A Free-Market Energy Blog

‘Peak Oil’ Over, Economists Study Climate Policy Costs

By -- February 17, 2016

“In a 2014 ‘EV Everywhere Grand Challenge’ study, the US Department of Energy finds that the current battery cost is $325 per kWh. At a battery cost of $325 per kWh, the price of oil would need to exceed $350 per barrel before the electric vehicle was cheaper to operate.”

– Covert, Greenstone, and Knittel. “Will We Ever Stop Using Fossil Fuels?Journal of Economic Perspectives (30(1), 2016): p. 132.

In the marketplace for ideas, economists are always selling. We see a situation that everyone knows is imperfect, point out the exorbitant costs and likely mistakes on the road to Nirvana, assure our audience that in any case the market can likely manage things better than government. And we hope someone accepts our research and clients retain our consulting services.…

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Julian Simon: A Pathbreaking, Heroic Scholar

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 16, 2016

[Editor note: Julian Simon (February 12, 1932 – February 8, 1998) is remembered each year at MasterResource.]

“The world’s problem is not too many people, but a lack of political and economic freedom.”

– Julian Simon, The Ultimate Resource 2 (Princeton, N.Y.: Princeton University Press, 1996), p. 11.

“The ultimate resource is people—especially skilled, spirited, and hopeful young people endowed with liberty—who will exert their wills and imaginations for their own benefits, and so inevitably they will benefit the rest of us as well.”

– Julian Simon, “Introduction,” in Simon, ed., The State of Humanity (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1995), p. 27.

Julian Simon would have turned 84 last week. MasterResource, which is named in his honor, applies Simon’s ultimate resource insight to the master resource of energy and to related environmental issues.…

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AWED Energy & Environmental Newsletter: February 15, 2016

By -- February 15, 2016

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 ispublic 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 thought-provoking articles in this issue are:

Offshore Wind Turbine Maintenance Cost: “100 Times More Expensive Than A New Turbine Itself”!

Professor Investigating Flint: Greed has Killed Public Science

Court Dismisses Claim Against Citizen Advocate (+ More details)

Archive Study: Renewables Won’t Save Us, What Will?

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Jane Mayer on Energy Policy: Some Corrections

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 11, 2016
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Solar from Space? (DOE subsidies here too)

By Donn Dears -- February 10, 2016
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NREL to Universities on Solar PPAs: The Whole Story?

By Glenn Schleede -- February 9, 2016
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Taming Turbines for Man and Nature: Comments to the Ohio Power Siting Board

By Thomas Stacy II -- February 8, 2016
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Audubon Goes over the Edge (Jan/Feb 2016 issue promotes anti-science alarmism)

By Robert Endlich -- February 4, 2016
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Industrial Wind Siting: Getting Tough (Part 2: Ohio)

By Sherri Lange -- February 3, 2016
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Industrial Wind Siting: Getting Tough (Part 1: New York)

By Sherri Lange -- February 2, 2016
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