“Reality is best expressed in the absolute level of consumption for each primary-energy source, both the total and the growth—supplemented by some use of percentages. Using these measures, we can say that, throughout the period 1990 to 2035, fossil-fuel consumption was and will be persistently more significant than wind and solar combined.”
Claims are frequently made that wind power and solar power are the “fastest growing” energy sources, meaning that the world is transitioning away from fossil fuels. Let’s see if this withstands examination.
Such claims are usually expressed in terms of percentage growth over time or by percentages of the total. While mathematically correct, and often misleadingly worded (e.g., note my use of “fastest growing”), these are not reasonable representations of what is actually happening.
Reality is best expressed in the absolute level of consumption for each primary-energy source, both the total and the growth—supplemented by some use of percentages.…
Continue Reading“Without the PTC, any mandated wind generation would be an even bigger political problem because its cost inflation would be exposed. The wind-is-competitive-with-fossil-fuels hyperbole would be refuted in real time.”
Congress enacted the Wind Production Tax Credit (PTC) in 1992 as a temporary measure for an “infant” industry. Decades and nine extensions later, it is time to eliminate the PTC.
Subsidized wind power inflates electricity costs, compromises taxpayers, and destabilizes the electric grid (wind-generated electricity is intermittent). The huge tax credit allows pricing that ruins the economics of steady, conventional generation sources. Wind power, indeed, is the perfect imperfect energy.
The PTC It is most beneficial to wealthy wind developers who are able to reduce their tax rate at the expense of the rest of us. It is past time to end corporate welfare for this mature, and in their own words, competitive, wind industry.…
Continue Reading“There was no reason to prohibit the manufacture of incandescent lamps, other than for ideological reasons, when LEDs were becoming available. Industry and science, under the free market system, had already developed the technology that would replace incandescent lamps in a far less costly and far more orderly manner.”
People striving to improve energy efficiency and cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions often over-simplify lighting and do economically inefficient, counterproductive things. This led to Congress needlessly prohibiting the manufacture of most types of incandescent bulbs to cut CO2 emissions. This was an early manifestation of CO2 hysteria and ignored advances in lighting technology and the purpose of lighting.
Some Background
Lighting has three primary purposes: (1) Facilitate seeing; (2) Safety; (3) Esthetics. Each is considered in some detail below.
1.…
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