The last quarterly update began: “In the current energy debate, the diligent amateurs are often the real pros, and too many ‘pros’ are amateurish.” This one ends: “Energy realities are worth explaining and championing in a political world.”
Here, here–and hear, hear.
MasterResource continues to be a movement-wide voice of free-market scholarship on energy and energy-related environmental issues. Some 150 different authors have been featured at our site since its inception in late 2008. Total views are nearing 1.5 million, with many visits by those searching on a topic relevant to past posts.
MasterResource is a top 25 “green blog,” according to Technorati. It has been in the top ten in the last week and yesterday was #16 of more than 9,100 sites.
With 457 categories, MasterResource is a research tool, not only a timely contribution to energy scholarship and current political debates. We are Google friendly with many energy terms (try one with ‘masterresource’).
MasterResource is not only a scholarly resource for the energy and energy/environmental debate, it is a forum for speaking truth to power. This is true regarding corporate rent-seeking, aka cronyism. And it is also in evidence in the windpower debate where our hearty band of grassroot environmentalists challenges Washington, D.C.-based Big Environmentalism.
Big Environmentalism does not like us. Stated the Sierra Club in Clean Energy Under Siege (p. 9):
A clearinghouse for anti-renewable materials, MasterResource bills itself as a “blog dedicated to analysis and commentary about energy markets and public policy.”Regular contributors to MasterResource include known anti-wind energy activists John Droz Jr. Lisa Linowes of the Industrial Wind Action Group, and — the only notable tie to IER — CEO Robert Bradley Jr.
First, MasterResource is a free-market energy blog, which means letting consumers decide what energies are best. Government should be neutral. Fair-field, no favors.
On the surface, these groups appear to be driving the conservative conversation on renewable energy policy and technology, but under the surface, the picture is quite different. Rather than promoting free market ideas, they are promoting ideas that serve the interests of very specific segments of the energy sector.
No, renewables–ethanol for transportation and industrial wind and on-grid solar for electricity–would fall out of the energy picture in a true free market.
To be sure, it is not always easy to follow the line between legitimate scholarly work or modern media punditry and the more intentional role of driving the public debate toward bad science or bad policy. This report focuses on several examples of the latter — that is, people who are promulgating misinformation while actively misrepresenting themselves to the public and to elected officials in order to impede the progress of renewable energy.
MasterResource has documented the Sierra Club’s own reservations about windpower. Indeed, it was a representative of this very organization that tagged industrial windpower as “the Cuisinarts of the air.”
The Sierra Club, in short, should look in the mirror and not try to drum up a conspiracy about how our purpose and our contributors are part of some conspiracy against the greater good.
The Future
MasterResource continues to uncover new talent to challenge the politically correct with reality-based energy insight. Post submissions are invited, as are your comments on any of our posts. Maybe the best ideas win for a better energy future.
Finally, thanks from one to all for making MasterResource a go-to place to publish and to learn. Energy realities are worth explaining and championing in a political world.
Prior Activity Reports:
Opening post/comment (December 26, 2008)