“What Secretary Perry has yet to recognize is that the same hostile forces behind the ‘war against coal’ are now focused on eliminating the direct use of natural gas…. By taking a fresh look at the economic importance of natural gas direct use, this path can be changed; assuming the political will exists to do the right thing by consumers.”
Nationwide, natural gas is distributed to over 73.5 million homes and businesses for a wide variety of uses, such as cooking, water and home heating. [1] In doing so, it delivers 38% more energy [2] for 15% of the costs of electricity. [3] Natural gas energy losses are only about 10 percent of its usable energy from the point of wellhead extraction to the consumers’ utility meter. For electricity, about 70% of initial energy content is lost by the time it reaches consumer’s electric meters.…
Continue Reading“But upon closer scrutiny, Epstein’s characterizations are often straw men; his own assertions are strikingly misleading or demonstrably wrong; and his evidence is typically weak and selective or completely beside the point.”
– Jody Freeman, “A Critical Look at The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels.” 36 Energy L.J. 327 (2015).
“This response gives a proof that Freeman’s portrayal of MCFF’s method and content is a straw man, and summarizes the actual arguments of the book. It does so primarily through repeated, side-by-side comparisons of unaltered passages by Freeman purporting to describe MCFF’s viewpoint and unaltered passages from MCFF clearly stating its actual viewpoint.”
– Alex Epstein. “A Straw Man Attack on The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels” (38 Energy L.J. 79 (2017), p. 79.
It is happening for all to see in the prestigious Energy Law Journal.…
Continue Reading“Wind and (on-grid) solar installations built in the wrong places or with not-yet-ready technology can actually increase emissions by raising prices and pushing poor Chinese consumers to save money burning coal at home. The funding of showcase wind and solar projects could be invested to modernize coal-fired power plants generating the lion’s share badly-needed heat and electricity.”
“Foreign Correspondents as They Live and Breathe,” (New York Times, March 30, 2017) reports on the still deadly air pollution in China:
Ian Johnson, a China correspondent, took out his phone to check Air Matters, an app that measures air quality based on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Air Quality Index, which scores the air from 0 to 500. Over 300 and the air is “hazardous.”
The NYT post also says Trump Administration actions on coal power CO2 emissions will hurt efforts to reduce pollution worldwide:
… Continue ReadingNow efforts to dial back air pollution worldwide are likely to take a hit: On Tuesday, less than a week after rolling back fuel-economy standards for the auto industry, President Trump announced an executive order reversing the rest of the Obama administration’s climate plan.