Creative Destruction: Fossil Fuels Triumphant

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- August 29, 2024 No Comments

“Creative destruction results from verdicts at the intersection of supply and demand. Outside of the free market, energy elitism has created a political market, a sub-industry whose activity results from special tax favors, government grants, and/or mandates.”

Creative destruction, a term popularized by Joseph Schumpeter, is the market process whereby bad is eliminated, the better replaces the good, and past performance gives way to new strategies and victors. No firm is forever, and financial loss is a characteristic of capitalism, as is the more used term profit.

Energy is the story of creative destruction. Coal gas and later coal oil replaced a variety of animal and vegetable oils, including whale oil, camphene oil, and stearin oil. Crude (mineral) oil then displaced manufactured (coal) oil, just as later natural gas would displace manufactured (coal) gas.…

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Houston: Oil and Gas Capital (‘energy transition’ hyperbole falls flat)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- August 8, 2024 1 Comment

“City leaders should stop pretending Houston will, or should, transition away from oil and gas anytime soon…. Houston should embrace its role in sustaining and improving the lives of literally billions of people globally each day. It’s a legacy worth standing up for… and even celebrating.” (Doug Sheridan, below)

Hyperbole and government subsidies (bribes, to critics) is the lifeline for inferior energies (think dilute, intermittent, resource-intensive wind and solar). Such as been the case since the 1990s in Houston, Texas when Ken Lay of Enron Corp. empowered executive Robert Kelly to create a new renewables business, a story told here.

And shame-on-shame that some Houston business leaders that should know better have embraced low-density, political energies. I am thinking of Bobby Tutor, chair of the Houston Energy Transition Initiative, and Steve Kean of the Greater Houston Partnership.…

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Industrial Wind Power: Infant Industry Not

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 12, 2024 1 Comment

“The infant industry argument is a smoke screen. The so-called infants never grow up.” (Milton and Rose Friedman, Free to Choose, 1979, p. 49)

The idea of a transition to a “new energy future” is historically incorrect with wind power, grid solar, and battery-driven cars and trucks. All have a history of non-competitiveness with or displacement by fossil fuels. Energy density explains much of why the renewable energy era gave way to a far better world of coal, oil, and natural gas in recent centuries.

This is taken from a 2014 article by Zachary Shahan for Renewable Energy World, History of Wind Turbines.

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1887: The first known wind turbine used to produce electricity is built in Scotland. The wind turbine is created by Prof James Blyth of Anderson’s College, Glasgow (now known as Strathclyde University).…

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Renewables vs. Environment: Hans Wolkers humbles Climate Reality Project, Kahli Burke

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- June 18, 2024 1 Comment

“And this is just the beginning. Large-scale deployment of ‘renewables’ will result in an ecological disaster.” (Hans Wolkers, PhD., below)

Climate alarmists are having a hard time on the business social media giant LinkedIn. Previous posts have documented the one-sided alarmism of Skeptical Science; a case of climate thuggery; an ad hominem backfire; time-series data evasion; ExxonMobil “whistleblowing“; and Greenpeace and Enron.

It is time to add to this list. The Climate Reality Project posted this message and picture on LinkedIn:

We have a responsibility to lead the way in advocating for hashtag#cleanenergy and climate action. Together, we will create a brighter future for ourselves and generations to come. hashtag#LeadOnClimate hashtag#saveourplanet

I responded: “That child must wonder about industrializing the green space. Pretty gross….”…

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Buzz Smith: Snake Oil EVangelism

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- May 16, 2024 No Comments Continue Reading

False Energy Transition: The View from Australia (Nick Cater, Menzies Research Centre)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 24, 2024 1 Comment Continue Reading

Exploding Energy Prices in California

By Steve Goreham -- March 12, 2024 3 Comments Continue Reading

Cowen on ‘Fossil Future’: Expert Failure?

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 15, 2024 No Comments Continue Reading

Political Realism from a Climate Alarmist (the beginning of the end?)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- January 9, 2024 5 Comments Continue Reading

Appreciating the Master Resource

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- January 2, 2024 1 Comment Continue Reading