A Free-Market Energy Blog

Nuclear Fusion: More Government Fail

By Kennedy Maize -- July 24, 2024

“The fusion propaganda machine has produced a wave of mostly offbeat projects, more than 40 since 2018 by one estimate. The likelihood that any of these fusion pipedreams will produce anything other than red ink is less than slim.”

Harsh reality is again clashing with the fanciful hype of the past several years regarding fusion energy. The only credible attempt to harness the physics of the sun, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, has again pushed back the date when it will attempt a sustained fusion reaction toward practical energy production.

For the second time in two years, the 35-nation project has announced a snag in the project, although it has reported some better news. At a July 3 press conference at ITER headquarters in France, Director-General Pietro Barabaschi said the new goal is to be able to run the toroidal magnets in the donut-shaped tokomak briefly at full power in 2036.…

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Project 2025 on Energy (just a start, remember)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 23, 2024

The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 covers federal energy policy in some detail. The agenda is largely free market, and the subtle politicization of means and ends under the Biden/Harris Administration is identified for reform.

This document is congruent with the very brief Republican Party energy platform, “Make America the Dominant Energy Producer in the World, by Far”. But it falls short of true classical liberalism, as exemplified by my general approach to free market energy; the call by the Cato Institute to “zero out” the U.S. Department of Energy (2011); and end all preferential energy taxation (in 2013); and IER’s American Energy Act (2011).

The energy sections of Project 2025 follow verbatim. I offer a final comment on some of the missing initiatives.

A conservative President must be committed to unleashing all of America’s energy resources and making the energy economy serve the American people, not special interests.…

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Energy & Environmental Review: July 22, 2024

By -- July 22, 2024

Ed. Note: This post excerpts energy and climate material from the Media Balance Newsletter, a free fortnightly published by physicist John Droz Jr., founder of the Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions. The complete Newsletter for this post can be found here.

Unreliables (General):
*** Big Batteries Bring Big Problems!
Alberta’s wind and solar output plunge to near zero…again

Wind Energy — Offshore:
*** The Offshore Wind Energy Scandal is Even Worse Than You Think
*** Shattered wind turbine closes Nantucket beaches feds suspend Vineyard Wind
*** Why Are Massive Amounts of the World’s Most Potent Greenhouse Gas Being Ferried Out into the Ocean off the Eastern Seaboard?
Offshore Wind Turbines Wrecking Marine Radar Signals
The Titanic scale of floating wind turbines quantified

Wind Energy — Other:
*** Taking the Wind Out of Climate Change (referencing 60± studies)
*** Short video: The Most Confusing Part of the Power Grid
*** Nine July Days Clearly Demonstrate Industrial Wind Turbines Intermittent Uselessness
Turbines were Missing in Action for High Peak Demand Days
Green Hypocrisy
German wind power sector in crisis.

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Vineyard Wind: Catastrophic Failure (‘sharp fiberglass shards’ close Nantucket beaches)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 18, 2024
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The Government-Imposed Cost of Electricity in Texas

By -- July 17, 2024
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GOP Energy Platform (“Make America the Dominant Energy Producer in the World, by Far”)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 16, 2024
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Vogtle 5? Big Nuclear Looks to Big Government

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 15, 2024
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Industrial Wind Power: Infant Industry Not

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 12, 2024
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U.S. Urban Air Pollution Trends: Fossil Fuel Ecology

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 11, 2024
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A Permanent Subsidy? Nuclear Power’s Price-Anderson Act (5 Extensions, 89 years)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 10, 2024
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