“Green energy is not so green after all. It reduces the supply of food, water and energy available to all life on earth, and it often consumes large amounts of hydrocarbon energy for its manufacture, construction, maintenance and backup.”
The earth has three significant sources of energy: Geothermal, combustible hydrocarbon minerals, and radiation/gravitational pull from the sun/moon.
Geothermal energy from Earth’s molten core and decaying radioactive minerals in Earth’s crust. This energy moves continents, powers volcanoes and its heat migrates towards the crust, warming the lithosphere and the deep oceans. It can be harvested successfully in favorable locations, and radioactive minerals can be extracted to provide large amounts of reliable heat for power generation.
Energy stored in combustible hydrocarbon minerals such as coal, oil, gas, tar sands and oil shale. These all store solar and geothermal energy collected eons ago and they are the primary energy sources supporting the modern world and its large and growing populations.…
Continue Reading“Regulation did not originate as a goodwill gesture from enlightened attorneys who wanted to spread their notions of the public interest…. It emerged in its current shape largely as a way to enforce Samuel Insull’s efforts to protect his empire from competition for the long term….”
Attorney and author Scott Hempling makes his living testifying before regulatory commissions, often on behalf of public interest and consumer groups. He is the author of “Certifying Regulatory Professionals: Why Not?” recently posted on ElectricityPolicy.com, (Part I here; Part II here), from which I quote below.
Hempling’s argument is straightforward. Today, policy and technology are always in flux, which changes the boundary between efficient and inefficient practices. People should know more. Things would surely be better if only regulation were driven by both facts and expertise, an “independent force that aligns interests of the regulated with the public interest.”…
Continue Reading“Without due process and analytical transparency, purported societal benefits become even more debatable. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is supposed to comply with Executive Orders (EO) 12988 and 13132 to minimize litigation, eliminate ambiguity, and reduce regulatory burdens.”
“In the realities of a competitive marketplace, such policies can and do abuse consumers’ best economic interests. By claiming some sort of market failure, DOE is authorized to force ‘energy efficiency’ investments’ upon consumers.”
On January 23rd, 2013, MasterResource published Gas Furnace Rule: Beware of “Scorched Gas” Policy. [1] The opening paragraph stated:
“Hurrah” to the American Public Gas Association (APGA), a small trade group that was willing to step-up to U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and other special-interest organizations that want energy efficiency at any cost to the American consumer.…
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