“It is entirely possible that the total costs to build, maintain and replace units every 20+ years (at end of service) would be prohibitive compared to other sources of energy. Beyond these cost considerations, sources indicate that the turbine blades cannot be recycled and are piling up in landfills. Fossil fuels will also still be needed to maintain the lubrication of these units, and what about potential for spillage?” (Jeff Wyles, below)

The old joke comes to mind: Q: When is an environmentalist not an environmentalist? A: When it comes to wind power.

Make that double for offshore wind, and wild-eyed California politicians are having trouble hiding the problems. Consider a recent op-ed, Rethink Floating Wind Turbine Power Off Our California Coastline?,” an environmental feature of California newspaper MendoFever (February 12, 2024).…

Ed. Note: This post excerpts energy and climate material from the Media Balance Newsletter, a free fortnightly published by physicist John Droz Jr., founder of the Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions. The complete Newsletter for this post can be found here.

Greed Energy Economics:

*** Dispelling the Cult Claim—”Wind and Solar are Lower Cost Generation than Natural Gas”
Two wind facilities share $100± million to turn off

Unreliables (General):

*** Time to retire the term ‘renewable energy’ from serious discussion and energy policy directives
*** The State of Reliability in PJM and Nine Slides from My Testimony in Ohio Explaining Why Costs are Rising and Reliability is Faltering

Wind Energy — Offshore:
Danish Clean Energy Giant Sucking Wind
Study Provides Guidance on Detecting North Atlantic Right Whales in Wind Energy Areas

Wind Energy — Other:
*** Taking the Wind Out of Climate Change (referencing 60± studies)
Industrial Wind Turbines demonstrate their Unreliable and Intermittent Nature Generating 1.8% of their Capacity than jumping to 80.4% only a few days later

Solar Energy:
*** Stealing with Solar: The Great Net-Metering Heist
*** Steal from the Poor, Give to the Rich

Nuclear Energy:
*** After scrapping nuclear reactors, Germany to spend billions on new gas power plants

Fossil Fuel Energy:
*** Coal’s Life-Saving Role Ignored by Climate-Obsessed Media
House delivers blow to Biden’s climate agenda, votes against natural gas moratorium
Biden to Export Ideology Instead of Natural Gas
Climate Cultists at The Guardian: This Time, It’s Evil Propane

Electric Vehicles (EVs):
*** Ford Lost $4.7B On EVs Last Year, Or About $64,731 For Every EV It Sold
Car Dealers Slash Prices Of EVs As Demand Craters
Experts warn electric vehicle weight threatens road safety and infrastructure
Heavier EV’s tearing up the roadways but paying nothing for road maintenance

Miscellaneous Energy News:
*** A landmark Energy Freedom Resolution from the RNC
*** Introducing: AlexAI (energy questions answered by Alex Epstein’s AI)
*** The Deindustrialization of Europe in Five Charts
Congress and courts enable energy and climate fantasy and tyranny
Energy regulator’s exit may flummox Biden’s green plans
Can the government create a green hydrogen fuel industry?…

“I don’t agree with many (any?) of [Alex Epstein’s] points in his response, and it is conspicuously lacking in arguments about climate itself.”  Tyler Cowen

“It’s sad that a guy as smart as Tyler not only 1) irresponsibly commented on a book he was not willing to read carefully, but also 2) refused to admit any wrongdoing whatsoever.” Alex Epstein

It was distributed on social media by the director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s loan programs office, Jigar Shah, described as “The man in charge of how the US spends $400bn to shift away from fossil fuels.” Shah forwarded Tyler Cowen’s post (at Marginal Revolution) critiquing Alex Epstein’s book, Fossil Future: Why Human Flourishing Requires Using More Oil, Gas, and Coal–Not Less.

A ‘classical liberal’ handing an intellectual gift to a DOE grifter?…

“… there are plenty of climate science deniers here to vehemently argue for the defendants’ case [in Mann v. Steyn]…. It is profoundly saddening when you realize that the platform I am writing this on would most probably not remove these people’s posts in the form they were written had somebody reported them.” – Gunnar Schade

Readers at MasterResource already know about Andrew Dessler, chair professor in Texas A&M’s Department of Atmospheric Sciences, who morphs from scientist (his job) to biased, emotional advocacy. Lawyer-like, Dessler makes the best case for alarm rather than honestly considering other views and weaknesses in his argument. His emotional outbursts at his critics and utter distain at the general population (“assholes“) who reject his uber-Climate Alarmism marginalizes him outside of the Church of Climate.…