“Earth Hour not only coincides with Venezuela’s involuntary, chronic blackouts. It also joins this week’s complete, abject defeat of the Green New Deal. The 0 – 57 drubbing–with not a single Democrat voting “yes”–signals that self-made electricity blackouts will not be tolerated in the US.”
The joke goes: “What did the socialists use before candles.” The answer: electricity.
Such is true today in Venezuela, which is likely to encounter this Saturday’s Earth Hour (a turn-off-the-lights protest against modern living [1]) with an involuntary period of darkness. Atlas is shrugging under the Maduro regime, with electricity experts having fled to freer countries (a classic “brain drain”).
Venezuela is fiction-to-fact with Ayn Rand’s epic novel, Atlas Shrugged. But Rand in a previous book set up a fictional account of the fate of electricity in a dystopian world–what Earth Hour seems to long to bring about.…
Yesterday, Part I in this series presented the introduction, overview, and opening syllabus of Pierre Desrochers’ master course on energy. Part II today presents the all-importation section on carbon-based energies (oil, natural gas, coal).
Next week, Parts III will cover hydro, nuclear, biomass, and renewable energies, Part IV, will cover the readings for The Great Energy Debate.
Carbon Fuels
– Overview
Alex Epstein. 2015. “Why You Should Love Fossil Fuels.” PragerU (April 20).
GatesNotes. 2014. Bjorn Lomborg: Saving Lives with Fossil Fuels (June 25).
Oil Sands Action. 2016. “Life Without Oil and Petroleum Products? Not so simple…”
What If. 2018. “What If No More Oil?”
American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM). 2016. “Petrochemicals: The Building Blocks of Modern Life.”
Heritage Foundation. 2018. “Who Is Reducing Its Greenhouse Gas Emissions the Most?…
Pierre Desrochers’ course at the University of Toronto Mississauga, Energy and Society, might just be the single best introduction to its subject in North America.
The students get both sides in impressive depth. As such, this course provides a study guide for anyone interested in the multi-faceted issues around the master resource.
Part I today presents the course description as well as the videos and readings from the first two weeks of the class. Part II tomorrow will cover the readings for carbon-based energies (oil, natural gas, coal).
Objective:
The development of new energy sources has had a major impact on the development of both human societies and the environment. This course will provide a broad survey of past and current achievements, along with failures and controversies, regarding the use of various forms of energy.…