AWED Energy & Environmental Newsletter: December 1, 2014

By -- December 1, 2014 1 Comment

The Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions (AWED) is an informal coalition of individuals and organizations interested in improving national, state, and local energy & environmental policies. Our basic position is that technical matters like these should be addressed by using Real Science. It’s all spelled out at WiseEnergy.org, which is a wealth of energy and environmental resources.

A key element of AWED’s efforts is public education. Towards that end, every 3 weeks we put together a newsletter to balance what is found in the mainstream media about energy and environmental matters. We appreciate MasterResource for their assistance in publishing this information.

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Greed Energy Economics:

The Appalling Truth About Energy Subsidies

How Green Energy Fleeces Consumers

AFP to Congress: Do Not Extend Wind PTC

Veto threat derails Reid tax (& PTC) deal

Wind Tax Credit (PTC) Attacked as U.S.

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Worldwatch Institute’s Case Against the PTC (1984 vs. 2014)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- November 21, 2014 1 Comment

“Tax credits have been essential to the economic viability of wind farms so far, but will not be needed within a few years.”

 – Christopher Flavin, “Electricity’s Future: The Shift to Efficiency and Small-Scale Power,” Worldwatch Paper 61, Worldwatch Institute, November 1984, p. 35.

“Wind is competitive in more and more markets. But anytime there is uncertainty about the production tax credit, it all stops.”

– Letha Tawney, Worldwatch Institute. Quoted in Eduardo Porter, “A Carbon Tax Could Bolster Green Energy,” New York Times, November 19, 2014.

Christopher Flavin, president emeritus of the Worldwatch Institute, please call your office. Letha Tawney, Acting Director of the Charge Initiative, the Worldwatch Institute’s “signature renewable energy initiative,” please call your office.

The two of you need to conference. Thirty years ago, one of you said that wind power was ready to go it alone, to break away from the taxpayer.…

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Fossil Fuels Industries: Time to Stand Tall! (book review of Alex Epstein’s The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels)

By Erin Connors -- November 20, 2014 1 Comment

“By explicitly holding human life as his standard of value, Epstein argues that what makes the industry virtuous is its ability to improve the life of human beings. While other books may offer a defense of the industry by pointing to economic or political benefits, Epstein goes on offense and shows that the fossil fuel industry is actually good.”

“We—the men and women in the fossil fuel industry—promote human flourishing.”

The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels has the power to convince open-minded readers (and maybe open some closed minds) about the exciting utility of oft-criticized oil, natural gas, coal, and hybrids therein. The reader will come away with a deeper understanding of fossil fuels and a greater appreciations for the people behind the fossil fuel industries. The book connects the vast array of complex, technical challenges solved by hundreds of thousands of workers to the ultimate challenge: advancing human life.…

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AWEA’s Case against the PTC Extension

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- November 14, 2014 5 Comments

“The private sector can be expected to develop improved solar and wind technologies which will begin to become competitive and self-supporting on a national level by the end of the decade if assisted by tax credits and augmented by federally sponsored R&D.”

– American Wind Energy Association, et al. (1983). Quoted in Renewable Energy Industry, Joint Hearing before the Subcommittees of the Committee on Energy and Commerce et al., House of Representatives, 98th Cong., 1st sess. (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1983), p. 52.

What more can be said?

 …

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Accurate Climate Forecasts: End the CO2 Fixation (Part II)

By Paul Driessen and David Legates -- November 13, 2014 No Comments Continue Reading

Accurate Climate Forecasts: End the CO2 Fixation (Part I)

By Paul Driessen and David Legates -- November 12, 2014 1 Comment Continue Reading

Americans for Prosperity: Keep the PTC Expired (Obama supply-side energy strategy on the ropes)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- November 11, 2014 No Comments Continue Reading

AWED Energy & Environmental Newsletter: November 10, 2014

By -- November 10, 2014 1 Comment Continue Reading

Dear GOP: Don’t Rescue Obama Energy Policy with PTC Extension (lame duck peril)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- November 7, 2014 1 Comment Continue Reading

Political Economy 101 (Watch the Republicans Closely)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- November 5, 2014 No Comments Continue Reading