The Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions (AWED) is an informal coalition of individuals and organizations interested in improving national, state, and local energy & environmental policies. Our basic position is that technical matters like these should be addressed by using Real Science. It’s all spelled out at WiseEnergy.org, which is a wealth of energy and environmental resources.

A key element of AWED’s efforts is public education. Towards that end, every 3 weeks we put together a newsletter to balance what is found in the mainstream media about energy and environmental matters. We appreciate MasterResource for their assistance in publishing this information.

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Greed Energy Economics:

More on the Real Cost of Wind Energy

Solar Leases Sales Pitches (like wind): Overstate the benefits

The renewable energy sector needs to commit to getting off subsidies

Wind Project Caused Illinois Property Value to Tank by 56%

Negative Pricing in The NE Electric Pool Cost Ratepayers a Fortune

Is Cape Wind Running Out of Time?…

[Editor Note: In light of the 5th anniversary of Climategate on November 19th, MasterResource proudly reposts Steve Gorham’s summary from last year, Revisiting Climategate as Climatism Falters. Good analysis becomes more valuable with the passage of time. This post, and Gorham’s book, The Mad, Mad, Mad World of Climatism, pass this test.]

” … the real scandal was not so much that two or three climate scientists behaved badly, but that virtually the entire climate science community tried to pretend that nothing was wrong.”

– Paul Stephens, “Climategate Anniversary,” The IPCC Report, November 17, 2014.

Climatism, the belief that man-made greenhouse gases are destroying Earth’s climate, is on the wane. Once riding high, the ideology of man-made climate change is losing its influence in governments across the world.…

“Coal-fired power plants are closing, unable to meet EPA environmental guidelines. Nuclear plants are aging and beset by mounting losses, driven by negative pricing from subsidized wind systems. Without a return to sensible energy policies, prepare for higher prices and electrical grid failures.”

Americans take electricity for granted. Electricity powers our lights, our computers, our offices, and our industries. But misguided environmental policies are eroding the reliability of our power system.

A Close Call This Winter

Last winter, bitterly cold weather placed massive stress on the U.S. electrical system and the system almost broke. On January 7 in the midst of the polar vortex, PJM Interconnection, the Regional Transmission Organization serving the heart of America from New Jersey to Illinois, experienced a new all-time peak winter load of almost 142,000 megawatts.…

“One must wonder when the climate-damaging effects on agriculture will appear. Maybe rising agricultural production is like rising polar bear populations—the decline begins tomorrow.”

The year 2013 has been a great year for global agriculture. Record world production of rice and healthy production of wheat and corn produced strong harvests across the world. These gains were achieved despite continuing predictions that world agricultural output is headed for a decline.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports that world rice harvests for 2012/2013 were a record 469 million metric tons. Corn and wheat harvests were also strong, following record harvests for both grains during the 2011/2012 season. The USDA is now projecting world record harvests for corn, wheat, and rice for 2013/2014.

These numbers cap a 50-year trend of remarkable growth in world grain production.…