A Free-Market Energy Blog

Energy & Modernity: Three Industrial Revolutions (Heartland Institute treatise excerpt)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- December 19, 2018

This post reprints Section 3.2.1 of Climate Change Reconsidered II: Fossil Fuels (Summary for Policymakers here.) This is the fifth volume in the Climate Change Reconsidered series published by the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC).

This treatise from The Heartland Institute continues a tradition of offering citizens and scholars an alternative view of all issues relating to climate science and climate policy. This brief excerpt (subtitles added) will be joined in the New Year with many other excerpts on specific issues to better disseminate the major findings of this major treatise.

——————

Fossil fuels make possible such transformative technologies as nitrogen fertilizer, concrete, the steam engine and cotton gin, electrification, the internal combustion engine, and the computer and Internet revolution.

Prior to the widespread use of fossil fuels, humans expended nearly as much energy (calories) producing food and finding fuel (primarily wood and dung) to warm their dwellings as their primitive technologies were able to produce.

Continue Reading

Paris Climate Accord Death Spiral Underway (FT article begins the autopsy)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- December 18, 2018

“It has become increasingly clear that Donald Trump’s presidency hasn’t just led to the withdrawal of the United States from the landmark agreement. It has also halted the rest of the world’s efforts…. Call it the ‘Trump’ effect.”

– Joseph Curtin, “Trump Has Officially Ruined Climate Change Diplomacy for Everyone.” FT, December 12, 2018.

Another realistic, “defeatist” article about the futile global crusade to cap and reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions has been published. “Trump Has Officially Ruined Climate Change Diplomacy for Everyone,” subtitled “The evidence is in: the Paris Agreement doesn’t work without the United States,” joins other articles (such as rising global coal consumption, profiled last week at MasterResource) in the death rattle.

Joseph Curtin, senior fellow at the Institute of International and European Affairs, authored the blunt assessment.…

Continue Reading

Energy & Environmental Newsletter: December 17, 2018

By -- December 17, 2018

The Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions (AWED) is an informal coalition of individuals and organizations interested in improving national, state, and local energy and environmental 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 three 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:

Medical Director Warns of Turbine Health Consequences

Major Good News: Ontario Scraps the Green Energy Act

Wind Projects and Property Rights

But How do Affected Citizens Think about Wind Energy?

Continue Reading

Mineral Privatization for the Masses: Remembering Guillermo Yeatts (1937–2018)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- December 13, 2018
Continue Reading

“Why Greens are Turning Away from a Carbon Tax” (POLITICO documents a turning point)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- December 12, 2018
Continue Reading

Private Governance in Oil & Gas: Permian Strategic Partnership

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- December 11, 2018
Continue Reading

Bush 41 and Climate Policy: Launching a Mistake (1992 Rio Summit haunts us today)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- December 10, 2018
Continue Reading

Kinder-Morgan’s Environmental, Social, and Governance Report (no regrets predominates)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- December 6, 2018
Continue Reading

‘Climate Alarmism and Corporate Responsibility’ (2000 essay for today’s debate)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- December 5, 2018
Continue Reading

Environmental Accounting and Green Subsidies: The Biofuels Mistake

By Greg Rehmke -- December 4, 2018
Continue Reading