“In the current energy debate, the diligent amateurs are often the real pros, and too many ‘pros’ are amateurish.”
MasterResource continues apace as a movement-wide voice of free market energy scholarship. Nearly 150 different authors have been featured at our site since its inception in late 2008. Total views have surpassed 1.3 million, with many visits by those searching on a topic relevant to past posts.
MasterResource is rated a top 30 (of 10,000) “green blog,” and a “Top 100” Science blog, according to Technorati.
With 435 categories in our extensive index, MasterResource is a research tool, not only a timely contribution to energy scholarship and current political debates. We are Google friendly with many energy terms (try one with ‘masterresource’).
I have lauded our ‘talented amateurs’ in previous activity reports. This is really an understatement given the large population of ‘smartest guy in the room’ alarmists and interventionists. Let history note that in the current energy debate, the diligent amateurs are often the real pros, and too many ‘pros’ are amateurish.
New Principals: Lisa Linowes and Travis Fisher
Principals at MasterResource are those of us who regularly post at this site. One relatively recent addition has been Alex Epstein, the head of Center for Industrial Progress, and a trained philosopher, who has graced our pages with his unique perspective in the last year.
MasterResource is pleased to announce two new principals, windpower expert Lisa Linowes and energy economist Travis Fisher.
Lisa Linowes is cofounder and executive director of the Industrial Wind Action Group (www.windaction.org), a national advocacy group focusing on the impacts and public policy associated with industrial-scale wind energy development. She has testified before the U.S. Congress and discussed/debated wind issues at major events around the country hosted by National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) and other groups. She has been quoted in a variety of leading outlets, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and dozens of newspapers in the U.S. and abroad.
Travis Fisher is an economist at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in Washington, D.C. After graduating from North Carolina State University with a B.S. and an M.S. in economics in 2006, he joined FERC with a focus on the wholesale electricity market.
Fisher became interested in free-market philosophy at North Carolina State. Inspired by the work of Frederic Bastiat, he served as an intern at the John Locke Foundation, a classical liberal think-tank in North Carolina. While in college, he also led a student group to explore cross-disciplinary issues in politics, economics, and law.
Site Background
MasterResource was conceived in late 2008 as a free-market-movement energy blog. Ken Green of AEI, Marlo Lewis of CEI, and Jerry Taylor at Cato, among others, lent their reputations and blogged to get things going. Climatologist Chip Knappenberger was recruited to cover technical science issues for the blog.
MasterResource to date has covered a variety of energy issues on the state, federal, and sometimes international level. But our most active area has been the growing backlash against industrial wind turbines. MasterResource is a leading voice for citizens, environmentalists, and small-government advocates who have united against this intrusive, uneconomic, sub-quality, government-enabled electricity source.
Major Themes
MasterResource has become a ‘go-to’ blog in a number of key areas:
MasterResource advances the ideas of Julian Simon (1932–1998), the scholar who changed his mind about Malthusianism after reviewing the data and became a guiding light for realism and ensuing optimism.
Good Tone, Open Scholarship
MasterResource welcomes opposing views in our comments. We do not block critical comments except when couched in spite and the argument ad hominem.
Economist Peter Boettke’s approach to scholarly discourse continues to resonate with us. “As we engage in debate with our intellectual adversaries,” he has stated, “we should remember three core rules of engagement:”
(1) the principle of charitable interpretation — always give your opponent the best interpretation of their argument and motives;
(2) adopt a value neutral analytical approach — strictly take ends as given and limit your analysis to the effectiveness of chosen means to those given ends; and
(3) always try to find common ground with your opponents with respect to intellectual curiosity and not necessarily policy conclusions.
Toward the Future
We continue to uncover talent that challenges the politically correct with reality-based energy insight. We welcome new talent to this site (contact me at rbradley@iertx.org).
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Prior Activity Reports:
Opening post/comment (December 26, 2008)