A Powerful Defense of Capitalism

When Forbes editor Steve Forbes calls a book “one of the most important … in decades defending capitalism,” it’s time to sit up and take notice. Rainer Zitelmann’s In Defense of Capitalism: Debunking the Myths (USA, Republic Book Publishers, March 2023) fully deserves Forbes’s praise. In 10 relatively short chapters constituting the first half of the book, Zitelmann conclusively […]

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Why Can’t Renewables Power Modern Economies? Physics

Image: Creative Commons under Unsplash To 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.

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An Easy Guide to Rational Energy Policies

There are extensive technical and lengthy discussions and proposed solutions—both pros and cons—about climate change, rising oceans, extreme weather events, the impact of emissions, net-zero, EV mandates, wind and solar mandates, pollution, temperature change, and energy subsidies. The elephant in the room that is seldom discussed is the simple and an easy-to-understand fact of life

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NOAA Proposes Hammering 208% of Vanishing Right Whales

Okay, it is a trick headline because they can only hammer 100% of the severely endangered North Atlantic Right Whale population. The point is that NOAA is proposing, for offshore wind development, to authorize a horrific 706 cases of physical harassment of Right Whales, whose dwindling population is down to just 340 magnificent critters. Image:

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Legalized Climate Grifting

Grifters have long fascinated us. Operating outside accepted moral standards, they excel at persuading their “marks” to hand valuables over willingly. If they ever represented a “distinctly American ethos,” they’ve been supplanted by con artists seeking bank accounts for funds abandoned by Nigerian princes. Their artful dodging is epitomized by Frank Abagnale daring the FBI

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Breakthrough! A Big Utility Says Net-Zero May Not Be Reliable

Dominion Energy, the big Virginia utility, has finally admitted that net-zero may not work. I have been writing about Dominion, which operates under the net-zero Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA), for a while now. VCEA requires Dominion to shut down all gas, oil, and coal-fired power by 2045. My point has been that VCEA cannot

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Get Ready for Higher Electricity Bills to Fund Vehicle Charging

Charging at home is a favored feature of electric vehicles (EVs). But public charging stations are needed for long trips and to maximize EV market penetration. However, it’s unlikely that charging fees can cover the capital and operating costs of public chargers or make money for investors. Image: Creative Commons under Unsplash According to Kelly

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The Economic Case for Net Zero Is Zero

Implementing net zero will depress the global economy more than the atmospheric warming that the campaign against carbon dioxide emissions is supposed to prevent, according to a comparison of research by recognized experts. In other words, abandoning efforts to eliminate the greenhouse gas emissions of fossil fuels likely would make virtually everybody richer. The comparison

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Achieving Net Zero 

According to the clerics of the Green Cult, once we blow up our last coal mine, send all diesel engines to the wreckers, stop using concrete, reinvent sailing clippers, cover the grasslands with solar clutter and the hills with wind machines and then slaughter all of our cattle. . . global climate will become serene

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