[Editor note: An under-the-radar federal energy intervention is to force fossil-fueled water heating to go electric “regardless of adverse economic impacts,” as Mark Krebs explains in this post and Part II tomorrow.]
In March of 2015, MasterResource.org published my article, Giving (tax) Credit Where Credit Isn’t Due: “Geothermal” Heat Pumps (and beyond) where I asked: “So what’s next, calling toaster ovens and electric resistance water heaters renewable?”
Apparently, the answer is electric resistance water heaters since they are now being depicted (unwittingly or otherwise) as “batteries” for thermally storing “clean” electric energy. But toasters may not be far behind. The following article is about the latest rash of “crony environmentalism” under the guise of “deep decarbonization” through increased electrification of everything possible; regardless of adverse economic impacts.
Introduction & Background
For better or worse, Congress has delegated broad authority to the Department of Energy (DOE) to mandate minimum energy efficiency standards for most major (and many minor) residential and commercial energy consuming products.…
Continue Reading“As the magnitude of the Vogtle project disaster becomes clearer, the Public Service Commissioners are becoming less toleratant of criticism…. Steve Prenonvitz … heaps criticism on Georgia Power but also on the Commission itself…. Then there is Nuclear Watch South [whose] … assertions are painfully true and therefore irritating to the Commission, which is joined at the hip with Georgia power on the Vogtle project.”
Georgia Power has now provided details concerning the settlement with the Vogtle contractor. The total payout is $915 million of which Georgia Power’s 45.7% share is $350 million. Also agreed was a $69 million change order. This is a hit for customers, quite different from what the Company said for years: they expected to prevail in the litigation but were working on a possible settlement. (Ratepayers are protected unless the Commission orders a cost disallowance, which they should.)…
Continue ReadingThe 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 mainstram media about energy and the environment. We appreciate MasterResource for their assistance in publishing this information.
Some of the more thought-provoking articles in this issue are:
Physician Explains Some Wind Turbine Health Impacts
Wind Infrasound Hazards Worse than Initially Thought
The laughable idea that renewable energy is or ever will be ‘least cost’
The Charade of Industrial Wind
Non-Compliant Wind Developers Are Threatened with Jail Time
Two Well-Intentioned Laws and Aims Collide
Continue Reading