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 and master the vagaries of extreme weather and climate.
I will take a bow when those in the climate alarm/forced energy transformation camp state that my efforts are making a difference for energy freedom against Big Brother. And such a compliment came from a Matt Serafa who noted “how effective the fossil future/think tank marketing has been…. People like Alex Epstein and Rob Bradley have done some heavy lifting to promote a different perspective.”
The exchange began with this post from Sasja Beslik, on LinkedIn:
…One climate disaster after another, yet three-quarters of Republicans (72%) said the economy should be given priority.
The level of denial has got to astronomic proportions. From Hawaii to Canada, searing heat and deadly wildfires are raising the alarm about global warming.
The disasters have fuelled debate about global warming across the US, with climate scientists increasingly stressing the links between climate change and extreme weather events, even as most Republican voters consider it a “minor threat”, or no threat, according to polling.
“Looking back with hindsight, the business opportunities were on the generation side, and the utility was going out for bid with all these big renewable-energy projects. But in retrospect, it seems clear, we weren’t as focused on these fire risks as we should have been.”
– Doug McLeod, former Maui county energy commissioner (quoted in WSJ, below)
Opportunity cost is a central concept in economics. Economics is about the unseen versus the seen. Resources spent in one direction are not spent in another. The same goes for corporations as politically correct, economically incorrect priorities crowd out good. Climate change policy is a premier example.
Government-forced substitution of dilute, intermittent energies for reliable incumbents has not only cost taxpayers and ratepayers. It has also cost the environment–dearly. The recent saga of Hawaiian Electric’s preoccupation with “the energy transition” at the expense of grid safety and reliability is the latest example of this.…