A Free-Market Energy Blog

Wind Turbines vs. Weather Radar in Tornado Alley (Nebraska showdown)

By -- August 11, 2015

“What about the more than 50% of Nebraska’s severe weather that occurs at night and with no regard for holidays and weekends? Does anyone expect NextEra employees to make up for the loss in radar resolution from the company’s wind power facilities?”

Since 2009, two Nebraska communities have been destroyed by tornadoes, the most recent in June, 2014 (in Pilger). Articles covering these disasters can be found here and here.

Needless to say, accurate weather forecasting is essential for protecting life and property. But what happens when wind turbines are placed too close to a NEXRAD [1] weather radar? We may know soon enough.

NextERA’s Cottonwood wind project (113.6 MW) proposes to site all of its 52 turbines within 2½ to 7 miles of the Blue Hill, Nebraska NEXRAD facility.…

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Final Power Plant Rule: The Hit Get Hit Harder

By Scott Segal -- August 10, 2015

“What is being proposed for Kentucky is disastrous – disastrous for our declining coal economy and equally disastrous for our very important manufacturing economy. The EPA claimed that it listened to the comments received on the proposed rule for the Clean Power Plan. It is clear from the emissions numbers the EPA has set for Kentucky that the agency did not listen to us.”

Democratic Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear (above) sounds a lot like Mitch McConnell. Kentucky’s energy way-of-life is threatened, and the news is not good for the other states that have grown up using coal as low-cost, reliable fossil-fuel generation.

The new formulation puts an upper bound on a state target of 1,305lb/MWh (for those states with 100% coal generation in their mix).  This has jammed a number of states whose rate was higher than this upper bound under the Proposed formulation, namely; Kentucky, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, West Virginia, Indiana, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and Ohio.…

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Heath Effects from Industrial Wind: Australian Testimony (Part II: Dr. Sarah Laurie)

By Sherri Lange -- August 6, 2015

“There has been pretence that there is no evidence of harm at the levels of infrasound and low-frequency noise being emitted. This is untrue. There is an extensive body of research conducted by NASA and the US Department of Energy 30 years ago, which: established direct causation of sleep disturbance and a range of physiological effects euphemistically called ‘annoyance’,”

Dr. Sarah Laurie CEO, Waubra Foundation. Testimony before the Australian Senate Select Committee on Wind Turbines, June 29, 2015.

Considerable evidence of negative effects to health was recorded during the Australian Senate’s call for testimonies and evidence to its Select Committee on Wind Turbines.

The following testimony of Dr. Sarah Laurie, complementing the testimony reproduced yesterday by Robert McMurtry at MasterResource, contradicts that of Australian Wind Alliance national co-ordinator Andrew Bray who testified that people living near wind facilities experience no health problems.

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Heath Effects from Industrial Wind: Australian Testimony (Part I: Robert McMurtry)

By Sherri Lange -- August 5, 2015
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Climate Statism: Science, Poverty, Free Speech at Issue

By -- August 4, 2015
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AWED Energy & Environmental Newsletter: August 3, 2015

By -- August 3, 2015
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The Strategic Petroleum Reserve Reconsidered (Part V)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 31, 2015
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Strategic Petroleum Reserve: Early Fill Controversies (Part IV)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 30, 2015
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Strategic Petroleum Reserve: Early Problems (Part III)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 29, 2015
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Strategic Petroleum Reserve: Early History (Part II)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 28, 2015
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