Image: Creative Commons under UnsplashTo understand why wind and solar power, even with battery backup, will not be sufficient in the near future to supply the electric power needs of any modern industrial economy, much less an economy the size of the United States, one must first understand how the electric power system works.Note: I’m not talking about costs. Although the media regularly reports demonstrably false claims that wind and solar power are cheaper than traditional power sources such … [Read more...]
Bad Climate Assumptions, Worse Climate Predictions
“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.” So begins Elizabeth Barret Browning’s famous Sonnet 43. What does that have to do with climate change, you ask? Browning’s poem has parallels to our understanding of the myriad physical mechanisms that drive climate change. “What affects the climate? Let me count the factors. …” Some people just don’t want to do that.Recent research published in the International Journal of Climatology, a peer-reviewed scientific publication of the Royal … [Read more...]
Economic Realities Dash Biden’s Offshore Wind Plans
President Joe Biden’s plans for offshore industrial wind facilities lining the nation’s coasts have more than a few hurdles to clear before they can become reality.As part of his plan to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions 50 percent below 2005 levels by 2030, Biden has initiated efforts to build 30,000 megawatts of traditional offshore wind facilities (with structures attached to the ocean floor) in federal waters by 2030, and an additional 15,000 megawatts of floating industrial offshore wind … [Read more...]
Get it Right, Washington Post, Climate Change Isn’t Causing a Decline in Coral Reefs
Image: Creative Commons under UnsplashThe Washington Post (WP) published a story detailing how the efforts by a Malaysian “coral gardener,” Anuar Abdulla, to restore coral reefs near his home have resulted in him being consulted on coral restoration efforts globally. Unfortunately, rather than simply delivering well-earned praise to Abdullah for his worthwhile efforts, the WP had to turn the story into another in its ongoing “Climate Solutions” series, blaming the coral decline on climate … [Read more...]
Climate Censors and Their Phony Fact Checks, Paid Shills
Climate alarmists’ response when the facts don’t fit the narrative they’ve been pushing for two decades is to suppress the facts by killing the messengers. Today you kill bearers of inconvenient truths not with an ax to the back of the neck but by de-platforming them.The climate censors start by throttling or labeling posts with which they disagree, limiting others’ ability to share unredacted posts on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms. If that fails to dissuade the climate … [Read more...]
Persistent Lies About Green Power
When drug companies try to sell you a particular cure for what ails you, the television ads typically consist of 10 seconds of saying how good the drug is and 20 seconds of disclaimers and warnings about possible negative side effects. If only renewable energy companies were that honest!To my great annoyance and disgust, a power company in Texas promises the state’s electricity users can choose a plan that delivers electricity 24 hours a day powered by the sun. Solar power.As anyone exercising … [Read more...]
Biden and Europe Should Respond to Russian Aggression by Scrapping Extremist Climate Policies
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was facilitated by alarmist policies enacted by the United States and Europe, meant to combat alleged runaway global warming.Germany, for example, decided to abandon coal and nuclear energy in favor of supposed climate-friendly “renewable” energy sources. And in the United Kingdom, after briefly considering allowing fracking a few years back, the government has basically doubled down on wind and solar, erecting bans or nearly insurmountable hurdles to natural gas … [Read more...]
Being a Climate Alarmist Means Never Having to Admit You’re Wrong
A mountain of evidence shows climate alarmists never learn from their mistakes, be they clear misstatements of facts or repeatedly failed prognostications.Why should they? The press lets climate alarmists get away with making more false claims than any other group on any other topic, including the efficacy of the COVID vaccines in keeping people from catching the disease or requiring hospitalization. Climate alarmists have nothing to fear from so-called fact-checkers in corporate or social media … [Read more...]
Alarmists Embrace Authoritarianism, Ignore Lessons of History
A rump group of the environmental movement has always been wedded to authoritarianism—primarily the movement’s intellectual leadership. Going back to the beginnings of environmentalism as a movement, progressive-era politicians such as President Theodore Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot (Roosevelt’s friend and choice to be the first head of the newly created U.S. Forest Service) believed democracy and markets were both ill-suited to manage natural resources. Progressives believed natural resources … [Read more...]
CLIMATE ALARMISTS CALL FOR GLOBAL ‘ECO-DICTATORSHIP’
Every so often the truth seeps out that significantly reducing global greenhouse gas emissions will require enormous sacrifices, meaning profound losses of welfare on people's part. Bear that in mind when you hear politicians’ promises of “net zero by X date” or “50 or 80 percent carbon dioxide reductions by year X.”In the Western world, the energy cuts and lifestyle changes required to hit net zero will mean going back to early-1800s levels of emissions. This will force enormously negative … [Read more...]
