Here are some of my favorite quotations for a happy summer Friday.
Sustainability
“The problem is not too many people, but a lack of political and economic freedom.”
– Julian Simon, The Ultimate Resource 2 (Princeton, N.Y.: Princeton University Press, 1996), p. 11.
“Discoveries, like resources, may well be infinite: the more we discover, the more we are able to discover.”
– Ibid., p. 82.
Energy
“Energy is the master resource, because energy enables us to convert one material into another. As natural scientists continue to learn more about the transformation of materials from one form to another with the aid of energy, energy will be even more important.”
– Julian Simon, The Ultimate Resource 2 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996), p. 162.
Energy & the Environment
…“The greenest fuels are the ones that contain the most energy per pound of material that must be mined, trucked, pumped, piped, and burnt.
“On average the models warm the global atmosphere at a rate three times that of the real world.”
“The climate is something we can’t predict. The policy is based upon theory that needs a whole lot of correction to it.”
John Christy, Professor of Atmospheric Science and Director of the Earth System Science Center at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), has received numerous awards for his development of satellite-based temperature monitoring (with Roy Spencer).”
Dr. Christy recently testified before the Committee on Natural Resources on the subject, “CEQ Draft Guidance for GHG Emissions and the Effects of Climate Change Committee on Natural Resources.” Pertinent excerpts follow:
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The basic question under consideration here is to understand whether there is a causal relationship between the carbon emissions generated by a single proposed federal project and possible climate change related to those emissions.…
[Editor note: This post completes a four-part history of the rise of self-service filling stations in the United States. Part I examined the discovery and early regulation of this new marketing strategy; Part II covered 1947–51; Part III reviewed the period 1950–70).]
“Government intervention unintentionally promoted self-service. The gasoline shortage of 1974 educated motorists to serve themselves to reduce waiting in line, and the seller’s market deteriorated the quality of service. Regulatory minimum wage and overtime pay scales, which had been steady for years, jumped 25 percent in 1974 and covered more stations.”
Prior to regulation under the Economic Stabilization Act and the Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act (1973–81), independent gasoline retailers were foiling the ambitious expansion plans of the majors with their low-cost service and discount prices. Central to this success was self-service. …