A Free-Market Energy Blog

Classical Liberalism and Electricity: Ten Questions for Lynne Kiesling

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- August 17, 2022

“Totally forgotten in this transformation [to mandatory open access] was a simple removal of the regulatory covenant to allow a real free market and genuine entrepreneurial discovery process…. Instead, we were told the ISO/RTO model worked: the planners knew how to price for volume and for reliability with Texas as the national model.”

Classical liberal theory explains market coordination and governmental discoordination, even “planned chaos.” The same intellectual tradition notes the propensity of government intervention to expand from its own shortcomings. Electricity is no exception. The rise and fall of the Texas grid is a case study–just the opposite of what some claiming to be classical liberal thought (see yesterday’s post).

The history of electricity in the U.S. is supportive of an undesigned order, beginning with inventor Thomas Edison and his business protégé Samuel Insull in the 1880s.…

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Classical Liberalism and Electricity: An (Unfinished) Exchange with Lynne Kiesling

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- August 16, 2022

“The propensity of government intervention to have unintended consequences and expand from its own shortcomings has taken over a vital U.S. industry. It is time for fundamental free-market, classical-liberal reform with electricity.”

For some time, I have questioned the work of electricity specialist Lynne Kiesling in regard to classical liberalism, market process economics, and Public Choice theory. She dons the mantle of all three traditions; I believe her approach is the opposite.

There are hidden assumptions and views that she does not want to talk about: climate alarmism; forced energy transformation. (Why?) And down under, her premise is that a “market failure” exists with electricity that necessitates government intervention. And with this intervention, she has fallen into a central planning approach that begs for a classical liberal autopsy and policy reversal.…

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Energy and Environmental Review: August 15, 2022

By -- August 15, 2022

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

Greed Energy Economics:
*** The next alarmist goal: Stifling debate on costs of green energy
*** Wrecking a Nation One Electricity Bill at a Time
Hawaii Electricity Prices To Skyrocket As Final Shipment Of Coal Arrives

Renewable Energy: Health and Ecosystem Consequences:
*** ISO New England: Reserve margin may need to rise to 300% by 2040 as more renewables added to grid
Grid-Scale Battery Systems in New England to Counteract Shortfall of One-Day Wind/Solar Lull

Renewables (General):
*** Chasing Utopian Energy: How I Wasted 20 Years of My Life
Carbon Capture Pipelines = Environmental Idiocracy!

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Dessler to Debate ‘Climate Flat Earther’ Koonin: Why?

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- August 11, 2022
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ExxonMobil Joins Left’s Climate/Energy Agenda (H.R. 5376)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- August 10, 2022
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All-Electric Forcing in the “Inflation Reduction Act” (up to $14,000 per home)

By -- August 9, 2022
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Big Wind/Solar Roll Taxpayers, Landscape: Legislative Bonanza: A Terror Unleashed

By -- August 8, 2022
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Economists Letter to the U.S. Congress on the “Inflation Reduction Act of 2022”

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- August 5, 2022
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Excusing Wind in Texas? (ICN in spin mode)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- August 4, 2022
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Conditioned Air: Let’s Go! (climate politics at war with itself)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- August 3, 2022
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