MasterResource, the world’s premier free-market energy blog, began the day after Christmas and is seven months old. Views of 50,000 in our first quarter have been followed by 100,000 in the second quarter. Viewership near one thousand per day is not bad for a scholarly start-up–and much growth potential remains.
Our Model
We are a group blog on the very important and wide topic of energy, including climate change, which is all about energy. Our bloggers come from a variety of institutions, nonprofit and for-profit. We have backgrounds in political economy, economics, environmental studies, philosophy, and engineering. We are thinker-doers who are open-minded and part of a challenge culture. No smartest-guys-in-the-room problem here.
In the increasingly crowded blogosphere, there will be a flight to quality to group blogs that have a clear theme. In our case that means top talent across disciplines posting on energy-related subjects.
MasterResource is akin to a book with small chapters being added five or six times a week. Our categories, which currently number 130, is a research tool for students and others who want to get to the nub of the issues.
We feel that our posts will stand the test of time–and thus MasterResource is written for the day and for history. We are generating more and more comments, frequently cross-posted, and increasingly popping up on energy/climate searches.
We invite submissions and often run a weekend post from a grass-roots activist or to popularize obscure, important writings from the past or present. Please send your material to me at rbradley@iertx.org.
Our People
We have the best from the multi-issue think tanks (Ken Green: AEI; Marlo Lewis: CEI; Jerry Taylor: Cato); a climate-science expert and straight shooter (Chip Knappenberger); a powerplant expert (Robert Peltier, POWER); a hydrocarbon supply expert (Michael Lynch: SEER), a top applied energy economist (Donald Hertzmark), a new talent in climate economics (Robert Murphy), in addition to me.
We also have had two dozen guest bloggers, some situated in other countries. We hope to introduce and showcase new talent in the weeks and months ahead.
Our Philosophy
MasterResource’s free-market orientation can be described as consumerist, producerist, utilitarian, and egalitarian. The major threat to “energy sustainability” is not depletion, pollution, and/or climate change; it is government intervention in the name of addressing depletion, pollution, and climate change.
To us, energy sustainability was defined in this statement by the World Energy Council some years ago:
“Accessibility to modern energy means that energy must be available at prices which are both affordable (low enough for the poorest people) and sustainable (prices which reflect the real costs of energy production, transmission and distribution to support the financial ability of companies to maintain and develop their energy services. Availability relates to long-term continuity of energy supply as well as to short term quality of service, because an energy or an electricity shortage can also be disruptive for economic development.”
– World Energy Council, Energy for Tomorrow’s World—Acting Now! (London: Atalink Projects, 2000), p. 65.
We agree with energy economist, M. A. Adelman, who said:
“The right public policy, in my view, is in the doctors’ oath: do no harm. Do not make things worse. Rule out price and import controls.”
– M.A. Adelman, The Genie Out of the Bottle (Cambridge, Mass: The MIT Press, 1995), p. 329.
Most Popular Posts
Chip Knappenberger’s May 6th post, “Climate Impacts of Waxman-Markey (the IPCC-based arithmetic of no gain),” our most viewed post, immediately became a touchstone of the climate debate for Left and Right, Republican and Democrat.
Climate Impacts of Waxman-Markey (the IPCC-based arithmetic of no gain) 10,783 Views
Our second most popular post concerns my response to Joe Romm of Climate Progress, who has repeatedly tried to tar me with an Enron connection, when the lessons of that company for him and climate alarmism/activism are just the opposite of the ones he draws. Stay tuned on this debate.
Joseph Romm and Enron: For the Record 3,079 Views
The next five most popular posts have been:
Smart Grid, Dumb Economics 2,361 Views
Climate Impacts of Waxman-Markey (Part II)—Global Sign-Up 2,156 Views
Climate Alarmism Bullying: L’affaire Schmidt (new) … L’affaire Wigley (old) 1,696 Views
The New MIT Climate Study: A Real World Inversion? 1,496 Views
CO2 Regulation under the Clean Air Act: Economic Train Wreck, Constitutional Crisis, Legislative Thuggery 1,300 Views
Conclusion
We at MasterResource thank all of our readers for your interest and support. Please share our link with those who might be interested and let us know how we can improve within the contours of our niche, mission, and philosophy.
Appendix: Three-Month Anniversary
Here is what I wrote at our three-month anniversary:
MasterResource is nearing its three-month anniversary. Our total views have exceeded 50,000–not bad for a start-up, energy-focused blog. We have had as many as 3,200 views on a day and now have a base daily viewership of around 500.
We have had 111 posts (at least one per day!) from 21 different authors. Our post categories exceed 50. Nearly 500 comments from more than 150 individuals have been received, and more comments are being added to different posts. We welcome critical comments so long as they are made in good faith and in good taste.
Our most popular posts (and comments on posts) to date have been:
Smart Grid, Dumb Economics (Jerry Taylor)
Part I in an Occasional Series Challenging Ultra-skeptic Climate Claims (Chip Knappenberger)
Beware of the New “Limits to Growth” (and looking for ReaganVision?CarterVision) (Robert Bradley)
Wind Stimulus: Bad Green (Glenn Schleede)
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