“… the undisputed benefits of increased CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere because of its photosynthetic and growth effects (fertilization) on plants need to be considered in energy policy decisions as well.” (- Lars Schernikau and William Smith, below)
Today, a webcast Q&A — Climate Impacts of Fossil Fuels in Today’s Energy Systems — is being hosted by the American Coal Council (registration here).
“With increasing global energy demand projected over the mid to longer term,” ACC states, “the practical realities of energy supply include the continuing role of fossil fuels in global primary energy and for electricity generation.”
Coal is definitely in the mix, as today’s record production and usage confirms.
The webinar concern a new paper, “Climate Impacts of Fossil Fuels in Today’s Energy Systems,” by energy economist Lars Schernikau and climatologist William Smith.…
“Yet the methanol initiative is now largely forgotten. And of course, there’s always the problem that EPA regulations do not allow it to be used in automobiles. With natural-gas surpluses now at the point where a national oversupply is being predicted for 2017, however, it may be time to go back and give the California experience a second look.” (Arctic Leaf, 2013, below)
“The Alternative Motor Fuel Act, signed into law by President Reagan in 1988 … provided a waiver of EPA regulations to allow methanol to be used in cars. A year later, President George H.W. Bush became an enthusiast, promising to put 500,000 methanol cars on the road by 1996 and a million by 1998.“
The history of energy technology and policy is important for today’s debates. Again and again, historical research uncovers examples of government-engineered energy choices that start with great expectations and end up in failure.…
“The [Michigan] ordinances cite the potential negative consequences of wind turbines such as falling ice thrown by the blades of turbines, the flickering of shadows from the blades on nearby structures (shadow flicker), sleep disturbance caused by noise, and long-term health consequences of sound, also known as ‘infrasound’.”
When it comes to government-enabled, anti-consumer energy sprawl, local citizens have a say over unneeded, duplicative, invasive industrial wind projects. This is very bad news for the rickety supply-side strategy led by industrial wind. Real grassroot environmentalists are at war with Washington, D.C. Big Environmentalism, as well as the business rent-seekers making Bad Profit (as versus Good Profit).
The Progressive Left includes the pro-wind “investigative Watchdog Blog” Checks & Balances Project. Their “As Anti-Wind Zoning Ordinances Spread Across Michigan, Ordinances’ Language Varies Little” (November 10, 2021) recently reported on the growing movement against wind-turbine siting in a factual, lawyers-need-to-know basis.…