“Compared to established dealers, self-serves offered price discounts, high volume (self-serves were the first multi-pump stations), novelty, convenience (generally 24 hours), reduced wait (averaging 2 minutes per car), safety (automatic shut-off nozzles, enforced rules), attractive and spacious layout, and glamor (roving female cashiers).”

In 1930, as described in yesterday’s post, a new form of competition arose wherein the motorist got out of the vehicle to self-served and received a lower price for gasoline or diesel. Protest from established dealers, in alliance with local fire marshals, however, led to municipal ordinances to hamper self-serves.

A promising form of low-cost gasoline marketing, rivaling the discounts of tracksiders (stations selling discounted gasoline obtained directly from tank cars at railroad crossings) was postponed.

California … and the Nation

On May 1, 1947, a large self-service operation opened in California that received wide publicity and reawakened entrepreneurs to this particular form of discounting.…

“If there’s any chance at a rational policy on climate, two things must happen. First, intelligent laymen must take back the debate, by pushing currently out-of-bounds science back onto centre stage. They must stop letting ‘experts’ do their thinking for them. Second, political attacks on scientists must be stopped. Those must be pushed out of bounds.”

– Christopher Essex (Ph.D), Financial Post, February 26, 2015.

On June 11-12, 2015, in Washington, D.C., The Heartland Institute of Chicago, Illinois will host its Tenth International Conference on Climate Change, titled The New Science & Economics of Climate Change. “The debate over climate change is changing,” our conference brochure states. “Can you feel it?”

Yes, a growing number of scientists say the climate is less sensitive to carbon dioxide than previously thought. Most Americans do not believe global warming is a major threat.…

The Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions (AWED) is an informal coalition of individuals and organizations interested in improving national, state, and local energy & environmental policies. Our basic position is that technical matters like these should be addressed by using Real Science.

 It’s all spelled out at WiseEnergy.org, which is a wealth of energy and environmental resources.

A key element of AWED’s efforts is public education. Towards that end, every 3 weeks we put together a newsletter to balance what is found in the mainstream media about energy and environmental matters. We appreciate MasterResource for their assistance in publishing this information.

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Some (quite a few!) standout articles in this issue are:

NC House Passes Major Bill to Freeze its RPS

Wind Turbines are Less Effective than Assumed and CO2 Abatement Cost is Higher

Association Between Wind Turbines and Human Distress

Carbon Capture (and the hypocrisy of environmental groups)

Wind and Solar Transmission Planning

The Global Thirst for Low-Cost Electricity Continues Driving Coal Demand

Wind Energy Impact on Grid Stability and Operation

Let’s Run the Numbers: Nuclear vs Wind and Solar

Dominion: Offshore Wind is Too Expensive

Ten Reasons to Eliminate the Wind PTC

Climate Advisers Must Maintain Integrity

Earth Day: 22 Ways to Think about the Climate-Change Debate

See also two special sections this time, which include several reports on:

1) Climate data integrity, and the the accuracy of climate computer models

2) the Catholic Church and climate change…

“Far exceeding the legal authority that Congress has delegated to the EPA, this power plan would set the U.S. on an even more aggressive path to reduce CO2 than has been taken by some European countries where electric prices are two to three times higher than the average U.S. rate.”

– Kathleen Hartnett White, Texas Public Policy Foundation (May 7, 2015)

Congratulations to the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) for congratulating Texas political leaders for standing firm–and mighty tall–against climate alarmism mandated from Washington, DC. Obama might be high in the saddle right now, and the spin-science-Left might be tossing climate anger at realistic science, but the voting public isn’t buying it. Abbott, Cornyn, and Cruz are playing a winning intellectual and political hand alongside Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.…