A Free-Market Energy Blog

“Is Biomass Dead?” (niche generator struggles)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 19, 2020

“While the biomass bonanza from plants like Covanta’s in California may be dead, byproducts such as biomethane, and other applications such as the utilization of biomass vegetation to create biochar … do show promise in more selective operations.”

Over the years, posts at MasterResource have documented the environmental problems of wood/plant/garbage-generated electricity, as well as opposition from environmental groups. Biomass is “the air pollution renewable.”

Last summer, Kennedy Maize documented the lost luster of government-enabled waste-to-energy power plants, such as the Wheelabrator plant near Baltimore and the Detroit Renewable Energy plant.

“Waste-to-energy had a 15-year heyday, driven in part by the 1978 Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA),” Maize explained. “The law essentially created the non-utility generating industry.” He continued:

Many local governments had long incinerated garbage to reduce volumes flowing to landfills, but that provoked public opposition due to air pollution.

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Unsettled Science, IPCC-style

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 18, 2020

“It’s never been remotely plausible that [Exxon] did not understand the science.” – Naomi Oreskes (Harvard University), Scientific American, 2015.

“We didn’t reach those conclusions, nor did we try to bury it like they suggest…. [Critics] pull some documents that we made available publicly in the archives and portray them as some kind of bombshell whistle-blower exposé because of the loaded language and the selective use of materials.” – Allan Jeffers (ExxonMobil) Scientific American, 2015.

The conclusion that the physical science of climate change was “settled” or “proven” in favor of crisis is a major history-of-thought fallacy. Naomi Oreskes, Professor of the History of Science at Harvard University (quoted above), must make peace with the quotations below from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), as well as many others, to show that ‘settled science’ on the human influence on climate unambiguously pointed toward alarm.…

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Energy & Environmental Newsletter: February 17, 2020

By -- February 17, 2020

The Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions (AWED) is an informal coalition of individuals and organizations interested in improving national, state, and local energy, environmental and education policies. Our premise is that technical matters like these should be addressed by using Real Science (please consult WiseEnergy.org for more information).

A key element of AWED’s efforts is public education. Towards that end, every two± weeks we put together a newsletter to balance what is found in the mainstream media about energy and the environment. We appreciate MasterResource for their assistance in publishing this information.

Some of the more important articles in this issue are:
Deceptive Economic Rhetoric At Davos Could Bring Disaster
Central banks change global monetary policy to embrace “climate change”
Attack of the green carbon counters as business world reduced to tallying emissions
The Bloomberg Family Foundation and the Future of American Energy
Trump’s Environmental Review Reforms Vital for U.S.

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Cass on Adaptation (the realistic climate policy)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 13, 2020
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Ayn Rand on Energy Disruption (1970s message to Bernie and Bloomberg)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 12, 2020
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’50 Things to Slow Climate Change’ (voluntary today, mandatory tomorrow?)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 11, 2020
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‘Ahuman Manifesto’: The Final Solution to Climate Change

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 10, 2020
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Wind’s PTC Receives 12th Extension (competitive not)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 6, 2020
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Trump: The State of the Union Address (climate unmentioned)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 5, 2020
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David Simon on Climate Alarmism (Julian Simon lives!)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 4, 2020
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