The 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 mainstream media about energy and the environment. We appreciate MasterResource for their assistance in publishing this information.

Some of the more important articles in this issue are:

Wind and Solar Power Advance, but Carbon Refuses to Retreat

Wind & Solar are Less Efficient Decarbonizers than CC Gas Turbines

Maine DEP Issues Draft Wind Energy Rules (two VERY good parts)

Grid-Scale Storage of Renewable Energy: The Impossible Dream

Tesla battery production releases as much CO2 as 8 years of gasoline driving

Report by head of German Wildlife Foundation: Truly Green?…

“We have an politicized “all the above” electricity policy to the detriment of natural gas direct use. If energy diversity for electrical generation is desirable, then alternatives to electricity be also be desirable. This is especially true when considering diversity of energy delivery mechanisms (pipelines and wires) and the fact that customer outages are predominantly due to downed wires, not generation outages.”

Last month, US Department of Energy Secretary Rick Perry held a hearing before the House Energy & Commerce Committee. None examined the very important issue of over-electrification.where public policies discriminate against direct-use natural gas.

The concept of an “all-the-above energy policy” was a recurring theme of Secretary Perry’s hearing with the House Energy & Commerce Committee on Thursday October 12 ^[1] This is a popular fiction; like another of Secretary Perry’s reoccurring themes that energy is not a free market.…

[Editor note: Mark Krebs has been a leading advocate (see here) for free-market decision-making between natural gas and electricity in homes and places of business, challenging the ‘deep decarbonization’ push of energy interventionists to disciminate against fossil fuels at point of use. This is the first of a two-part post.]

“Grid reliability should not eclipse energy reliability; especially during weather emergencies. Yet, much of the discussion looks like more of the same rent-seeking by interests looking for rebuilding damaged electricity infrastructure with inherently unreliable wind and solar generation based ‘microgrids’.”

The House Energy and Commerce Committee is undertaking an in-depth review of the laws and regulations affecting electric energy. Much of that review is through a series of hearing that started last July. The objectives for this series of hearings were officially stated as follows:

Today, the nation’s electricity industry is undergoing a period of transformation due to technological innovation and market competition, creating tremendous benefits to American consumers.

“Species are disappearing. Coral reefs are bleaching. Their life is disappearing. Droughts become stronger and fires are raging, driving refugees and increasing conflict among people. Storms become stronger and floods more devastating. Ice sheets are melting. We debate whether we will lose coastal cities in 150 years, or 100 years or 50 years. Do adults wonder why young people have increased anxiety today?”

James Hansen’s granddaughter. Presentation at COP-23 in Bonn, Germany, 6 November 2017.

The Church of Climate knows few bounds. Serial exaggerator climate scientist James Hansen has introduced his own with the fronting of a grand-daughter (her name is not important here) who speaks his words with his conviction. Never mind that even among climate alarmists, James Hansen is an outlier. Never mind that the warming and sea level rise he has long predicted is significantly overstated.…