Richard Kerr (Science) in 2009: Warming ‘Pause’ About to Be Replaced by ‘Jolt’

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- January 14, 2014 13 Comments

“Pauses as long as 15 years are rare in the simulations, and ‘we expect that [real-world] warming will resume in the next few years,’ the Hadley Centre group writes…. Researchers … agree that no sort of natural variability can hold off greenhouse warming much longer.”

– Richard Kerr, Science (2009)

That’s Richard A. Kerr, the longtime, award-winning climate-change scribe for Science magazine, the flagship publication of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The article, “What Happened to Global Warming? Scientists Say Just Wait a Bit,” was published October 1, 2009.

The article is important in the history of climate thought because it captures neatly the (over)confidence of the scientists who turn to models to justify their faith that past overestimation will soon be reversed. Judith Curry’s recent discovery of F.

Continue Reading

Energy Blessings: Bring On a Freer, More Prosperous 2014

By Mark Green -- January 2, 2014 2 Comments

At the dawn of a new year, it is appropriate to take stock of America’s ever-giving oil and natural gas bounty—and realize that much more of a good thing is in store given market incentives to produce and consume.

Oil and natural gas are the energies of our lives. No hyperbole there. Oil and natural gas are the source of energy-intense fuels for transportation as well as warmth in the winter and cooling in the summer.

They’re also the building blocks for a number of products we use every day, making our lives more modern, more comfortable and safer. Every day 143 U.S. refineries convert an average of 15 million barrels of crude oil for these uses and more.     

For 9.8 million Americans, the oil and natural gas industry supports their employment – directly, indirectly in supporting industries and across our economy in jobs that wouldn’t exist without oil and natural gas development.

Continue Reading

AWED Energy & Environmental Newsletter: December 30, 2013

By -- December 30, 2013 3 Comments

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 three 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.

—————————

U.S. Production Tax Credit (PTC)

Sen Grassley re the PTC

Democrats push to extend clean energy tax credits as deadline looms

US Senators oppose a PTC extension

Can the American Wind Energy Industry Survive Without the PTC?

Continue Reading

MasterResource Turns Five

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- December 26, 2013 6 Comments

On December 26, 2008, the free-market energy blog MasterResource began. Some 1,440 posts (from 150 authors) later, we are nearing two million views.

The original idea of MasterResource was to bring a distinguished group of energy experts together to attract a wider audience. The thinking was that a movement website would provide the critical mass to be heard in an increasingly crowded blogosphere.

Here was the original concept as explained in our first blog five years ago today:

We are just getting started here, but some of us veterans of the energy debate from a private property, free-market perspective have teamed together to offer our thoughts on late breaking energy items. When I read my newspapers each day, I have some thoughts that I wish I could share with folks from a historical, worldview perspective.

Continue Reading

Micro-Hydro: The Regulatory Noose (Logan City vs. FERC)

By Megan Hansen and Ryan Yonk -- December 20, 2013 No Comments Continue Reading

The Great Green Lie: CCS Today Is Not Like Scrubbers in the 1970s (Part II)

By William Yeatman -- December 6, 2013 12 Comments Continue Reading

Bird Kills: The Evidence and Publicity Mounts (Sierra Club, Audubon must stop deceiving memberships)

By Jim Wiegand -- November 21, 2013 8 Comments Continue Reading

The Regulatory Personality in Energy Markets

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- November 15, 2013 4 Comments Continue Reading

Windaction News Issue: November 6, 2013

By -- November 6, 2013 No Comments Continue Reading

A Conservative, Biblical Case for Windpower? (a red-state, Tea Party strategy at work)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- October 21, 2013 11 Comments Continue Reading