MasterResource Turns 17

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- December 26, 2024 2 Comments

On this day in 2008, I launched MasterResource. The inaugural post, A New Energy Blog, read:

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. I think we all have something to add–and thus the inspiration for this endeavor.

We have a good core group of principal (and principled) bloggers, as well as a growing list of guest bloggers. We aim to post new material most every day. What we have to provide to the reader is frequent insight so that you visit us regularly.

There will be some trial and error, but this is the time to launch.…

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Energy & Environmental Review: December 23, 2024

By -- December 23, 2024 No Comments

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

Unreliables (General):
*** The True Cost of Industrial Wind Energy
*** Dem Lawmakers Hinder Federal Investigation Into Biden Admin’s $400 Billion Green Energy Loans
Norway Wants to Scrap EU Power Links amid Surging Prices
Former NY Utility Regulator Warns State Lawmakers They’re on the Naughty List

Wind Energy — Offshore:
Floating Offshore Wind Systems in the Impoverished State of Maine

Wind Energy — Other:
*** Osage Tribe Wins Again, Federal Judge Orders Removal of 84 Wind Turbines by Next December
Wind Power Has Hit Its Limits In Europe

Fossil Fuel Energy:
Exxon To Build Large Off-Grid Natural Gas Plants To Exclusively Sell Electricity… AI Data Centers?

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Jigar Shah: End DOE’s Loans/Grants Now!

By David Bergeron -- December 20, 2024 1 Comment

Ed. Note: The author is a solar technologist and founder/CEO of SunDanzer, a free-market, off-grid solar company based in Tuscon, Arizona. Jigar Shah is director of the $400 billion Loan Programs Office in the U.S. Department of Energy.

Dear Jigar:

We both have a passion for solar and renewable energy to succeed in the marketplace, and we both have progeny that will inherit the environment after we are gone. Leaving them a better place—ecologically, fiscally, and otherwise—is our North Star. This can be done with wisdom, skill, and compassion.

Massive annual budget deficits and record accumulated national debt are getting worse by the day. The annual deficit is now $1.8 trillion (FY 2024), despite a 11 percent increase in tax receipts. FY 2025 is shaping up to be worse.…

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Electricity Statism or Free Markets? (Kiesling shows more cards)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- December 19, 2024 No Comments

“Rob’s snide reference to my ‘chess pieces’ is a reference to my unwillingness to agree with his Utopian dismissal of ISO/RTO organized wholesale markets.” (Lynne Kiesling to Vernon Smith, below)

“Yes, playing with government chess pieces (on-grid solar, wind, batteries, ‘smart’ meters) and a centrally planned wholesale market is Statism writ large.” (Robert Bradley to Kiesling, below)

Electricity specialist Lynne Kiesling champions herself as a classical liberal, free-market advocate. But she is just the opposite and relies on obfuscation and charm to advocate and sell

1) government central planning of wholesale electricity and

2) government-enabled wind, solar, and batteries in place of least-cost (central-station) electricity.

It is her “synthetic regulation” or the highway, premised on a belief that there cannot be private property rights to grid electricity.

This woman of system will not forthrightly define what a free market is with electricity.…

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New Mexico Should Dump Its ‘Clean Energy’ Policies

By Kenneth Costello -- December 18, 2024 No Comments Continue Reading

Enron, NYT Declare Solar ‘Competitive’ (1994)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- December 17, 2024 1 Comment Continue Reading

“THIS AGREEMENT WILL BE GOOD FOR ENRON STOCK!!” (1997 Kyoto memo)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- December 13, 2024 No Comments Continue Reading

Rate Inflation in New England (perils of political electricity)

By -- December 10, 2024 2 Comments Continue Reading

Energy & Environmental Review: December 9, 2024

By -- December 9, 2024 No Comments Continue Reading

Joe Romm vs. Climate Thugs: Civil War Within the Climate Fringe

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- December 6, 2024 2 Comments Continue Reading