What a difference a year makes in witnessing how rising petroleum pump prices and winter heating costs can bring about a chilling political climate change regarding the importance of fossil energy.We’re seeing evidence of this consequential rude awakening in reversals of the Biden administration's anti-oil and gas regulatory edicts, desperate White House pleas for hydrocarbon companies to increase production, and Democrat-sponsored federal gas tax suspension proposals.Meanwhile, as Europe has … [Read more...]
Federal District Court Enjoins Use Of The “Social Cost Of Carbon”
In the U.S. so far, efforts to enact legislation in Congress to “save the planet” by restricting fossil fuels and transforming our energy economy have gone almost entirely nowhere. President Obama’s big idea of “cap and trade” legislation died early in his first term and was never resurrected. President Biden’s “Green New Deal” has so far suffered a similar fate. If the Republicans retake even one house of Congress later this year, prospects for legislation on this subject may be dead for many … [Read more...]
Is capitalism to blame for hunger and poverty?
Before capitalism, most of the global population were living in extreme poverty. From 90 percent in 1820, the rate has now fallen to 10 percent.Most remarkably, since the end of communism in China and other countries in recent decades, poverty has declined faster than in any previous period in human history.Many people who believe that capitalism is to blame for hunger and poverty have an entirely unrealistic notion of life in pre-capitalist societies. Johan Norberg, the author of the book … [Read more...]
Thinking Biblically about Earth Stewardship & the Conquest of Poverty in the Age of Climate Change
We have created an updated version of this page to reflect changes made for 2023. You can visit the new page here. … [Read more...]
As coal use surges, America finds it’s hard to unplug from carbon
So much for the myriad claims about going “beyond coal.” According to a new report from the Rhodium Group, U.S. coal consumption jumped by 17 percent last year compared to 2020 levels. That’s a huge increase, which Rhodium says was “largely driven by a run-up in natural gas prices.” Rather than burn gas, which averaged about $4.93 per million Btu last year — more than two times the price in 2020 — many electricity producers chose to burn coal instead.The surge in domestic coal use is … [Read more...]
How About A Pilot Project To Demonstrate The Feasibility Of Fully Wind/Solar/Battery Electricity Generation?
At this current crazy moment, most of the “Western” world (Europe, the U.S., Canada, Australia) is hell-bent on achieving a “net-zero” energy system. As I understand this concept, it means that, within two or three decades, all electricity production will be converted from the current mostly-fossil-fuel generation mix to almost entirely wind, solar, and storage. On top of that, all or nearly all energy consumption that is not currently electricity (e.g., transportation, industry, heat, … [Read more...]
What Solution Do Renewable Energy Advocates Offer For The Problem Of Storage?
Most comments at this site tend to have a perspective generally consistent with my own. But sometimes a post will attract comments from people with a very different point of view. That occurred on a post earlier this week titled “Two More Contributions On The impossibility Of Electrifying Everything Using Only Wind, Solar, And Batteries.”That post and the one immediately preceding it (“Calculating The Full Costs Of Electrifying Everything Using Only Wind, Solar, And Batteries”) had both focused … [Read more...]
Calculating The Full Costs Of Electrifying Everything Using Only Wind, Solar And Batteries
For several years now, advocates of “decarbonizing” our energy system, along with promoters of wind and solar energy, have claimed that the cost of electricity from the wind and sun was dropping rapidly and either already was, or soon would be, less than the cost of generating the same electricity from fossil fuels. These claims are generally based on a metric called the “Levelized Cost of Energy,” which is designed to seem sophisticated to the uninitiated, but in the real world is completely … [Read more...]
Nord Stream 2’s impact on the European Union, NATO, and the U.S
There is a real possibility, the European Union (EU) will endure major fuel shortages this winter. Record-high electricity prices are currently the norm with no end in sight. Russian President Vladimir Putin astutely understands the EU heavily relies on Russian natural gas, which Nord Stream 1 and now 2 (NS2) natural gas pipeline will provide. This $11 billion line to double the capacity of Russian natural gas to the German coast spanning 764 miles under the Baltic Sea will be used as a … [Read more...]
Corrupt Climate Science Poisons Eastern Power Grid Operator
Once upon a time the job of the PJM Interconnection — operator of the nation’s largest electricity grid — was reasonably straightforward: Keep the lights on. The organization’s mission statement still identifies PJM’s “primary task” as ensuring the power grid’s “safety, reliability and security.” However, today’s PJM is post-modern. Focused management of transmitting electricity is muddled by notions of carbon dioxide as a toxin and sophomoric visions of pristine energy from the zephyrs and … [Read more...]
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