Ed. note: This post excerpts energy and climate material from the Media Balance Newsletter, a free fortnightly published by physicist John Droz Jr., founder of the Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions. The complete Newsletter for this post can be found here.

Greed Energy Economics:
*** Full Cost of Electricity “FCOE” and Energy Returns “eROI”
*** It is time to replace LCOE
*** Indiana says converting 1,052 MW of coal to gas will be $381M cheaper than renewables and storage
*** $3.8 Trillion of Investment in Renewables Moved Fossil Fuels from 82% to 81% of Overall Energy Consumption in 10 Years

Renewables (General):
*** Renewable energy is a failed path, scientist tells Utah legislators
*** Reliability is Key to a Successful Energy Transition
*** Grid Grief: Ideologues Refuse to Acknowledge the Big Problem!…

“… global commodity price increases … sharp and sudden increases in interest rates, prolonged supply chain constraints, and persistent inflation have significantly increased the expected cost of constructing the project.”

Electricity rates are going up because of wind, solar, and batteries being forced upon, and duplicating, the grid. Reliability is going down because of wind and solar intermittency. And higher interest rates are (further) ruining the economics of the infrastructure-heavy, up-front capital necessary to turn “free” wind and solar into electricity.

It’s a perfect storm that might just overcome the taxpayer largesse of the federal subsidies (DOE and IRS) and rate averaging for captive ratepayers. With offshore wind experimental and extra-uneconomic, the worst can be assumed.

An October 30, 2022, article by Colin Young, “Major Massachusetts offshore wind project no longer viable,” explains the fluid situation.…

“Thank you Doug Sheridan. Thank you Alex Epstein. Thank you Robert Bryce. Thank you David Siegel. And many others…. The great middle is coming your way on the polarized energy/climate issue.”

Doug Sheridan, an energy consultant with EnergyPoint Research in Houston, has tens of thousands of followers on LinkedIn. He is an energy realist and speaks truth to power on energy and climate in a scholarly tone. And his message is resonating well in the mineral energy sector and beyond.

I was struck by his recent post describing the growing recognition of the vital role of mineral energies (vs. dilute, intermittent, infrastructure-heavy, government-dependent wind and solar). Sheridan piggybacks on an article by the U.S. reporter for the Financial Times, Derek Brower.

Sheridan’s post follows:

Derek Brower writes in the FT, pro-oil voices are suddenly bolder, swatting aside environmentalists for having the gall to worry about the climate during a global energy crisis.…

Environmentalists fighting to ban oil and gas need to learn about the 30 percent of the barrel they ignore when they espouse a world powered exclusively by electricity generated by renewables. Replacing the organic properties of petroleum is a life-threatening void in the hubris of the enemies of mineral energies.

…it is estimated industrialized nations currently consume petrochemical products at a rate of 3.5 gallons of oil per day per person.

A recent opinion column in the Wall Street Journal, “You Can’t Build Roads Without Oil,” pointed out the fallacy of the “keep it in the ground” movement against fossil fuels. Forced energy transformationists want an end to the internal combustion engine and shuttered fossil-fuel-fired power plants. It is a wind-and-solar world with existing nuclear plants maybe to continue.…