“… my passion for bettering human lives via improved access to energy is unwavering.” (- Chris Wright, below)
It is a topsy-turvy new energy world where reality bats last. With the physics of energy overcoming the ‘magical thinking’ of renewables and deep decarbonization, and with a push in the U.S. under Trump, the Paris Accord (‘a fraud really, a fake‘) is going the way of the Kyoto Protocol. The forced smiles of Climate Week in New York City last month will be harder to maintain at COP 29 in Brazil. Perhaps it will be the last one as more and more countries exit, just as businesses have from the decarbonization alliances.
The new reality and politics has a central world figure in Donald Trump. But behind Trump is the Secretary of the U.S.…
This post excerpts energy and climate material from the Media Balance Newsletter, a free fortnightly published by physicist John Droz Jr., founder of the Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions. Droz is also the author of the popular Substack Critically Thinking About Select Societal Issues.
Greed Energy Economics:
Why Mid-Atlantic electricity prices are rising so fast
Unreliables (General):
*** Epstein: The “Levelized Cost of Energy” scam
*** Big Tech’s ‘Misleading’ Green Energy Claims May Plunge Nation into Blackouts, AGs Warn
*** The Pros and Cons of Utility Scale Battery Storage
Wind, Solar, Trade, Sanctions, H-1B
Wind Energy — Offshore:
*** Revolution Wind Is Barking Up the Wrong Tree
Japan’s Green Energy Failures Serve as a Warning to the US: Don’t Fall for the Climate Agenda
Strange We Haven’t Heard About These Offshore Wind Farm Accidents Before
Wind Energy — Other:
*** Feds deaf to eagle-kill warning
Solar Energy:
Taxpayer-Backed Solar Facility in Mojave Desert Will Shut Down Next Year
Obama-Era Mojave Desert Solar Plant Once Hailed As A Marvel Will Close As a Glowing Relic
Fossil Fuel Energy:
*** Lomborg: Green hype vs reality in China
*** How our “knowledge system” ignores the benefits of fossil fuels
*** How our “knowledge system” catastrophizes the side-effects of fossil fuels
Electric Vehicles (EVs):
Nearly one-third of EV charging attempts fail, report finds
Miscellaneous Energy News:
*** China Inc.…
“… this was one of the hottest and most promising job sectors in the country at the end of 2024. Now, clean energy job growth is at serious risk – and with it, our overall economy.” (-Bob Keefe, below)
“Solar construction firm Blue Ridge Power issues mass worker layoff in North Carolina,” read the article in pv magazine. “The utility-scale solar engineering, procurement and construction firm filed a WARN act with the state, cutting over 500 jobs.”
Much of the rooftop solar industry is in liquidation mode, and now the central station “utility scale” solar industry is in trouble. Expect more of the same in the next months as solar subsidies and local opposition grows (the environmental grassroots). The delayed end of the Investment Tax Credit (30 percent credit) and the Production Tax Credit (2.8 cents/kWh) will cause a rush to the exits before the credits expire at the end of 2027 (with credits at risk for projects not started by July 4, 2026).…