[Editor Note: Advertising for the premier energy conference CERAWeek 2020 (March 9–13) is in full swing. Several years ago, Daniel Yergin was urged to invite Alex Epstein to present the moral case for fossil fuels. Today, with fossil fuels on the ascent, and a distracted industry engaged in greenwashing, it is past time to feature the world’s leading energy philosopher. My post from four years ago on this subject is updated below.]

“If good and evil are measured by the standard of human well-being and human progress, we must conclude that the fossil fuel industry is not a necessary evil to be restricted but a superior good to be liberated.”

“We don’t need green energy–we need humanitarian energy.”

– Alex Epstein, “At CERAWeek Fossil Fuel Leaders Should Make A Moral Case For Their Industry,” Forbes.com.,

“With 25.3 Quads ‘lost’ in the transition from ‘source’ to ‘site’ (a.k.a. metered) electricity consumption, the overall electrical generation efficiency in industrial processes is 34% (13 Quads ÷ 38.3 Quads). In comparison, direct use of fossil fuel on site at industrial facilities generally exceeds 90%.”

“Industrial electrification is largely being driven by the same cabal pushing deep decarbonization and is further undermining our market economy.  The solution: Remove subsidies, mandates and other forms of energy favoritism by letting technologies advance or fail in markets based upon their own true merit or lack thereof.”

Previous articles at Master Resource have focused on “deep decarbonization” through allegedly beneficial electrification of residential and commercial buildings. We’ve discussed the negative consequences of various policy regimes to deny consumers choice to best satisfy their energy usage requirements.…

As founder and CEO of The Institute for Energy Research (IER) since its inception (1989), the new year offers an opportunity to add to the historical record regarding the free-market think tank’s origins and purpose. This is also necessary given some misunderstandings and misreporting in the public domain.

In Kochland: The Secret History of Koch Industries and Corporate Power in America (2019), for example, Christopher Leonard states the following:

The IER was an outgrowth of the Institute for Humane Studies, the libertarian think tank cofounded by Charles Koch. ^Fn

^Fn The connection between IER and the Institute for Humane Studies was first revealed by the journalist Lee Fang. He reported in 2014 that the IHS temporarily lost its charter, and then reformed as the IER.

The Real Story

The Institute for Humane Studies – Texas (IHS–Texas) was formed as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 1984 and shared the same board directors as IHS.…

[Editor Note: For several years, Bradley published his “Political Energy” series at Forbes.com. This particular post, published on March 25, 2016, received 6,146 views. Given the lawsuits against ExxonMobil and other energy companies alleging a conspiracy to hide from the public the postulated delirious effects of anthropogenic climate change from fossil fuel burning, his major points remain pertinent today.] This article follows:

The Left has declared another war on Exxon Mobil. No, it’s not about high prices and high profits, as it has been before. The new charge is that the world’s largest private-sector energy company knew about the dangers of global warming back in the 1970s and 1980s from its own internal scientific investigation.

Therefore, Exxon should have disclosed to investors and other parties that its carbon-based business model had special risks.…