Creative Energy Destruction: Renewables Lost Long Ago

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- January 15, 2013 3 Comments

It is the second most famous term in the history of economics after Adam Smith’s metaphor invisible hand. It describes the competitive market process in the real world. It was coined in 1942 by the famous, iconoclastic Austrian-American economist Joseph Schumpeter, who would reminisce:

I set out to become the greatest lover in Vienna, the greatest horseman in Austria, and the greatest economist in the world. Alas, for the illusions of youth…. As a horseman, I was never really first rate.

“Creative Destruction” …

The best businesses rise to the top in consumer-driven markets. Less competitive firms contract and even disappear. Creative destruction is the process whereby the bad is eliminated, the better replaces the good, and past performance gives way to new strategies and victors. No firm is forever, and financial loss is a characteristic of capitalism, as is the more used term profit.

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Energy Transformation and "Moore's Curse": Realism Before Action

By Steven Lightfoot -- November 29, 2012 3 Comments

[Editor Comment: Previous posts at MasterResource (see here and here) have critically reviewed Moore’s Law applied to energy systems. Mr. Lightfoot revisits the issue below based on his article in Engineering Dimensions (May/June 2013). His views about the need for government direction to achieve energy transformation are the author’s alone.]

In a 2009 speech before the United Nations, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke about hope for the future:

“It took us centuries to get from the printing press to the telephone, decades to get from the telephone to the personal computer, and only a few years to get from the personal computer to the internet. What seemed impossible a few years ago is already outdated, and we can scarcely fathom the changes that are yet to come.

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Energy Density is Key (Richard Fulmer gets back to the basics)

By Richard W. Fulmer -- October 16, 2012 7 Comments

“While incremental improvements can be expected with biomass, wind and solar, what is needed for them to become viable is an order of magnitude increase in productivity…. As significant future energy sources these technologies are dead ends, which is why the government, and not the private sector, is funding them.”

When it comes to power, density is the key. Energy density. The reason that solar power, wind power, and ethanol are so expensive is that they are derived from very diffuse energy sources. It takes a lot of energy collectors such as solar cells, wind turbines, or corn stalks covering many square miles of land to produce the same amount of power that traditional coal, natural gas, or nuclear plants can on just a few acres.

Each of these alternative energy sources is based on mature technology.

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Wind Consequences (Part IV – Subsidies and Emissions)

By Kent Hawkins -- September 25, 2012 4 Comments

This post is part of a five-part series on the adverse consequences of imposing industrial-scale wind plants on electricity systems. The series shows that there is no valid reason to pursue the policy of implementing new renewable energy sources in electricity generation, especially wind.

This post provides more information on the subsidies and emissions considerations for the scenarios summarized in Part I. Parts II and III dealt with cost implications. Part V this Thursday will focus on a number of other issues providing a complete picture of wind’s undesirability and unfeasibility in all respects.

Part I also provides links to the rest of the series.

Subsidies

Because subsidy issues are often raised, comparing those for wind and other generation plants, it is appropriate to show their effect on a MWh basis, regardless of the absolute amounts.…

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2Q-2012 Activity Report: MasterResource

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 27, 2012 No Comments Continue Reading

EPA Overlook: Improved Health & Welfare from Greenhouse Gas Emissions

By Chip Knappenberger -- July 13, 2012 5 Comments Continue Reading

1Q–2012 Activity Report: MasterResource

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 13, 2012 2 Comments Continue Reading

Rocket Science is the Easy Part: How Government has Grounded Space Propulsion

By Deborah Sloan -- March 30, 2012 11 Comments Continue Reading

'Windfall': A Civil War Film (Roger Ebert et al. reviews spell trouble for Industrial Wind; DC Environmentalism)

By -- February 8, 2012 17 Comments Continue Reading

Tucker's Terrestrialism and the Technology of Modernity

By Jon Boone -- January 24, 2012 4 Comments Continue Reading