Which is more environmentally friendly, an energy source that uses one unit of land to produce one unit of electricity or a source that uses 100 units of land to produce one unit of electricity? The answer should be obvious. Nevertheless, green energy advocates call for a huge expansion of wind, solar, and other renewables that use vast amounts of land to replace traditional power plants that use comparatively small amounts of land. Vaclav Smil, professor emeritus of the University of … [Read more...]
US Turns to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Therefore Child Labor, For EV Ambitions
Image: Creative Commons under Unsplash The following is a guest article by Nick Pope. In order to facilitate electric vehicle (EV) production, the U.S. is seeking to spend taxpayer dollars to develop cobalt supply chains from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a country which is known for high prevalence of unsafe child labor in its mines, many of which are controlled by Chinese interests, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. The United States Agency for International … [Read more...]
SITYS: Climate Models Do Not Conserve Mass or Energy
One of the most fundamental requirements of any physics-based model of climate change is that it must conserve mass and energy. This is partly why I (along with Danny Braswell and John Christy) have been using simple 1-dimensional climate models that have simplified calculations and where conservation is not a problem. Changes in the global energy budget associated with increasing atmospheric CO2 are small, roughly 1% of the average radiative energy fluxes in and out of the climate system. … [Read more...]
Do Forever Chemicals Really Last Forever?
The following is a brief excerpt from an interview conducted on WORLD radio, where the hosts discuss the complicated reality of "forever chemicals." It is an important conversation about what they are, the potential risks they carry, and the costs of regulating them because there is no such thing as a world without tradeoffs. Image: Creative Commons under Unsplash MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: drinking water. What do non-stick pans, firefighting … [Read more...]
Protecting ‘Sacred’ Lands As Part of ‘Managed Decline’
Image: Creative Commons under Unsplash It is increasingly clear that the Biden Administration’s minerals policy is designed to maximize China’s grip on America’s declining future. On August 8, Biden permanently banned new uranium mining claims on nearly a million acres of the nation’s largest deposits of uranium ore by creating the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni Grand Canyon National Monument in Arizona. The move follows Biden’s creation in March of the Avi Kwa Ame National Park in … [Read more...]
BOOK REVIEW: ‘Climate Uncertainty and Risk: Rethinking Our Response’
What was once tagged the “lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer” is now deemed “global boiling” by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. With such hyperbole, it looks like the United Nations is tagging another aphorism: “Make hay while the sun is shining.” The hot summer weather has increased the hysteria surrounding the global warming hypothesis to a fever pitch. So, a cooling in the form of measured perspective is badly needed. Enter “Climate Uncertainty and Risk: Rethinking Our Response,” … [Read more...]
The “Madness of Crowds”?
Can history help us understand today’s panic over global warming? I believe so. I do think we are experiencing panic. While the Earth is warming and human activity probably contributes to it, the overheated efforts to make people fear the long-term future suggest that this is more of a crusade than a rationally considered enterprise. Extreme fear of global warming negatively affects politics, the economy, the media, international relations, and education. I will look at two disastrous … [Read more...]
Green Posturing: Grandstanding or Goofball?
Two years ago, industrial ecology guru Roland Geyer, writing in The Guardian, made his case for an immediate ban on fossil fuels. His reason? “Time is running out to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement and avoid catastrophic climate change.” Image: Creative Commons under Unsplash Geyer assesses pollution prevention strategies based on reuse, recycling, and material and technology substitution plastics, photovoltaics, metals, and automotives. He is convinced that industrial society … [Read more...]
An Insider’s Prudent Advice to America’s Electric Power Industry
When in June of this year the Cornwall Alliance offered to send Robert Bryce’s book A Question of Power: Electricity and the Wealth of Nations free as our thanks when people donated, one donor, Thomas J. Myers, responded with a note we just had to share. He writes from experience within the electric power industry. With his permission, here’s what he said. It’s a message millions need to hear and take seriously. Image: Creative Commons under Unsplash Thanks for communicating to folks … [Read more...]
Dishonest Climate Fear-Mongering Headlines
The Dishonest Climate Fear-mongering headline award goes to USA TODAY whose headline said: "Dramatic flooding was rare in Vermont’s capital. Expect it more amid climate change." Similar catastrophic claims were suggested throughout the click-bait media-verse from the NY Times, the Washington Post, CNN, etc., etc. Rarely does the media provide a scientific, historical context, preferring instead to weaponize weather. But if you read the article Climate Variability and … [Read more...]
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