UK Energy Schizophrenia (all pain, no gain)
By Robert Bradley Jr. -- September 8, 2026“Whilst the government is pursuing a pragmatic approach to the North Sea, we have to accept the geological reality that North Sea gas production has declined by 74% since its peak in 2000 and we have been a net importer of gas since 2004.” – UK Government Report (below)
The United Kingdom represents less than one percent of global CO2 emissions. Yet the political class, including academic experts, will not be deterred from social injustice for consumers and self-annihilation of its economy. UK energy statism is tears-in-the-ocean–and for the wrong cause.
The latest report from the UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, titled “Gas System in Transition: Security of Supply (Interim Response),” tries to square the circle between decarbonization and economy. “The UK must decarbonize because of volatile, higher oil and natural gas prices, yet energy affordability is important too.”…
Continue ReadingEnergy Labor-saving Day
By Robert Bradley Jr. -- September 6, 2026“Energy will do anything that can be done in the world.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832)
Energy is the resource of resources, the master resource. This Labor Day weekend, give thanks to the dense, plentiful, affordable, reliable energies that have done much to improve living standards worldwide, while mastering the vagaries of extreme weather and climate. Think of it as Labor Saving Day. After all, eight billion consumers cannot be wrong.
The Old Days
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Continue ReadingAir Conditioning: Let’s Go!
By Robert Bradley Jr. -- September 5, 2026Andrew Dessler Adaptation as a Joke
Motoko Rich and Josephine de La Bruyère “Many Italians Long Resisted Air-Conditioning. Then Europe Got Hotter,” New York Times (September 4, 2026)
Amid record-breaking temperatures on the continent, households and businesses in Italy are increasingly installing cooling units.
The proportion of households in Italy that have installed air-conditioning grew to 56 percent in 2024, the last year for which data is available, from just under 30 percent in 2013, according to government statistics.
The rise in air-conditioning in Italy also reflects the units’ increasing affordability.
“It used to be a luxury product,” said Vincenzo Principato, 52, owner of an electronics shop in Agrigento. Now, an influx of Chinese-made units has helped to lower the average cost of a fuel-efficient air-conditioner to less than $350, Mr.…
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