constructed.

Red Tape Index recently posted a measure of the speed with which building permits are issued, and Delaware ranked 40^th.  Time is money for business, and the delays in getting projects approved, makes the cost of housing go up and reduces the number of projects that can begin construction. This delay includes not just big projects, but smaller ones and renovations and improvements to existing structures to make them livable and assure safe housing for tenants as well as homebuyers.  Incredibly, while many leaders imply that only big business complains about the delays in permitting, in fact, over 70%, of landlords are smaller, individual investors.

When the costs of building rental units goes up, the rents go up. Renting becomes unaffordable for too many. Desperate ideas like rent control or “rent stability” which freezes rent where it is, are suggested, but studies continue to show such steps only exacerbate the problems.  We need more units that are livable and affordable.  That requires permits. Cut the red tape!

Additionally, our transfer tax is the highest in the nation – 4%. That is the tax on the sale price of property, a home or a condo. The tax adds thousands of dollars to the cost. The State increased the tax when Delaware was experiencing a revenue shortage and promised at the time that when times go better, it would be reduced. Well, we have been through ups and downs and still the tax is at 4%.

Just how does that affect the availability of housing?  Usually, the buyer and seller each pay half as part of the settlement agreement, so it affects both the decision to buy and the decision to sell. The reality? The transfer tax on the sale of a house costing $384,079, not a mansion by any means, is $15,363!!!

A study by the Sage Policy Group, “The Economic and Fiscal Consequences of High Transfer Tax Rates found that high real estate transfer taxes trap families in their homes, reduce housing construction and slow commercial development. Further, the study found that the consequences hit low-income families the hardest, because it results in fewer apartments and higher rents. The study cites to the experience in Los Angeles, where, when the transfer tax was increased in an effort to bring in revenue, multifamily construction dropped 18%, the equivalent of about 2,000 units, and resulted in the loss of a number of construction jobs. Whether you are a young, first-time buyer, or an older person looking to downsize, the cost of the transfer tax factors in and discourages moving forward.  Cut the transfer tax!

Let’s adopt policies that make housing affordable in Delaware and put children, families, seniors and all of us, in stable living situations.

Jane Brady serves as Chair of A Better Delaware. She previously served as Attorney General of Delaware and as a Judge of the Delaware Superior Court.