Heat Pump Subsidies: Never Enough

By -- September 18, 2024 3 Comments

“The Competitive Enterprise Institute is leading a coalition of free market advocates attempting to organize support to stop the IRA’s obscene and consumer abusive funding. In response, the Biden (mis)Administration is attempting to shovel IRA funding out the door as fast as it can to contractually shield it.”

Early this month, Lucas Davis, a Professor in Business and Technology at the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, published an article titled: How Do We Pump Up the Impact of Heat Pump Subsidies? In April, Professor Davis published a precursor article titled: Why Are Heat Pump Sales Decreasing?

The upshot is that despite Federal rebates of up to $8,000 per the “Inflation Reduction Act,” real-world economics of electric heat pumps are dismal.  Several commenters to the second article aptly summarized why from a consumer perspective.…

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“People, Planet, Peace”: Green Party 2024

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- September 17, 2024 1 Comment

“A Jill Stein Administration will advance the ecosocialist Real Green New Deal that the Green Party made its signature issue in the 2010s.” (Green Party Platform, below)

The Green Party’s candidate Jill Stein (with running mate Butch Ware) is taking climate more seriously than Kamala Harris. In the Presidential debate, Harris did not dare pronounce the climate-change issue as an “existential threat” as done by her boss, Joe Biden. No mention of a domestic CO2 tax; border tariffs to prevent “leakage”; or global climate governance either. No reference to California, the leading climate state with gasoline prices 50 percent higher, electricity rates double, the national average. And Harris even bragged out the increase in domestic oil and gas production, even though this positive development occurred despite, and not because of, Biden-Harris policy.…

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Energy & Environmental Review: September 16, 2024

By -- September 16, 2024 No Comments

Ed. Note: This post excerpts energy and climate material from the Media Balance Newsletter, a free fortnightly published by physicist John Droz Jr., founder of the Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions. The complete Newsletter for this post can be found here.

Greed Energy Economics:
*** Has the Electricity Reality Check Arrived?
*** The Green New Deal could make electricity 28 times more expensive
Two Days of Fall Weather in Late Summer Demonstrates Industrial Wind’s Incredible Costs
New Paper Shows the Problem with Power Subsidies

Wind Energy — Offshore:
Offshore wind energy development: A David vs Goliath story

Wind Energy — Other:
*** Taking the Wind Out of Climate Change (referencing 60± studies)
Wind turbines “destroy habitats”
Turbine fire burns 260+ acres in California

Solar Energy:
*** More Solar Silliness In The New York Times

Nuclear Energy:
*** If Germany kept nuclear power, it could have saved $600b and cut emissions by 73%
*** Is Nuclear the Tortoise to the Wind and Solar Hare?

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OCEAN INTEGRITY vs. Offshore Wind

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- September 12, 2024 2 Comments

“In areas where wind farms are being developed, invasive species can harm … industries by reducing fish populations, damaging habitats, and deterring tourists who seek intact and diverse marine environments.” – Kieran Kelly, Ocean Integrity (below)

‘It is hard being green, particularly when “green” means being one-dimensional against carbon dioxide (CO2) at the expense of virtually every other metric. Consider wind power, the onshore problems of which (failed past, government dependency, intermittency, site depletion, local warming, noise, avian mortality, health effects) are only magnified offshore (cost premium, wake effect, blade failure, industrialization, hurricanes, pile driving, political bribes).

Kieran Kelly, CEO of Ocean Integrity, “a global organization that aims to reduce ocean plastic pollution and create positive social impact,” recently reported on social media about a particular ecological issue: invasive filter feeders.…

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Hurricane Risk to Offshore Wind (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences study still relevant)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- September 11, 2024 No Comments Continue Reading

Energy Election ’25: Oil and Gas on the Ballot

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- September 10, 2024 1 Comment Continue Reading

Energy & Environmental Review: September 3, 2024

By -- September 3, 2024 No Comments Continue Reading

Creative Destruction: Fossil Fuels Triumphant

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- August 29, 2024 No Comments Continue Reading

Energy ‘Transition’: It’s a Federal Bribe (versus consumer demand)

By -- August 28, 2024 1 Comment Continue Reading

Jane Goodall on the Futile Climate Crusade

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- August 27, 2024 No Comments Continue Reading