“There is no longer any question that solar energy is feasible and cost effective.” (Jimmy Carter, 1979)
“This is the technology that will allow us to provide solar electric power at competitive prices, both in the United States and in other areas of the world.” (John Urquhart, Enron Corp, 1995)
“Solar is going to rip apart the energy business as we know it.” (John Berger, Sunnova Energy Corp, 2019)
The impending competitiveness of solar-generated electricity is a siren song of a dilute, intermittent energy trying to compete with dense, storable energies. As it was a century ago, the reality today is that mineral energies producing electricity are far more economic than isolated power for homes and businesses in urban (and many rural) areas.
Background
From the time of Thomas Edison to the present, economies of scale in electrical generation, transmission, and usage has resulted in central station service.…
Continue Reading“MasterResource.org is where the ‘grassroots’ anti-wind power movement that Bradley works tirelessly to promote merges with the fossil fuel industry’s astroturf campaign against renewable energy.” (Dave Anderson, Energy and Policy Institute, April 17, 2019)
Perhaps I am a tireless worker. But no, the pushback against industrial wind turbines is not from “astroturf” but from on-the-spot, victimized people. In this sense, MasterResource comes from the grassroots, not the tree tops.
Mr. Anderson’s writeup, “Koch-backed blog defends Trump’s false claim about windmills & cancer,” takes a look at this site with this background:
… Continue ReadingMasterResource.org is a project of the Institute for Energy Research (IER), a group that together with its advocacy arm the American Energy Alliance has received millions of dollars from the Koch network, as well as money from the coal, oil and gas industries.
“So, apparently all the mechanics I’ve talked to and all the people selling correctives to the ethanol in gasoline are completely off-base, presumably in the pockets of the oil industry. Yet even magazines like Popular Mechanics have weighed in with warnings.”
Back in October, I posted a piece on Forbes.com, “Put Ethanol in People, not Gasoline,” which was prompted by my ongoing struggles to keep my lawnmower functional.
In response, Marc Rauch, executive vice president/co-publisher of the Auto Channel, took exception to my arguments that gasoline with 10% ethanol damages small engines and, more generally, that ethanol does not improve energy security by providing surge capacity to replace lost energy supply.
I respond to Mr. Rauch’s Open Letter to Energy Analyst Michael Lynch below.
Let’s start with his argument that my lawnmower problems were because of gasoline–and solvable by an ethanol-gasoline blend.…
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