Mineral Energy and Progress: A Consensus View

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- August 2, 2021 1 Comment

“Let’s be clear: the frequent comparison of the fossil fuel and tobacco industries is nonsense. Fossil fuels are a valuable energy source that has done yeomen service for humankind. One gallon (3.7 liters) of gasoline (petrol) contains the equivalent of 400 hours of labor by a healthy adult.  Fossil fuels raised living standards in much of the world.”

– James Hansen, June 2021

The father of the climate alarm is a straight and accurate shooter on many things, that is outside of climate models and unsettled climate dynamics. His quotation above throws water in the face of Naomi Oreskes, a history of science professor at Harvard University, as well as such climate campaigners as Michael Mann and Andrew Dessler.

Hansen’s view is actually mainstream. There is no doubt that dense mineral energies that emerged and took hold by the end of the 19th century unleashed the machines of progress.…

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On Energy Messaging

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 9, 2021 5 Comments

“The only person who can truly persuade you is yourself. You must turn the issues over in your mind at leisure, consider the many arguments, let them simmer, and after a long time turn your preferences into convictions.”

– Milton and Rose Friedman, Free to Choose (1979), p. xii.

I have fruitfully engaged in debates regarding energy and climate on social media, some on Facebook and most at LinkedIn. I comment on views I agree with to add insight. But I commonly engage with my intellectual foes, some of whom are quite confident they have the science on their side and share links to prove it.

I learn, while noting the areas of disagreement and why. I remain persuaded that the climate crusade is wasteful and futile–and wealth-is-health entrepreneurship is the way forward, whatever the weather and climate of the future.…

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Energy Books: Some Observations

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- June 17, 2021 No Comments

“Classical liberalism does not have a long resume in the history of energy thought. Prior to the 1970s energy crises, it was a backwater for free-market intellectuals, although the opportunity was there for both scholarship and political advocacy.”

I recently constructed a new home with a two-story library, ladders and all. On one side are my energy-related books; on the other, economics. Several thousand volumes are, for the first time, organized in one place. Better late than never as I am in my 66th year.

The energy books, many unearthed from storage, bring back a lot of memories. Some observations follow.

Classical liberalism (or the political term, libertarianism) does not have a long resume in the history of energy thought. Prior to the 1970s energy crises, it was a backwater for the free market intellectuals, although the opportunity was there for both scholarship and political advocacy.…

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Mises on Resources: Short, Sweet, Definitive

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- May 6, 2021 2 Comments

“The deposits of mineral substances and their exploitation are not characterized by features which would give a particular mark to human action dealing with them.”

I nominate the above 25 words for the shortest, sweetest statement of energy economics (really economics applied to mineral energies) in history. Properly understood, millions of words could have been spared trying to prove the opposite.

Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973) was the greatest economist of his generation and, indeed, the 20th century. John Maynard Keynes got the accolades, but his theory did not stand the test of time. Milton Friedman, the counterweight to Keynes from the free-market-oriented side, had many contributions that were more quantitative than the much-more-difficult qualitative. And Friedman, the great educator, did not pen a systematic treatise on the corpus of his discipline as did Mises, expositing “an economics that should have been but never was.”…

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Industrial Wind Turbine Health Issues: Evidence Grows, Politics Rise (Robert Bryce’s latest)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 28, 2021 1 Comment Continue Reading

The ‘Church of Climate’ Fights Back

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 6, 2021 No Comments Continue Reading

Land-Intensive Renewables: Three TW of Wind and Solar = 228,000 sq. miles

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 1, 2021 2 Comments Continue Reading

Reflections … and the Year Ahead

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- January 4, 2021 3 Comments Continue Reading

Censorship for Climate Alarm: Dessler Joins Mann in Intellectual Cowardice

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- June 25, 2020 7 Comments Continue Reading

The Flawed Worldview of ‘Planet of the Humans’ (Part II)

By -- May 21, 2020 3 Comments Continue Reading