“With the start of the Alaska legislative session less than one month away, prefile release bills will begin to trickle in. Legislation for a Green Bank, Renewable Portfolio Standards, Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (CCUS), and Cook Inlet gas incentivization appear imminent this session.”

Alaska is an oil and gas state. In 2022, natural gas, oil, and coal fueled two-thirds of Alaska’s electricity generation, with hydro at 29 percent and wind, solar and biomass accounting for the last three percent. In personal and mass transportation, EVs are riding on government subsidies to get a foothold, even more so than in the lower-48.

In 2022, Alaska ranked in the top five oil producers in the United States, producing about 4 percent of the total. Alaska is first in oil and gas contribution to total GDP as a state. Proved…

“The UN’s COP process is almost as dead as its deeply dishonest posturing about ‘keeping 1.5°C alive’…. With the COP process itself on life support, surely it’s time to change tack….”

“The sight of 80,000+ delegates unwittingly providing credibility to the fossil fuel incumbency that COP now unapologetically represents, has become sickening. Stay away. Call it out. Tell the truth.”

– Jonathan Porritt (below)

At least some climate crusaders are realistic in the lack of progress in the mitigation policy designed to dislodge consumer-driven, taxpayer-neutral energies (oil, gas, and coal) and substitute politically correct, inferior ones (wind, solar, batteries). It all gets back to energy density, a fundamental concept that climate activists do not want to understand (or do understand, but want pure de-industrialization).

A recent post by “sustainability campaigner and writer” Jonathan Porritt, “From COP 28 to COP 29” (January 4, 2024), has a number of realistic points regarding politics, while clinging to the narrative that Net Zero is achievable and at hand.…

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

Greed Energy Economics:
*** Economic Health Watch: Utility Costs
*** There’s no justification for green energy subsidies and mandates

Unreliables (General):
“Green” agendas are carrying governors to political cliffs
As Wind and Solar Power Falter, U.N. Climate Agreement becomes Wishful Thinking

Wind Energy — Offshore:
Giant offshore wind project axed in blow to Biden’s green goals
Albany’s Green Machine Goes Rogue
Cost of insuring offshore wind ‘doubled’ amid heavy losses: leading broker
Status of US  Offshore Wind Projects: 2023 Edition

Wind Energy — Other:
*** Taking the Wind Out of Climate Change (referencing 60± studies)
*** Court orders wind farm to be torn down after golden eagle death
*** Federal Judge Sides with Osage Nation, Orders Removal of 84 Wind Turbines
The Wind Power Scam
Turbine troubles and project pullout: Recharge’s best-read of 2023

Solar Energy:
*** As more & more counties get more solar projects…here’s some truth about them

Fossil Fuel Energy:
Alex Epstein Discussing Fossil Future with students — Part 2
Coal’s Life-Saving Role Ignored By Climate-Obsessed Media
Two Days After COP28, IEA Delivers More Coal Hard Reality
Old King Coal at COP28: Uninvited Guest or Star of the Show?…

“Despite the optimists telling us how well EVs are selling and that the charging and cost issues will be quickly resolved, the industry struggles.  The math doesn’t work, and consumers are concluding hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) better meet their driving needs.  Auto executives are wondering whether their betting on the EV transition, even with mandates, is putting them on the road to bankruptcy.”

“The math doesn’t work,” Mark Fields, former Ford Motor CEO, told Joe Kernen of CNBC early last week.  Until the industry solves charging and cost issues, EV sales will continue to underperform.  The bottom line for Fields is that “the government [Biden administration] will have to back off” its policies mandating two-thirds of new vehicle sales being EVs by 2030.  Absent such an adjustment, emissions will worsen, and the EV transition will lag. …