A Free-Market Energy Blog

Adults Reject Climate Catastrophe, Alarmists Bring In the Children (thoughts on Hansen’s latest)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 3, 2014

“Beware, the youth should also be told, of Climate Kings, Climate Queens, Climate Duces, and worse masquerading as infallible purveyors of truth. Climate Planning is the fatal conceit of Economic Planning on stilts.”

As has been well reported in the media, public opinion polls rate climate-change concerns at the bottom of environmental issues, not just issues in general (Gallup: 14 of 15, analyzed here). And the other side is getting increasingly desperate in their activism, which is even alarming climate alarmists.

One might argue that American adults are either misinformed, dumb, or ecologically uncaring. But a more rational explanation is that adults have heard both sides of the issue (ad nauseam) and reject climate alarmism. One way to interpret this is to understand that there are here-and-now real problems (the economy; budget deficits); energy prices matter (which means carbon rationing is a negative); global warming has flat-lined in the last decade (and more), contrary to predictions.…

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Big Solar: Big Gas (Ivanpah’s ‘dirty power’)

By -- April 2, 2014

“It has been lauded as the world’s largest solar power plant, but the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System (ISEGS) could also be called the world’s largest gas-fired power plant (largest in physical size, not gas consumption).”

Chris Clarke continues in his piece, “Ivanpah Solar Plant Owners Want to burn a Lot More Natural Gas” (KCET, March 27, 2014):

Each of the 4,000-acre facility’s three units has gas-fired boilers used to warm up the fluid in the turbines in the early morning, to keep that fluid at an optimum temperature during the night, and to boost production during the day when the sun goes behind a cloud…. Solar Partners says that in order for ISEGS (Ivanpah) to operate at full efficiency, the plant’s gas-fired auxiliary boilers will need to run an average of 4.5 hours a day, rather than the one hour a day originally expected.

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“The Onion” Headlines We Would Love to See (some fun with fading Malthusianism, cronic cronyism)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 1, 2014

If a New York Times editorial can debunk the population scare (“Overpopulation Is Not the Problem“), surely it is time for The ONION to go to school on alarmism in all of its flavors.

Political satire and parodies are forces for challenging and correcting the Shared Narrative and political correctness. As a step in this direction, and given it is April 1st, here are a few homemade headlines. (And MasterResource should not be serious all of the time.)

Here are mine–feel free to add your own in the comments section–or email them to me for a Part II if this is worthy of being continued.

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Climate Change Responsible for Climate Change (and vice versa), New Study Finds

“I know it sounds redundant,” said one coauthor. “But it really is the chicken-and-egg problem.”

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Going on Offense: The American Energy Renaissance Act of 2014 (Cruz, Bridenstine set tone for post-Obama world)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- March 31, 2014
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Human Achievement Hour: Lights On!

By William Yeatman -- March 28, 2014
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U.S. National Academy of Sciences: Doubling Down on Climate Alarmism (and taking science down a notch with it)

By James Rust -- March 27, 2014
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Attacks on Fracking Attack U.S. Consumers

By Steve Everley -- March 26, 2014
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Energy Mischief at the Rural Utilities Services (USDA): Climate Hubs, Efficiency Mandates, Fuel Switching Rules

By -- March 25, 2014
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AWED Energy & Environmental Newsletter: March 24, 2014

By -- March 24, 2014
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TexasWorld: Freedom, Room for All (a mental experiment)

By Greg Rehmke -- March 21, 2014
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