“… the climate crusade has central planning and totalitarianism written all over it. It is a ‘road to serfdom.’ The settled science is more on the side of CO2 emissions/concentrations being positive, not negative (CO2 fertilization; 1.2C primary warming). And yes, the greenest fuels are fossil (as in mineral energies).”
I am a historian of thought on many things energy and climate, including on myself. I want to be as clear as possible about my positions and ideas for the future to judge. There are interviews and biographical entries on me to this end.
So it was of interest when I came across some mentions of me on Twitter (which I do not partake in). My comments follow the mentions.
This is from August 14, 2019.
“Consumers decide what is prudent with their appliance purchases, not Washington, DC energy planners.”
The energy-efficiency nannies start with smiles and studies about how consumers fail in their purchase and usage decisions–and end by mandating a lower standard of living for the rest of us.
No, we do not want low-volume showers; we want choice between low-volume and high-volume options. We do not want electric heaters rather than gas heaters–we want the option between both with choices on up-front costs versus back-end efficiencies. We also do not want low-flush toilets. We want what we want without experts-qua-planners involved.
Enter the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), which describes itself as
…a catalyst to advance energy efficiency politics, programs, technologies, investments, and behaviors. We aim to build a vibrant and equitable economy – one that uses energy more productively, reduces costs, protects the environment, and promotes the health, safety, and well-being of everyone.
“The four producing members who started this effort have all shifted their operations away from the production of thermal coal, which is used to generate electricity, and more toward metallurgical coal, which is used to make steel….”
The utility of coal goes beyond generating electricity. The high temperatures need for producing steel, in particular, come from blast furnaces fueled by coked coal. Coking coal, or super coal, comes from a process where regular coal subject to high temperatures in a declining atmosphere becomes a plastic before resolidifying.
Enter a new trade association, the The Metallurgical Coal Producers Association (formerly the Virginia Coal & Energy Alliance), self-described as
…a non-profit organization made up of metallurgical coal producers and those who support our producing members’ operations. Our emphasis is on metallurgical coal, the issues related to it, and the opportunities metallurgical coal brings to our region.