The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC, rhymes with jerk) is taking comments on a proposed order that might actually constrain the destructive impact of renewables on America’s grid. FERC would order the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC, also rhymes with jerk) to do something about the growing adverse impact of renewables. NERC is a private corporation endowed with federal authority to keep America’s lights on. NERC makes and enforces the regulations governing … [Read more...]
The False Promise of Electric Cars
The following is a guest article by Andrew Stuttaford. "The more the state ‘plans,’” wrote Hayek, “the more difficult planning becomes for the individual.” This may resonate with the driver of an electric vehicle (EV) who has pulled up at a charging station in the middle of nowhere, only to find it broken. In January last year, Carlos Tavares, the CEO of Stellantis, the world’s fifth-largest carmaker (it was formed by the merger of Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot), described electrification as … [Read more...]
NY Times Exploits Hurricane Harvey Victims
In a lengthy feature in its February 5, 2023, Sunday edition, the New York Times told the heart-breaking story of a young couple who lost their home to Hurricane Harvey. Written by Jake Bittle, described as "a reporter covering climate, housing and energy," the article was adapted from his forthcoming book The Great Displacement: Climate Change and the Next American Migration. The article claims that Harvey and other "climate disasters" destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes across the … [Read more...]
Wind Farms Wrong for Right Whales
Wind energy is presented by climate alarmists as a planet saver – a friend of Earth’s flora and fauna. Nothing could be further from the truth, which is becoming more apparent with increasing deaths among whales along the United States’ East Coast. Image: Creative Commons under Unsplash Though dismissed by official agencies charged with wildlife protection, evidence is pointing to offshore wind projects as threats to whales, especially the endangered North Atlantic right whale. Wind … [Read more...]
Evidence Says Offshore Wind Development is Killing Lots of Whales
The recent deaths of seven whales off New Jersey, mostly humpbacks, got a lot of attention. The federal NOAA Fisheries agency is responsible for whales. An outrageous statement by their spokesperson got me to do some research on humpback whale deaths. The results are appalling. The evidence seems clear that offshore wind development is killing whales by the hundreds. Here is the statement as reported in the press: “NOAA said it has been studying what it calls “unusual mortality … [Read more...]
Where’s the electricity?
One of the best-known quotes was “where’s the beef?“ from Clara Peller, who was a manicurist and American character actress who, at the age of 81, starred in the 1984 advertising campaign for the Wendy’s fast food restaurant chain. Image: Creative Commons under Unsplash Today, the huge dark cloud over EV projected sales is the availability of electricity to charge batteries which leads us to the quote for the foreseeable future. Where’s the electricity? The … [Read more...]
The End of Oil Would be the End of Civilization
Six thousand products in our daily lives are made from oil derivatives that are manufactured out of crude oil. Besides all the obvious things derived from crude oil — gasoline, diesel fuel, av gas, kerosene, propane, butane, and all plastics used in hospitals and food storage — did you know that our homes are full of products derived from petroleum in their production? Things like construction materials such as roofing and housing insulation, linoleum flooring, furniture, appliances, and home … [Read more...]
Vital Energy Lessons for Virginia and America
When they open their 30-day session on January 11, Virginia’s Senate and House of Delegates must correct some serious energy mistakes they made two years ago, when Democrats controlled nearly the entire state government and passed the “Virginia Clean Economy Act.” One of its party-line provisions requires that Virginia adopt California’s requirement that only low-emission vehicles (LEVs) be sold by the model year 2025 and only zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) by MY 2035. That means in barely … [Read more...]
Nature Votes Against Climate Alarmism
Everybody knows “climate change” leads to increased extreme weather events, right? After all, the Environmental Defense Fund, Earth Justice, Carbon Brief, the Royal Society, and the National Academies of Science all say so. But there’s a problem. Nature disagrees. Remember this famous graph by Cornwall Alliance Senior Fellow Dr. Roy W. Spencer? That was just about what was happening with global temperature. As you can see, up through 2013, over 95% of climate models predicted more … [Read more...]
UAH Global Temperature Update for November, 2022: +0.17 deg. C
Sorry for the late posting of the global temperature update, I’ve been busy responding to reviewers of one of our papers for publication. The Version 6 global average lower tropospheric temperature (LT) anomaly for November 2022 was +0.17 deg. C departure from the 1991-2020 mean. This is down from the October anomaly of +0.32 deg. C The linear warming trend since January, 1979 now stands at +0.13 C/decade (+0.12 C/decade over the global-averaged oceans, and +0.18 C/decade over … [Read more...]