MasterResource views stand at 1.1 million. While not a megablog, ours is a high-quality contribution to the current energy debate–and a resource for the historical record (our extensive index categories number 380).

We have published approximately 914 posts from approximately 115 authors. Some are widely published; others are talented amateurs who have chosen to do what the ‘experts’ choose not to do: uncover the problems of politically correct energies. Comments from our loyal, sophisticated readership add substance to many of the in-depth posts.

And we have achieved critical mass; Google an energy-policy-related term with ‘MasterResource,’ and there we usually are!

MasterResource has covered a variety of energy issues on the state, federal, and sometimes international level. But our most active area has been the growing backlash against industrial wind turbines. MasterResource is a leading voice for citizens, environmentalists, and small-government  advocates who have united against this intrusive, uneconomic, sub-quality, government-enabled electricity source.

Our content is for the future, not only the present. We are not shrill, and our contributors are wed to reality, not wish-it-and-it-can-happen postmodernism.

Major Themes

MasterResource has become a ‘go-to’ blog in a number of key areas:

• Resourceship vs. Peak Oil (or gas). Our bloggers explain how and why the ultimate resource of human ingenuity in market settings allows the supply of ‘depletable’ resources to expand, not contract, even in the face of record usage.
• Sustainability. Our bloggers explain why government intervention in the name of ‘sustainability’ threatens energy affordability, availability, and reliability. We challenge  the conventional view that carbon-based energies are inherently ‘unsustainable’ due to pollution, depletion, and man-made climate change.
• Energy Density. As scholars from Vaclav Smil to Robert Bryce have documented, the best energies are the ones that can produce the most power at the least resource cost. The future belongs to the efficient, and oil, gas, and coal are the prime-time consumer-driven choices.
• Renewable Energy Realities. Our many bloggers from the front lines of the windpower debate, in particular, have documented how wind fails the cost, reliability, capacity, space, noise, and health tests. Taxpayer savings and deficit reduction, anyone?
• Fallacy of “Green Jobs“. Our bloggers have applied Economics 101 to explain how and why consumer-driven jobs are sustainable while government-created bubble jobs are not.
• Climate Realism, not Alarmism. Chip Knappenberger has given MasterResource readers a reliable scientific voice on what the science does and does not say about the human influence on climate. And the balance of evidence does not favor alarmism.
• Historical understanding. Many of today’s energy debates are informed by often neglected studies and experience from the past. W. S. Jevons in his 1865 book, The Coal Question, basically refuted the notion that renewables could power the machine age. He also explained the paradox of why increasing energy efficiency will tend to expand total energy usage, not decrease it.
• Spontaneous order (in the Austrian School tradition). Outstanding developments in the industry that are ‘the result of human action but not of human design’ are highlighted, such as the oil and gas shale boom occurring in the United States and around the world.
• Objectivist philosophy. Objectivism believes in objective reality, which is core to the concept of energy realism (a respect for what is and what can be in light of technical, market, and political realities).
• Subsoil Privatization. Our bloggers explain why expanded reliance on capitalist institutions of private property, voluntary exchange, and the rule of law is the key to a better energy future for all, and particularly for the 1.4 billion who do not have access to modern forms of energy.

MasterResource advances the ideas of Julian Simon (1932–1998), the scholar who changed his mind about Malthusianism after reviewing the data and became a guiding light for realism and ensuing optimism.

Good Tone, Open Scholarship

MasterResource welcomes opposing views in our comments. We do not block critical comments except when couched in spite and argument ad hominem.

Economist Peter Boettke’s approach to scholarly discourse resonates with us. “As we engage in debate with our intellectual adversaries,” he has stated, “we should remember three core rules of engagement:”

(1) the principle of charitable interpretation — always give your opponent the best interpretation of their argument and motives;

(2) adopt a value neutral analytical approach — strictly take ends as given and limit your analysis to the effectiveness of chosen means to those given ends; and

(3) always try to find common ground with your opponents with respect to intellectual curiosity and not necessarily policy conclusions.

How can MasterResource improve? Would you like to post with us? Your submissions and comments are welcomed. Feel free to contact me at robbradley58@gmail.com.

————————————–

Prior Activity Reports

3Q-2011 Report

2Q-2011 Report

1Q-2011 Report

4Q-2010 Report

3Q-2010 Report

2Q-2010 Report

1Q-2010 Report

4Q-2009 Report

3Q-2009 Report

2Q-2009 Report

1Q-2009 Report

Opening post/comments (December 26, 2008)

Since its beginning in late 2008, MasterResource has published approximately 875 posts from 110 different authors. Comments from our loyal, sophisticated readership add substance to many of the in-depth posts. And we have achieved critical mass; Google an energy-policy-related term and MasterResource, and usually something will come up.

MasterResource has covered a variety of energy issues on the state, federal, and even international level. But our most active area has been the growing backlash against industrial wind turbines. MasterResource is a leading voice for citizens, environmentalists, and small-government  advocates who have united against this intrusive, wildly uneconomic, government-enabled energy form.

Our content is for the future, not only the present. We are not shrill and are wed to energy reality, not energy postmodernism (wish-it-and-it-can-happen). Future scholars will access MasterResource to understand the intellectual arguments and political discourse of the great energy debates of our time.

Major Themes

MasterResource has become the ‘go-to’ blog in a number of key areas:

• Resourceship, not “Peak Oil” (or gas). Our bloggers explain how and why the ultimate resource of human ingenuity in market settings allows the supply of ‘depletable’ resources to expand, not contract, even in the face of record usage.
• Sustainability. Our bloggers explain why government intervention in the name of ‘sustainability’ is the real threat to energy affordability, availability, and reliability. This is in marked contrast to the conventional view: that carbon-based energies are inherently ‘unsustainable’ due to some combination of pollution, depletion, and man-made climate change.
• Energy Density. As scholars from Vaclav Smil to Robert Bryce have documented, the best energies are the ones that can produce the most power at the least resource cost. The future belongs to the efficient, and oil, gas, and coal are the prime-time consumer-driven choices.
• Renewable Energy Realities. Our many bloggers from the front lines of the windpower debate, in particular, have documented how wind fails the cost, reliability, capacity, space, noise, and health tests. Taxpayer savings and deficit reduction, anyone?
• Fallacy of “Green Jobs“. Our bloggers have applied Economics 101 to explain how and why consumer-driven jobs are sustainable versus government-created bubble jobs.
• Climate Realism, not Alarmism. Chip Knappenberger has given MasterResource readers a reliable scientific voice on what the science does and does not say about the human influence on climate.
• Historical understanding. Many of today’s energy debates are informed by often neglected studies and experience of the past. W. S. Jevons in his 1865 book, The Coal Question, basically refuted the notion that renewables could power the machine age. He also explained the paradoxof how increasing energy efficiency can expand total energy usage, not decrease it.
• Spontaneous order (in the Austrian Schooltradition). Outstanding developments in the industry that are ‘the result of human action but not of human design’ are highlighted, such as the oil and gas shale boom occurring in the United States and around the world.
• Objectivist philosophy. Objectivism believes in objective reality, which is core to the concept of energy realism (a respect for what is and what can be in light of technical, market, and political realities).
• Subsoil Privatization. Our bloggers explain why expanded reliance on capitalist institutions of private property, voluntary exchange, and the rule of law is the key to a better energy future for all, and particularly for the 1.4 billion who do not have access to modern forms of energy.

Also, MasterResource keeps alive the memory of Julian Simon (1932–1998), the scholar who changed his mind about Malthusianismafter reviewing the data and became a guiding light for realism and ensuing optimism.

Good Tone, Open Scholarship

MasterResource welcomes opposing views in our comments. We do not block critical comments except when couched in spite and argument ad hominem.

A good approach in regard to scholarship was recently stated by economist Peter Boettke:

As we engage in debate with our intellectual adversaries we should remember three core rules of engagement:

(1) the principle of charitable interpretation — always give your opponent the best interpretation of their argument and motives; (2) adopt a value neutral analytical approach — strictly take ends as given and limit your analysis to the effectiveness of chosen means to those given ends; and (3) always try to find common ground with your opponents with respect to intellectual curiosity and not necessarily policy conclusions.

How can MasterResource improve? Would you like to post with us? Your comments are welcomed.

————————————–

Prior Activity Reports

 2Q-2011 Report

1Q-2011 Report

4Q-2010 Report

3Q-2010 Report

2Q-2010 Report

1Q-2010 Report

4Q-2009 Report

3Q-2009 Report

2Q-2009 Report

1Q-2009 Report

Opening post/comments (December 26, 2008)

This site has covered a variety of energy issues on the state, national, and even international level. But our most active area has been the growing backlash against industrial wind turbines. MasterResource is pleased to have become a leading voice for citizens, environmentalists, and small-government  advocates who have united against this intrusive, wildly uneconomic, and government-enabled energy form.

Our concept is different from most blogs. With one in-depth post per day, we have created an open book of mini-chapters, creating a scholarly resource and a historical record for the energy and energy/environmental debates. We now have more than 300 categories–the index of our ever expanding book. And we have achieved critical mass. Just Google an energy policy term and MasterResource–I bet something will come up!

Our content is for the future, not only the present. We are not shrill and are wed to energy reality, not energy postmodernism (this it, think it and it will happen). Future scholars will undoubtedly review MasterResource to understand the intellectual arguments and political discourse of the great energy debates of our time.

Major Themes

MasterResource has become the ‘go-to’ blog in a number of key areas:

• Resourceship, not “Peak Oil“. Our bloggers explain how and why the ultimate resource of human ingenuity in market settings allows the supply of ‘depletable’ resources to expand, not contract, even in the face of record usage.
• Sustainability. Our bloggers explain why government intervention in the name of ‘sustainability’ is the real threat to energy affordability, availability, and reliability. This is in marked contrast to the conventional view: that carbon-based energies are inherently ‘unsustainable’ due to some combination of pollution, depletion, and man-made climate change.
• Subsoil Privatization. Our bloggers explain why expanded reliance on capitalist institutions of private property, voluntary exchange, and the rule of law is the key to a better energy future for all, and particularly for the 1.4 billion who do not have access to modern forms of energy.
• Energy Density. As scholars from Vaclav Smil to Robert Bryce have documented, the best energies are the ones that can produce the most power at the least resource cost. The future belongs to the efficient, and oil, gas, and coal are the prime-time consumer-driven choices.
• Renewable Energy Realities. Our many bloggers from the front lines of the windpower debate, in particular, have documented how wind fails the cost, reliability, capacity, space, noise, and health tests. Taxpayer savings and deficit reduction, anyone?
• Fallacy of “Green Jobs“. Our bloggers have applied Economics 101 to explain how and why consumer-driven jobs are sustainable versus government-created bubble jobs.
• Climate Realism, not Alarmism. Chip Knappenberger has given MasterResource readers a reliable scientific voice on what the science does and does not say about the human influence on climate.
• Historical Understanding. Many of today’s energy debates are informed by often neglected studies and experience of the past. W. S. Jevons in his 1865 book, The Coal Question, basically refuted the notion that renewables could power the machine age. He also explained the paradox of how increasing energy efficiency can expand total energy usage, not decrease it.
• Spontaneous order. Outstanding developments in the industry that are ‘the result of human action but not of human design’ are highlighted, such as the oil and gas shale boom occurring in the United States and around the world.

Also, MasterResource keeps alive the memory of Julian Simon (1932–1998), the scholar who changed his mind about Malthusianism after reviewing the data and became a guiding light for realism and ensuing optimism.

How can MasterResource improve? Would you like to post with us? Comments welcome!

————————————–

Prior Activity Reports

1Q-2011 Report

4Q-2010 Report

3Q-2010 Report

2Q-2010 Report

1Q-2010 Report

4Q-2009 Report

3Q-2009 Report

2Q-2009 Report

1Q-2009 Report

Opening post/comments (December 26, 2008)

Our “free market energy blog” has attracted talent from across the nation and across disciplines–nearly a hundred bloggers in all. In particular, the growing national movement against industrial wind turbines includes a number of very informed citizens who choose MasterResource to publicize their issues and research.

Our concept is different from most blogs. With one in-depth post per day, we have created an open book of mini-chapters, creating a scholarly resource and a historical record for the energy and energy/environmental debates. We now have more than 300 categories–the index of our ever expanding book.

Most of all, our content will most assuredly meet the test of time as future scholars review MasterResource to understand the intellectual arguments and political discourse. Just Google the energy term and “MasterResource” to get to the posts of interest.

Major Themes

MasterResource has become the ‘go-to’ blog in a number of key areas:

• • Resourceship, not “Peak Oil“. Our bloggers explain how and why the ultimate resource of human ingenuity in market settings allows the supply of ‘depletable’ resources to expand, not contract, even in the face of record usage.
  • Sustainability. Our bloggers explain why government intervention in the name of ‘sustainability’ is the real threat to energy affordability, availability, and reliability.
  • Subsoil Privatization. Our bloggers explain why expanded reliance on capitalist institutions of private property, voluntary exchange, and the rule of law is the key to a better energy future for all, and particularly for the 1.4 billion who do not have access to modern forms of energy.
  • Energy Density. As scholars from Vaclav Smil to Robert Bryce have documented, the best energies are the ones that can produce the most power at the least resource cost. The future belongs to the efficient, and oil, gas, and coal are the prime-time consumer-driven choices.
  • Renewable Energy Realities. Our many bloggers from the front lines of the windpower debate, in particular, have documented how wind fails the cost, reliability, capacity, space, noise, and health tests. Taxpayer savings and deficit reduction, anyone?
  • Fallacy of “Green Jobs“. Our bloggers have applied Economics 101 to explain how and why consumer-driven jobs are sustainable versus government-created bubble jobs.
  • Climate Realism, not Alarmism. Chip Knappenberger has given MasterResource readers a reliable scientific voice on what the science does and does not say about the human influence on climate.
  • Historical Understanding. Many of today’s energy debates are informed by often neglected studies and experience of the past. W. S. Jevons in his 1865 book, The Coal Question, basically refuted the notion that renewables could power the machine age. He also explained the paradox of how increasing energy efficiency can expand total energy usage, not decrease it.

Also, MasterResource keeps alive the memory of Julian Simon (1932–1998), the scholar who changed his mind about Malthusianism after reviewing the data and became a guiding light for realism and ensuing optimism.

How can MasterResource improve? Would you like to post with us? Comments welcome!

————————————–

Prior Activity Reports

4Q-2010 Report

3Q-2010 Report

2Q-2010 Report

1Q-2010 Report

4Q-2009 Report

3Q-2009 Report

2Q-2009 Report

1Q-2009 Report

Opening post/comments (December 26, 2008)

So here’s to our loyal readers (712,000 views and counting) from us (70 souls and counting) for a happy, prosperous, peace, and free enterprise 2011!

Principals

• Robert L. Bradley, Jr.
• Kent Hawkins
• Donald Hertzmark
• Paul C. “Chip” Knappenberger
• Marlo Lewis
• Michael C. Lynch
• Robert P. Murphy
• Robert Peltier
• Jerry Taylor

Editor

• Roger Donway

Contributors

• Jon Boone
• Indur Goklany
• Ben Lieberman
• Robert Michaels
• Glenn Schleede
• Vaclav Smil
• Tom Tanton

Guest BLOGGERS

• Gerry Angevine
• J. Scott Armstrong
• Daren Bakst
• Patrick Barron
• Charles Battig
• David Bergeron
• Brad Blake
• Caroline Boin
• Robert Bryce
• Roy Cordato
• Maureen Crandall
• Harry de Gorter
• Pierre Desrochers
• Paul Driessen
• John Droz Jr.
• Richard Ebeling
• Alex Epstein
• Michelle Foss
• Peter Foster
• Richard W. Fulmer
• Edgar Gaertner
• Michael Giberson
• Jerry Graf
• Kesten Green
• Kenneth P. Green
• William Griesinger
• Dave Harbour
• Howard Hayden
• David Henderson
• Gail Heroit
• Jim Hollingsworth
• Mary Hutzler
• R. Dobie Langenkamp
• Bryan Leland
• Lisa Linowes
• Eric Lowe
• Ken Maize
• Jim Manzi
• Ross McCracken
• Marita Noon
• Randal O’Toole
• Sheldon Richman
• David Schnare
• Paul Schwennesen
• Michael Shellenberger
• Hiroko Shimizu
• Daniel Simmons
• Matthew Sinclair
• Thomas Stacy II
• Carlo Stagnaro
• Drew Thornley
• Michael Trebilcock
• Sam Van Vactor

Did we miss anyone? Any readers want to blog with us in the future? Please send your submissions to rbradley@iertx.org, and we will get back to you.

Our concept was different from most blogs. With one in-depth blog per day, the idea was to create an open book of small mini-chapters, creating a scholarly resource and a historical record for the energy and energy/environmental debates. We now have 275 categories–the index of our ever expanding book.

Our total views have surpassed 700,000. Our rank at Technorati is #25 out of 6,369 “green blogs” (as of 12/26/10). We have a loyal, sophisticated readership. The comments add meat to the posts.

Most of all, our content will most assuredly meet the test of time as future scholars review MasterResource to understand the intellectual arguments and political discourse.

Here is the opening blog from December 26, 2008:

A NEW ENERGY BLOG

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. President-elect Obama and his team have little concept of history in the energy debate–what W.S. Jevons said about renewable energies in the 1860s or the perils of U.S. energy regulation learned from wartime planning and the 1970s. Some of us will dwell on this to add some unique perspective to the debate.

By the way, our blog name is inspired by the late Julian Simon (1932–1998). He labeled energy “the master resource” because it is the resource needed to bring other resources from a state of nature to one of human usefulness. Simon also used the term “the ultimate resource” to describe human ingenuity. As the institutional economist Erich Zimmermann once said, resources come from the mind, not the ground.

Finally, I do hope mainstream journalists and many other open-minded individuals will come our way in the great energy and climate debates. The Obama march to energy statism needs a lot of debate. Big Government Democrats are not the cure to Big Government Republicanism. Oil, natural gas, and coal are middle-class, working-class energies. Wind and solar are for the rich. Windpower, in particular, as my friend Robert Bryce has put it, is the ethanol of electricity. Maybe, just maybe, these parasitic, inefficient energies will get the scrutiny they deserve from all sides of the political spectrum.

Quarterly Activity Reports

3Q-2010 Report

2Q-2010 Report

1Q-2010 Report

4Q-2009 Report

3Q-2009 Report

2Q-2009 Report

1Q-2009 Report

Opening post/comments (December 26, 2008)

The strength of MasterResource is the quality of our bloggers, some well-known names in the free market movement and others new names with now uncovered expertise. In particular, we have tapped into a talent base of individuals who are critics of industrial windpower, many of whom come from an environmental background and now appreciate the free market perspective.

We also appreciate the hundreds of comments that our blogs are generating, which is more talent bubbling to the top. In addition to supportive comments, we post critical comments that are in good taste. We are not afraid to debate the issues so long as the critic is sincere and avoids attacks at the person.

Philosophy

MasterResource is grounded on energy realism (versus energy hype and alarmism). Our preference is for free energy markets over energy statism. We prefer voluntary solutions to private and social problems wherever possible and believe that the intellectual case is strong against government coercion from an intellectual elite (the smartest guys in the room, to use the Enron vernacular).

Our worldview can be summarized as follows:

1. Energy, the master resource, is indispensable for modern society. Abundance, affordability, and reliability are necessary for the developed world to advance and paramount for the developing world to develop and prosper.
2. The master resource depends on the ultimate resource of human ingenuity, which thrives under conditions of economic and political freedom.
3. Energy freedom is based upon private property and the rule of law whereby buyers, sellers, entrepreneurs, and owners enter into mutually advantageous exchanges and agreements. Government is passive, keeping the peace and working to set rules where reasonably determined harms are addressed.

More specifically, MasterResource posts have explained:

1. The futility of regulating carbon dioxide and other man-made greenhouse gases. Not only is the science behind claims of catastrophic warming unproven (and worse), carbon dioxide (CO2) as the green greenhouse gas has demonstrated benefits for the environment and economy.
2. Why ethanol is not an effective substitute for or supplement to petroleum in the transportation sector.
3. Why wind power and solar power are not effective substitutes for, or even supplements to, oil, gas, and coal in electric generation.
4. Why in business/economic terms, carbon-based (mineral) energy is an expanding resource, not a fixed/depleting one.
5. Why free-market energy is sustainable and can be expected to become less scarce, more affordable, and cleaner for an open-ended future.
6. Why the best insurance policy for an uncertain future, with energy or otherwise, is the incredible bread machine better known as free-market capitalism.
7. Why the major threat to energy sustainability is not depletion, pollution, or climate change. It is statism, or government controlled, regulated, and rationed energy that consumers naturally desire.

MasterResource seeks to inform the public, academics, policymakers, and even ‘Left” intellectuals that public policy activism must take into account not only ‘market failure’ but also analytical failure (false claims/corrections of market failure) and government failure (political waste in the proffered non-market solution).

We believe that open-minded opponents will come our way when they learn the full story of climate science and of false Gods such as windpower. But these individuals have to want to know. That is the challenge–embracing a challenge culture to mid-course corrections are made with views that have been held for a long time, even passionately so.

The world has real problems. The resources that both sides are pouring into the political energy debate can be better spent on here-and-now human needs.

A Thanks

The principles and guest bloggers of MasterResource thank our many dedicated readers. We invite submissions from new names and welcome comments on any of our posts for the historical record and for posterity. We believe that MasterResource will be a scholarly tool for many years and decades to come for all things energy.

———————————–

Previous MasterResource Reports

2Q-2010 Report

1Q-2010 Report

4Q-2009 Report

3Q-2009 Report

2Q-2009 Report

1Q-2009 Report

Opening post (December 26, 2008)

We are not a mega-blog, but we are an important addition to the energy literature that will, like a good book, be accessed and referenced for years to come.

At Technorati, MasterResource has consistently been in the top 25 (out of 1,550) “green” blogs and has reached as high as #7. But more importantly, serious students of energy policy are regulars at our site, reading our once-a-day, in-depth post or tracking down material on what Enron/Ken Lay really did, what Jim Hansen or John Holdren really said, or what BP was doing under John Browne. We preserve the excesses of the smartest-guys-in-the-energy-room for posterity.

New Talent

MasterResource has proven adept at discovering important new voices for the energy history, reality, and policy debate.

Ph.D. economist and leading industry consultant Donald Hertzmark was one early find. Robert Peltier, editor of POWER magazine, was another. Kent Hawkins has brought his engineering expertise to MasterResource on the all-important question of wind intermittency and related emissions from fossil-fuel backup.

More recently, solar practitioner and expert David Bergeron has posted with us and plans to cover the the solar field for MasterResource. Bill Griesinger, a financial expert, is another new name that you will hear about more at this site.

Grassroots opposition to industrial wind turbines has brought some experts our way such as Jon Boone and John Droz. Their environmental credentials and in-the-trenches knowledge about wind turbines makes them more than just ‘talented amateurs’ in the energy debate.

And California, California. Robert Michaels and Tom Tanton are covering that state (as well as it can be done) for MasterResource.

The ten principals of MasterResource are introduced here. Three dozen other bloggers from a variety of backgrounds have posted at MasterResource. We invite inquiries from potential energy bloggers: email Rob Bradley at rbradley@iertx.org.)

Philosophy

MasterResource blogs share a common grounding: energy realism over energy hype and alarmism, and a preference for free energy markets over energy statism.

Our worldview can be summarized as follows:

1. Energy, the master resource, is indispensable for modern society. Abundance, affordability, and reliability are necessary for the developed world to advance and paramount for the developing world to develop and prosper.
2. The master resource depends on the ultimate resource of human ingenuity, which thrives under conditions of economic and political freedom.
3. Energy freedom is based upon private property and the rule of law where buyers, sellers, entrepreneurs, and owners are free to enter into mutually advantageous exchanges and agreements. Government is passive, keeping the peace and working to set rules where reasonably determined harms are avoided.

More specifically, MasterResource posts have explained:

1. The futility of regulating carbon dioxide and other man-made greenhouse gases. Not only is the science behind claims of catastrophic warming unproven and worse, carbon dioxide (CO2) as the green greenhouse gas has demonstrated benefits for the environment and economy.
2. Why ethanol is not an effective substitute for or supplement to petroleum in the transportation sector.
3. Why wind power and solar power are not effective substitutes for or even supplements to oil, gas, and coal in electric generation.
4. Why in business/economic terms, carbon-based energy is an expanding resource, not a fixed/depleting one.
5. Why free-market energy is sustainable and can be expected to become less scarce and more affordable for an open-ended future.
6. Why the major threat to energy sustainability is not depletion, pollution, or climate change. It is government control and rationing of consumer-friendly energy sources.

Our challenge is to inform the public, academics, policymakers, and even ‘Left” intellectuals that public policy activism must take into account not only ‘market failure’ but also analytical failure (false claims/corrections of market failure) and government failure (political waste in the proffered solution).

We believe that open-minded opponents will come our way when they learn the full story of climate science and of false Gods such as windpower. But these individuals have to want to know. That is the hard part–embracing a challenge culture.

Finally, thanks to you our many dedicated viewers.

———————————–

Previous MasterResource Reports

1Q-2010 Report

4Q-2009 Report

3Q-2009 Report

2Q-2009 Report

1Q-2009 Report

Opening post (December 26, 2008)

MasterResource is a top 25 “green blog” according to Technorati. We are currently #21 out of 2,172 qualifying blogs as of 4/10/2010, and we have reached as high as #14.

Our one-per-day posts are now regularly picked up by other blogs such as Tom Nelson and Junk Science, but also from time-to-time by the megablogs WattsUpWithThat? and Climate Depot.

MasterResource, the free market energy blog, is now a very top energy blog. Our scholarly and well categorized posts will remain relevant for many years to come. Each of us writes for the day but also for the record.

New Principal: Kent Hawkins

MasterResource is ‘owned’ by its principals, not any individual or organization. All contributions are in-kind, and no one has been paid for their efforts. (We are trying to raise some funds so that we can have the first annual MR retreat where some of the principals can meet face-to-face for the first time.)

Our principals have diverse backgrounds.  Some are salaried by an organization. Others take time from their consulting practice by writing for MasterResource. And others are retired and working on a labor of love.

Effective April 1, Kent Hawkins became the tenth principal of MasterResource. Mr. Hawkins has regularly posted since February on technical issues relating to windpower.

In addition to his posts, Hawkins will oversee MasterResource’s burgeoning analysis of wind power in its economic and environmental dimensions.

Mr. Hawkins most recent article, “Integrating Renewables: Have Policymakers Faced the Realities,” was published by the United States Association for Energy Economics.

Guest Bloggers: Our Worldview

Approximately 30 guest bloggers from across the political spectrum have posted at MasterResource. (We invite inquiries from potential bloggers: email Rob Bradley at rbradley@iertx.org.)

MasterResource blogs share a common grounding: energy realism over alarmism, and a preference for energy markets over energy statism.

Our worldview can be summarized as follows:

1. Energy, the master resource, is indispensable for modern society. Abundance, affordability, and reliability are necessary for the developed world to advance and paramount for the developing world to develop and prosper.
2. The master resource depends on the ultimate resource of human ingenuity, which thrives under conditions of economic and political freedom.
3. Energy freedom is based upon the foundations of private property and the rule of law where buyers, sellers, entrepreneurs, and owners are free to enter into mutually advantageous exchanges and agreements. Government is passive, keeping the peace and working to set rules where reasonably determined harms are avoided.

More specifically, MasterResource posts have explained:

1. The futility of regulating carbon dioxide and other man-made greenhouse gases. Not only is the science behind claims of catastrophic warming unproven and worse, carbon dioxide (CO2) as the green greenhouse gas has demonstrated benefits for the environment and economy.
2. Why ethanol is not an effective substitute for or supplement to petroleum in the transportation sector.
3. Why wind power and solar power are not effective substitutes for or even supplements to oil, gas, and coal in electric generation.
4. Why in business/economic terms, carbon-based energy is an expanding resource, not a fixed/depleting one.
5. Why free-market energy is sustainable and can be expected to become less scarce and more affordable for an open-ended future.
6. Why the major threat to energy sustainability is not depletion, pollution, or climate change. It is government control and rationing of consumer-friendly energy sources.

In short, neo-Malthusianism is wrong and Julian Simon right in the main essentials. But the challenge remains to educate many academics, policymakers, and ‘Left” intellectuals that public policy activism must take into account not only ‘market failure’ but also analytical failure (false claims of market failure) and government failure (political waste in the proffered solution).

Thank You!

Lastly, all of us at MasterResource thank you the reader who have made us a top energy and energy-environmental blog. 

Keep the comments coming, and may the best ideas win in the contentious energy debates of 2010.

Previous MasterResource Reports

Opening post

1st Quarter Report

2nd Quarter Report

3rd Quarter Report

4th Quarter Report

Of the 4,100 ‘green blogs’ listed by Technorati, MasterResource consistently ranks in the top 50 and has broken into the top twenty. MasterResource is the top free-market energy blog with an All-Star list of nine principals and distinguished guest bloggers, including Robert Bryce, Indur Goklany, Mary Hutzler, Jim Manzi, Randall O’Toole, and Vaclav Smil.

Suffice it to say that we have exceeded expectations, and 2010 should see continued high quality and expanded reach and influence. We hope to increase our international presence and invite new voices into the energy and energy-related climate debates.

Worldview

MasterResource has documented the superior intellectual and practical case for free energy markets, which rests on these foundations:

1. Energy, the master resource, is indispensable for modern society. Abundance, affordability, and reliability are necessary for the developed world to advance and paramount for the developing world to develop and prosper.
2. The master resource depends on the ultimate resource of human ingenuity, which thrives under conditions of economic and political freedom.
3. Energy freedom is based upon the foundations of private property and the rule of law where buyers, sellers, entrepreneurs, and owners are free to enter into mutually advantageous exchanges and agreements. Government is passive, keeping the peace and working to set rules where reasonably determined harms are avoided.

More specifically, MasterResource posts have explained:

1. The futility of regulating carbon dioxide and other man-made greenhouse gases. Not only is the science behind claims of catastrophic warming unproven and worse, carbon dioxide (CO2) as the green greenhouse gas has demonstrated benefits for the environment and economy.
2. Why ethanol is not an effective substitute for or supplement to petroleum in the transportation sector.
3. Why wind power and solar power are not effective substitutes for or even supplements to oil, gas, and coal in electric generation.
4. In business and economic terms, carbon-based energy is an expanding resource, not a fixed/depleting one.
5. Free-market energy is sustainable and can be expected to become less scarce and more affordable for the open-ended future.
6. The major threat to energy sustainability is not depletion, pollution, or climate change. It is government control and rationing of consumer-friendly energy sources.

In short, neo-Malthusianism is wrong and Julian Simon right in the main essentials. But the challenge remains to educate many academics, policymakers, and ‘Left” intellectuals that public policy activism must take into account not only ‘market failure’ but also analytical failure (false claims of market failure) and government failure (political waste in the proffered solution).

Some Statistics

At the one year mark, MasterResource has had 360 posts by 38 authors that attracted 2,300 comments. With our in-depth, scholarly posts, 177 categories were created, beginning with “About” and ending with “Zimmermann, Erich.” This index will make MasterResource a scholarly resource for many years to come. Indeed, the one-per-day, in-depth blogs can be thought of as an open-ended book of original contributions in the areas indicated.

In recent months, 43 percent of our views have come from referring sites (such as Tom Nelson or Roger Pielke Jr. or WattsUpWithThat), 29 percent from direct traffic, and 28 percent from search engines. Visits have come from 140 countries and territories outside of the United States. Average time on the site has been two minutes.

Thank You!

Lastly, all of us at MasterResource thank you the reader who have made our first year a very successful one. Keep the comments coming, and may the best ideas win in the contentious energy debates of 2010.

  Appendix: The Original Vision (12/26/08)

Just one year ago I wrote in “A New Energy Blog“: