Energy Policy
May 7, 2024 — John Hinderaker
The press, and many politicians, constantly assure us that the world is in the midst of a transition from fossil fuels to “green” energy, which means wind turbines, solar panels, and mostly fictitious batteries. But is any such transition actually in progress? No. Robert Bryce has the numbers. No such transition is taking place in the U.S.; on the contrary, last year natural gas-fired electricity generation increased 9.5 times as
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May 7, 2024 — John Hinderaker
It has been a very long time since anyone held up Italy as a model of a well-governed country. Not since Roman times, perhaps. But Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has Italy moving in a good direction. That applies to energy along with many other issues. Thus: In a decisive shift from its past policies, Italy, under the leadership of Premier Giorgia Meloni and Environment and Energy Security Minister Gilberto Pichetto,
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April 28, 2024 — John Hinderaker
Liberals denounce Donald Trump as a would-be tyrant, but the fact is that he ruled less by executive order than any other recent president. It is Joe Biden who has discarded the Constitution and imposed a blizzard of illegal or probably-illegal regulations on the rest of us. Lately, they have been coming so furiously that it is hard to keep up with them. The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board caught
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April 21, 2024 — John Hinderaker
Does this quote sound familiar? “The electric automobile will quickly and easily take precedence over all other kinds of motor carriages as soon as an effective battery of light weight is discovered.” That’s the Los Angeles Times in 1901. How about this one? “Prices on electric cars will continue to drop until they are within reach of the average family.” That’s the Washington Post, 1915. At Substack, Robert Bryce headlines:
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April 17, 2024 — John Hinderaker
Great Britain, like other countries, has pledged to stop emitting carbon dioxide (“net zero”) by transitioning to a “green” economy. That means relying on wind and solar power rather than fossil fuels and nuclear. Such promises are easy to make, but it turns out they are impossible to keep. The Telegraph reports on a new study that was commissioned by the British government: Britain is incapable of building the wind
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April 3, 2024 — John Hinderaker
Some of the most sophisticated work on energy in the country is being done by Isaac Orr and Mitch Rolling of Center of the American Experiment. Here, Isaac explains in understandable terms why the supposed costs of wind and solar projects that you see reported in the press, and alleged by “green” advocates, are always wildly off base: [T]hese claims, which are already tenuous due to rising wind and solar
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March 29, 2024 — John Hinderaker
Oil is the Earth’s miracle substance. Robert Bryce exposes the foolishness of those who attack oil. Links in original: The International Energy Agency recently reported that global oil demand grew by 2.3 million barrels per day in 2023. The agency expects oil use to increase by 1.2 million Bbl/d this year. Meanwhile, OPEC expects oil use to jump by 2.2 million Bbl/d and by 1.8 million Bbl/d in 2025. Regardless
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March 19, 2024 — John Hinderaker
If you’ve wondered how liberals expect you to heat your house after they have outlawed fossil fuels, the short answer is heat pumps. Heat pumps have joined “batteries” as the all-purpose “green” solution. But in reality, they are no solution at all. This article is in the Telegraph, but it applies equally well to the U.S.: Has there ever been a more pernicious lie spread by government and lobbyists than
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March 13, 2024 — John Hinderaker
American Experiment’s Isaac Orr and Mitch Rolling tell you what you need to know to respond to ill-informed advocates for “green” energy. There is much more at the link, but here is an overview: 1. Renewables can’t survive on their own The renewable energy industry is a subsidy-based industry, as wind and solar are largely dependent on lucrative state and federal subsidies. However, renewable advocates justify these perpetual subsidies by
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March 9, 2024 — John Hinderaker
Robert Bryce is one of America’s foremost energy experts. At his Substack site, he describes his recent appearance before the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. The commissioners were glad to hear from Robert: After I finished, about two dozen people (most of them were state regulators) came forward to say they appreciated my talk and that they’d never heard many of the points I’d made. One utility commissioner told
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March 2, 2024 — John Hinderaker
We have written a couple of times about biomass, which is a fancy term for burning wood. If you thought using wood fires for energy was out of date–it has been, actually, for a century and a half–you are behind the times. Wood burning is considered “green,” a wholly political concept, and therefore is heavily subsidized in Europe. Millions of trees in the U.S. and Canada suffer the consequences. The
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February 25, 2024 — John Hinderaker
People around the world are increasingly realizing that “green” energy is actually black–as in blackouts. Thus, in today’s Telegraph: “The UK is much closer to blackouts than anyone dares to admit.” We are heading for a big electricity crunch as it is. Whoever wins the general election, the next government will be committed to decarbonising the National Grid – by 2035 in the case of the Conservatives and by 2030
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February 11, 2024 — Steven Hayward
Our pal Remy Munasifi trains his trademark mockery on the “end oil” protestors who show up heavily-laden with petroleum based products: This takes us back to Chris Wright, founder and CEO of Liberty Oilfield Services (and a podcast guest three or four years ago), who made fools of North Face after an especially egregious example of virtue signaling:
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February 4, 2024 — John Hinderaker
That’s what solar power does. American Experiment’s Isaac Orr and Mitch Rolling have an excellent expose of California’s solar power scam: Stealing with solar: How wealthy Californians used solar panels to pick the pockets of low-income families. See original for links: Affluent households in California siphoned nearly $3.4 billion in 2021 from the pockets of low-income families through a government program called net metering. This program allows people with solar
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February 4, 2024 — Steven Hayward
The final installment of Robert Bryce’s new documentary decries our short-term thinking about what is almost literally the backbone of modern civilization: the electricity grid. We take it for granted, and allowed it to become the plaything of the green dreamers. We are setting ourselves up for catastrophe. If you haven’t already, there’s still time to sign up for Robert’s free Substack (he has a cool podcast, too). It’s worth
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February 3, 2024 — Steven Hayward
We’re back with part 4 of Robert Bryce’s new energy documentary, which looks at the sudden and surprising revival of nuclear power, which was thought to be dead for good after Jane Fonda’s fever dream came true with the Fukushima nuclear reactor explosion back in 2011. Yet Canada is on course to re-open a nuclear power plant it closed down a decade ago, and even the Biden Administration has just
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February 2, 2024 — Steven Hayward
This third episode of Robert Bryce’s new series explores the battle of the Osage Indian tribe against wind energy giant Enel, and this is just one story of local communities rebelling against landscape destroying wind and solar power. This installment is 24 minutes long. But still with the groovy music! This segment includes sound bytes from some of my favorite people, including Roger Pielke Jr, Michael Shellenberger, and Patty Limerick.
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