Social Injustice: Climate Activists vs. Nitrogen Fertilizers

By Steve Overholt -- June 6, 2023 No Comments

“Now, climate warriors have arrayed their forces against manmade ‘chemical’ nitrogen fertilizers. The convenient collateral damage in this campaign is the natural gas required to produce this essential plant nutrient.”

Throughout modern history science-based increases in food production and the wealth it generates have brought astonishing reductions in population growth rates. Then came climate alarmism and forced energy transformation.

The farmers toil as many Americans relax and take summer vacations. The agricultural sector today represents only 1.3 percent of our population compared to 30 percent a century ago, producing record harvests through brains, sweat, and science (and CO2 enrichment and longer growing seasons). Yet many of them feel uneasy about the climate-change exaggerators who have them in the government’s crosshairs.

A New Front

It is not only beef from cattle, a methane issue.…

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A 10 Percent ‘Community Solar’ Discount? Think Again!

By Joseph Toomey -- May 9, 2023 No Comments

“A 10% reduction off the retail rate for wholesale power would net Summit Ridge Energy a price of $0.1181 per kWh, which is 244% higher than the average wholesale rate in 2021 that all other power producers received. And that boost will be absorbed and passed on to all retail ratepayers.”

“The $2.5 billion investment in production plants that Q-Cells promises isn’t really coming from the company, but from the U.S. Treasury courtesy of federal taxpayers’ largesse and Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.”

Last month, Vice President Kamala Harris visited a Korean-owned solar photovoltaic module plant in Dalton, Georgia. Long known as the carpet capital of America (and perhaps less illustriously as the Home of the Blonde Bombshell), Dalton will now host a vastly-expanded Korean-owned solar panel production facility operated by a company called Q-Cells.…

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Electricity Statism and Misdirection: Introducing Doug Lewin’s “Texas Energy and Power Newsletter” (well-funded propaganda)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- May 5, 2023 1 Comment

“The supply-side reliability fix offered by the Texas Senate is a direct response to the February 2021 carnage created by, yes, wind and solar taking over a once reliable grid. It is a hard-wired governmental solution to a soft-wired governmental problem. But there is an alternative. Free markets, anyone?”

The big guns of climate alarmism and forced energy transformation are out to prevent Texas from shoring up its grid from the cancer of wind and solar. Out of the blue, the Texas Energy and Power Newsletter (Substack) appears, with the message that renewables are not the problem but the solution, complemented by, in Doug Lewin’s words, “Fast-acting reciprocating engines, batteries, geothermal power, and demand response [to] help with both resource adequacy and operational flexibility.”

In denial about the wounded supply side–where the obvious solution is to demote (government-enabled) intermittent resources–the answer is “smart meters” in the home so Big Brother can oversee demand.…

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DOE vs. Gas Cooking: A Review of Critical Comments

By -- April 27, 2023 1 Comment

The filed comments exceeded expectations. The free-market commenters were especially prevalent and displayed great content. Some trade associations also deserve special recognition.

Biden’s “whole of government” Department of Justice is becoming far less likely to challenge DOE on matters of fuel neutrality.

Good news! Filed comments opposing the U.S. Department of Energy’s “Energy Conservation Standards for Residential Conventional Cooking Products (Ovens)” beat the other side in quantity, quality and range. The sheer volume of opposition comments makes a summary difficult, as does the new format of the regulations.gov website (requiring each numbered comment be opened one-by-one to identify the sender’s identity). There are 2,650 comments in this docket, dating back to Feb 24, 2014. [1]

The following table is provided to give examples of some of the more thorough yet diverse comments opposing adoption filed in the last few days before the comment period closed on April 17th:

Submitter InfoComment ID
Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI)[i]EERE-2014-BT-STD-0005-2287
ONE Gas (utility company)EERE-2014-BT-STD-0005-2289
National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)EERE-2014-BT-STD-0005-2288
National Propane Gas Association (NPGA)EERE-2014-BT-STD-0005-2270
Heritage FoundationEERE-2014-BT-STD-0005-2281
Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM)EERE-2014-BT-STD-0005-0071
Institute for Energy Research (IER)EERE-2014-BT-STD-0005-2274
American Public Gas Association (APGA)EERE-2014-BT-STD-0005-2283
American Gas Association (AGA)EERE-2014-BT-STD-0005-0007
CO2 Coalition (Happer Lindzen Wrightstone)EERE-2014-BT-STD-0005-2275
Joint States Attorneys General (1 of 2)EERE-2014-BT-STD-0005-2277
Joint States Attorneys General (2 of 2)EERE-2014-BT-STD-0005-2264

Review of Comments

The filed comments exceeded expectations. The…

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Energy and Environmental Review: April 24, 2023

By -- April 24, 2023 No Comments Continue Reading

Headwinds for Offshore Wind (Rhode Island’s RFP a sign of trouble)

By -- April 20, 2023 No Comments Continue Reading

Addressing Wind/Solar Instability: Hardwiring the Grid

By Ed Ireland -- April 17, 2023 6 Comments Continue Reading

Energy and Environmental Review: April 10, 2023

By -- April 10, 2023 No Comments Continue Reading

Massachusetts Offshore Wind Troubles

By -- April 5, 2023 5 Comments Continue Reading

Milton Howard’s Grid Cancer Projects

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- March 21, 2023 No Comments Continue Reading