“By definition a free market means open access and competition. Your interpretation of Hayeck [sic] is flawed.” (Robert Borlick, below)

“Rob … I don’t think you have the foggiest idea of how the Austrian school of economics is relevant to electric power systems.” (Robert Borlick, below)

In the ‘never too late’ category, it’s time to introduce insights from the Austrian School of economics to electricity. Here is a running exchange with some power-market experts on my attempt to do just this.

I should emphasize that I am learning from them, as I hope they are learning from me. I have tested their patience with the notion that regulation/planning/renewables has hurt the Texas system–and hurt it enough to have caused the Great Blackout.

I am introducing new ideas to them, which really aren’t so new (see Raymond Niles in 2008 here).…

” … it is our moral responsibility to play a leading role in the response to the threats posed by climate change. Both inaction and unrealistic proposals are insufficient responses. The United States should prioritize actionable policy solutions … for all Americans impacted by climate change and for the betterment of future generations.”

– American Conservation Coalition

“Beware of the American Conservative Coalition…. Christopher Barnard should engage in open debate to demonstrate why the climate is in crisis and why rationing consumer-chosen energy is a workable policy.” (Bradley, below)

With an endless supply of money, the Progressive Left have been creating nonprofits to fracture and weaken the resistance to climate alarmism and forced energy transformation. Many “conservative” or “Republican” or “bipartisan” front groups are doing the incrementalism that tip-toe on the road to serfdom.…

“It is in the national interest to promote clean and safe development of our Nation’s vast energy resources, while at the same time avoiding regulatory burdens that unnecessarily encumber energy production, constrain economic growth, and prevent job creation.”

– President Trump, Executive Order (March 28, 2017)

Do you miss the prior Administration’s record on energy and climate–and push-back against environmental excesses otherwise?

With the Biden Administration scrambling to hoist an anti-consumer energy/climate agenda on Americans on short notice, it is important to keep the opportunity cost of free markets and America-first in mind.

Four years ago, President Trump signed into law one of the most libertarian, free-market executive orders in energy history, easily rivaling that of President Reagan’s oil price and allocation decontrol executive order of early 1981. Titled Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth, Executive Order 13783 began with this paragraph:

Section 1.

“It would appear in our recent work that the major level of disturbance occurs during the change in the power output of the windfarm and that the percentage of the change is significantly less than that presented in Cape Bridgewater.”

“In Australia, residents can plot the output of an individual windfarm and identify the change in outputs that may be giving rise to the disturbance they are experiencing, which was shown in the Cape Bridgewater study.”

Master Resource has tracked the ongoing research of acoustical engineer Stephen Cooper into vibrations and infrasound (low frequency noise) from industrial wind turbines on nearby residents. [1] Cooper has been part of the wind power debate since his 2014 pathbreaking study of the Cape Bridgewater Wind Farm in southwest Victoria in Australia (also see here).…