Search Results for: "shale gas"
Relevance | DateOn Energy Cost Trends (applying caution to the big talk of energy transformation)
By Michael Lynch -- March 29, 2018 No Comments“Comparing straight costs for disparate products or where there are intangibles involved (convenience of a gasoline engine versus low maintenance on an electric vehicle) can be tricky and allow for wild differences in estimated consumer demand for a product, even without disagreements over future cost trends.”
“Although costs have been dropping for the Cleantech products such as solar, wind power, and lithium-ion batteries, costs for a number of other long-advocated energies such as cellulosic ethanol have not…. The ultimate lesson is an old one: skepticism should always be applied, especially to the more optimistic predictions.”
Any number of analytical and advocacy groups have pointed to plummeting costs for wind, solar and lithium-ion batteries to predict massive changes in the future energy industry, some more aggressive than others. The UK-based think tank RethinkX, for example, expects a huge shift from private vehicle ownership to the use of Transportation As A Service, provided mostly by battery-powered autonomous (self-driving) vehicles.…
Continue ReadingTwenty-One Bad Things About Wind Energy — and Three Reasons Why
By John Droz, Jr. -- March 22, 2018 49 Comments[Note this post is the most popular article ever published on Master Resource. It has been now been significantly updated. Go here to see the current version.]
Trying to pin down the arguments of wind promoters is a bit like trying to grab a greased balloon. Just when you think you’ve got a handle on it, it morphs into a different story and escapes your grasp. Let’s take a quick highlight review of how things have evolved with merchandising industrial wind energy.
1 – Wind energy was abandoned for most commercial and industrial applications, well over a hundred years ago. Even in the late 1800s it was totally inconsistent with our burgeoning, more modern needs for power. When we throw the switch, we expect that the lights will go on – 100% of the time.…
Continue ReadingEnergy & Environmental Newsletter: March 12, 2018
By John Droz, Jr. -- March 12, 2018 2 CommentsThe Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions (AWED) is an informal coalition of individuals and organizations interested in improving national, state, and local energy and environmental policies. Our premise is that technical matters like these should be addressed by using Real Science (please consult WiseEnergy.org for more information).
A key element of AWED’s efforts is public education. Towards that end, every three weeks we put together a newsletter to balance what is found in the mainstream media about energy and the environment. We appreciate MasterResource for their assistance in publishing this information.
Some of the more important articles in this issue are:
The High Cost of Wind and Solar
Proposed Colorado Legislation: Health Effects of Industrial Wind Turbines
Congress: Kremlin Used Green Propaganda to Undercut U.S. Energy
Green Ideology’s Failed Experiment
California Has Too Much Green Energy
Maine Places Moratorium on Wind Projects
Scott Pruitt: The Weaponization of the EPA Is Over
Why Wind and Solar are Not the Future
Electric grid a prime target in cyberwar
Dozens of studies about the ecosystem impacts of offshore wind turbines
Continue ReadingJulian Simon Remembered (would have been 86 today)
By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 12, 2018 8 Comments““If environmental alarmists ever wonder why more people haven’t come around to their way of thinking, it isn’t because people like me occasionally voice doubts in newspaper op-eds. It’s because too many past predictions of imminent disaster didn’t come to pass. That isn’t because every alarm is false — many are all too real — but because our Promethean species has shown the will and the wizardry to master the challenge, at least when it’s been given the means to do so.”
– Bret Stephens, “Apocalpyse Not.” New York Times, February 8, 2018.
“[Julian] Simon found that humanity progressed not only by solving immediate problems within the existing institutional framework but also by creatively improving the framework over time. . . . In the short run, members of society adopt localized technical and contractual fixes.