“[I]t is utterly futile, on a priori grounds, even to think that wind power can make any significant contribution to world energy supply, let alone to emissions reductions, without ruining the planet. As the extraordinary polymath Sir David MacKay pointed out, the arithmetic is against such unreliable renewables.”

– Matt Ridley, “Wind is an Irrelevance to the Energy and Climate Debate“(May 15, 2017)

An op-ed and blog post several months ago by Matt Ridley is still making the rounds. A great thinker, Ridley gets to the essence of things. He is hard to ignore, even by his critics. Ridley’s book The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves (2010), is a seminal contribution in the Julian Simon tradition. (His other work can be found here.)

Here are some salient excerpts from his op-ed/post:

“[Wind power’s] contribution is still, after decades — nay centuries — of development, trivial to the point of irrelevance.

“When they try to express concerns [about wind turbines], farmers often face an accusation from those living far away: that they are climate change deniers….. [Q]uestioning wind energy means that ‘people will associate you with Republicans or with the Trump campaign, anti-environment, [but] nothing could be further from the truth.'”

– Leah McBride Mensching, “Wind Energy Isn’t a Breeze.” Slate, August 24, 2017.

“If this Slate article is followed by more such pieces, there will be no way to contain the civil war within the environmental movement between the grass roots and Washington, DC. One can only hope that what should have happened years ago can happen now.” (post below)

Many in the free-market movement, as well as at the environmental grassroots, have been all but amazed at the ability of Washington’s, “green” establishment to smooth over the problems of an energy source that is very land-intensive, remote, and hard-material heavy compared to the energy dense alternatives—from natural gas to nuclear power.…

Denmark’s transition to a more competitive market pricing scheme has … effectively abolished village-owned wind projects while enriching mega-corporations

Denmark, the tiny European state much ballyhooed as the gold standard for wind-power deployment, has big energy goals. The Danish government set the target of sourcing half of its electricity from wind by 2020 and transitioning entirely off fossil fuel by 2050. In order to get there, Denmark needs to build a lot more wind. Last year, wind power represented 38 percent of Denmark’s total electricity consumed, down from 42 percent the year before. (Actual wind consumption by the Danish was likely below this percentage since much of Denmark’s wind power can be exported to neighboring control areas.)”

So, reaching its goals won’t be easy. According to a 3-year, $3.1 million study (DKK 20 million) by Danish Council for Strategic Research, Denmark has an “Anti-Wind problem.…

“It may be a decade or more before Falmouth can heal from the divisive battle that raged since 2009. Paying off the $14 million will be a constant reminder. It is unlikely that the residents, the locals, will be quick to trust local and state officials who put ideology and self-serving monetary gain ahead of the health and welfare of others. In that respect, Falmouth is like every other wind project battle we’ve followed.”

After seven years of public hearings, nuisance complaints, state-funded facilitations, dueling noise experts, and several fatal court rulings costing hundreds of thousands, the Town of Falmouth has finally decided to abandon its defense of the town’s two Vestas V82 (1.65 megawatt) turbines.

The last straw came on June 19, 2017, when Massachusetts Superior Court Judge Cornelius J.…