A Free-Market Energy Blog

Global Cooling Alert! (1972)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- March 8, 2023

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For various posts at MasterResource on the experts’ global cooling scare, see here.…

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Carbon Capture & Storage: ExxonMobil’s Big Political Play

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- March 7, 2023

“ExxonMobil wants more: an ‘initial’ increase in the tax credit to around $100 per metric ton (from $85) and an extended eligibility period to 30 years (from 12 years). And ‘Provide a $10 billion grant to help develop infrastructure in Houston….'”

“Carbon capture and storage is a ‘loss leader’ for ExxonMobil to officially greenwash. For the Biden Administration, CCS is a bribe providing leverage on the biggest energy major.”

Yesterday’s post described ExxonMobil’s abandonment of its biofuels (algae) venture, wildly uneconomic after more than a decade of effort and hundreds of millions of dollars invested. But the company’s Low-Carbon Solutions division has something much bigger in process: Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), advertised as “Providing industry solutions needed to help reduce emissions during the energy transition.” (Ouch! ExxonMobil endorsing “the energy transition” away from its major products, oil and gas.)…

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ExxonMobil Cans Algae (greenwash failure)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- March 6, 2023

“After advertising its efforts to produce environmentally friendly fuels from algae for over a decade, Exxon Mobil Corp. is now quietly walking away from its most heavily publicized climate solution.” (below)

Biofuel is out, leaving carbon capture and storage (CCS) as the leave-us-alone, we-are-doing-our-part “greenwashing” strategy at ExxonMobil (see tomorrow’s post). The end of algae as a substitute for crude oil comes after $350 million and 14 years of commitment. This expenditure was joined by a “green” advertising campaign around the project of at least $60 million, mostly spent between 2017 and 2019.

It was predictable. Shell, BP, and Chevron had previously thrown in the biofuels towel. And it is reminiscent of Exxon’s failed ventures in the 1970s: Office equipment. Real estate. Synthetic fuels. Shale oil. Electric motors.…

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Are Grassroot Wind/Solar Foes ‘Cultish’? (Peter Sinclair vs. Kevon Martis again)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- March 3, 2023
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Reliable vs. Intermittent Generation: A Primer (Part II)

By Bill Schneider -- March 2, 2023
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Reliable vs. Intermittent Generation: A Primer (Part I)

By Bill Schneider -- March 1, 2023
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Geoengineering: New Area for the Climate Industrial Complex?

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 28, 2023
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Energy and Environmental Review: February 27, 2023

By -- February 27, 2023
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The Texas Blackout: Markets or Regulators?

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 24, 2023
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Chris Tomlinson (Houston Chronicle) in the Church of Climate

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 23, 2023
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