New York Wind Wars: Hiding the Facts (PTC allows Invenergy to desecrate)

By Mary Kay Barton -- September 12, 2013 16 Comments

“New York State’s installed wind factories averaged a pathetic 23.5% Capacity Factor in 2012….  It’s no wonder New York has earned the dubious distinction of having the highest electricity rates in the continental United States – 17.7 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) – a whopping 53% above the national average.”

The last minute extension of the Production Tax Credit (PTC – aka: “Pork To Cronies”) within the December 31, 2012 fiscal cliff deal was good news for Big Wind corporate welfare profiteers, like Michael Polsky’s Invenergy. It was very bad news for rural/residential Towns being targeted by industrial wind developers here in New York State, and across the nation.

Despite the fact that the Wyoming County, NY Town of Orangeville’s conflicted Town Board approved Invenergy’s “Stony Creek” project in the Fall of 2012, Invenergy admitted they would not be going ahead with the project unless the PTC was extended – highlighting the fact that the only thing Invenergy is interested in ‘harvesting’ is taxpayers’ money.…

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AWED Energy & Environmental Newsletter: August 26, 2013

By -- August 26, 2013 1 Comment

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:

Wind Energy: Only When the Wind Blows and the Subsidies Flow

Wind Energy Curtailment

Wind and Solar are Parasitic Power Producers

It’s Not Gridlock That is Blocking a Carbon Tax, It’s Science and Economics

Radio Interview: Massachusetts’ Cape Wind — Beginning of the End

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Reclaiming the Moral High Ground (Epstein’s new energy primer)

By Pierre Desrochers -- July 8, 2013 6 Comments

“Although trained as a philosopher, [Alex] Epstein is perhaps best described as a happy intellectual warrior whose main goal is to rewrite the dominant romantic/authoritarian narrative that nowadays underlie energy and sustainability debates.”

To people who lived through them, the “good old days” were more akin to Hobbesian trying times where life was much more solitary, poorer, nastier, brutish and shorter than in our “Age of Energy.”

In a world where no good deed goes unpunished, however, hydrocarbons and the people who locate, refine and deliver them in usable forms are loudly condemned as toxic threats by activists who would rather have energy-starved masses consume little, distant, costly, intermittent, unreliable, and low-density alternative energy cupcakes.

Even more disheartening is how many energy executives have been shamed into paying lip-service (and a fair amount of “sustainability” and “green partnership” consulting fees) to their most virulent detractors.…

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Response to Media Matters on Wind Power Accidents (dilute or dense energy for health & safety?)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 2, 2013 4 Comments

“[Wind accident] data … is by no means fully comprehensive – CWIF believe that what is attached may only be the ‘tip of the iceberg’ in terms of numbers of accidents and their frequency…. Renewable UK confirmed that there had been 1,500 wind turbine accidents and incidents in the UK alone in the past 5 years. Data here … may only represent 9% of actual accidents. “

– Caithness Windfarm Information Forum (UK), Wind Turbine Accident Data to 31st December 2012.

My latest Forbes Political Energy post, Oil & Gas Isn’t Just One Of The Richest Industries, It’s Also One Of The Safest, examined the improving, impressive safety of the U.S. oil and gas industry compared to the much smaller (but accident prone) industrial wind power industry. The massive height of open-element wind turbines introduces hazards for high-up workers and from falling debris.

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AWED Energy & Environmental Newsletter: 3/11/13

By -- March 11, 2013 6 Comments Continue Reading

Power Density Separates the Wheat from the Chaff

By Kent Hawkins -- February 20, 2013 7 Comments Continue Reading

Towards Sound Energy Policy (Part I – Current Flaws)

By Kent Hawkins -- January 16, 2013 3 Comments Continue Reading

Creative Energy Destruction: Renewables Lost Long Ago

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- January 15, 2013 3 Comments Continue Reading

Energy Transformation and "Moore's Curse": Realism Before Action

By Steven Lightfoot -- November 29, 2012 3 Comments Continue Reading

Energy & Creative Destruction: Fossil Fuels Triumphant

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- January 4, 2012 9 Comments Continue Reading