A Free-Market Energy Blog

Global Warming Debate at Rice University: Soon vs. Sass

By Charles Battig -- October 27, 2016

“Ronald Sass noted that ‘scientists should agree, not debate,’ a statement puzzling to me. He did agree that we do not yet have enough data. To which I comment: why promote uncertain science and political policy that might do more harm than adapting to real (versus computerized) futures?”

Little did I realize that in moving to Houston, Texas I would soon witness a rare climatic event. It was not another hurricane like Ike, snow in summer, nor any other such rarity. I would be able to attend a climate debate in a welcoming and civil atmosphere between two opposing debaters well qualified in their particular fields of climate research.  Such open debates are a rarity in the current emotionally defined microcosm of consensus science and settled science. The PC thought police, including at the  James A.

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Wind Energy Company Sues To Keep Bird Kill Data Out Of Public’s Hands

By Michael Hutchins -- October 26, 2016

“American Bird Conservancy (ABC) strongly believes that the public and environmental groups should have access to reliable data about how many of these birds and bats are killed by the facility, and that the company’s attempt to use the legal system to block access would set a dangerous precedent if it succeeds.”

In the battle for hearts and minds, the one issue that seems to annoy the wind industry like a burr under a frisky pony’s saddle blanket is the wholesale slaughter of millions of birds and bats. It’s an inconvenient truth to be sure. But, as with everything that the wind industry does, if you can’t keep a straight face while lying about it any more, then pull out all stops and cover it up.

An Ohio wind-energy facility doesn’t want to reveal how many birds it kills, and has gone to court to keep that information secret.…

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Wind Power: Our Least Sustainable Resource?

By Craig Rucker -- October 25, 2016

“A single 1.7 MW wind turbine, like the 315 Fowler Ridge units, involves some 365 tons of materials for the turbine assembly and tower, plus nearly 1,100 tons of concrete and rebar for the foundation. Grand total for the entire Fowler wind installation: some 515,000 tons; for Roscoe, 752,000 tons; for Shepherds Flat, 575,000 tons. Offshore installations of the kind proposed for Lake Erie would likely require twice the materials needed for their onshore counterparts.”

The alter ego of climate change in these renewable energy debates is sustainability: the argument that wind and other “renewable” energies are sustainable, whereas oil, gas and coal are not.

This assertion may have had some merit a few years ago, when it could plausibly be claimed that the world was running out of fossil fuels.…

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Energy & Environmental Newsletter: October 24, 2016

By -- October 24, 2016
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‘The Case Against A U.S. Carbon Tax’ (Murphy, Michaels, Knappenberger)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- October 20, 2016
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Lake Erie Wind Turbines? (Part 2: Environmental Issues)

By Sherri Lange -- October 19, 2016
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Lake Erie Wind Turbines? Complaints Pour In (Part I: Overview)

By Sherri Lange -- October 18, 2016
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Julian Simon on Hillary’s Incredible Commodity Deal (mid-1990s revisited)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- October 17, 2016
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Regulatory Reform at the Texas Railroad Commission (Part II in a series)

By Mark Miller -- October 14, 2016
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Fossil Fuels: Abundant, Chemically Stable, Energy-dense

By Mark Miller -- October 13, 2016
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