A Free-Market Energy Blog

AWED Energy & Environmental Newsletter: October 28, 2013

By -- October 28, 2013

The Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions (AWED) is an informal coalition of more than 10,000 individuals and organizations interested in improving government energy & environmental policies. Our basic position is that technical matters like these should be addressed by using Real Science. It’s all spelled out at WiseEnergy.org, which is an exceptional collection of helpful resources.

A key element of AWED’s efforts is public education. Towards that end, every 3 weeks we put together a newsletter to balance what is found in the mainstream media about energy and environmental matters. We appreciate MasterResource for their assistance in publishing this information.

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Greed Energy Economics:

American Renewable Energy — a National Kamikaze Mission?

Utility CEOs Call for End to Subsidies for Wind, Solar Power

Assessing the Cost of Wind Energy   (Which was then followed up by this MR article, with good comments.)

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Repsol, Burned in Argentina, Comes to Alaska (but will the state’s tax reform survive referendum?)

By Dave Harbour -- October 25, 2013

Would you rather invest your money in a safe or an unsafe place? Spanish oil and gas company Repsol, the 15th largest hydrocarbon entity in the world, has answered that question by shifting its attention from Argentina to Alaska and other areas inside the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Background

In 1998 Repsol paid $13 billion for nearly 60% of YPF, the Argentine oil company.  In 2010, Repsol discovered a significant oil shale play in an area called Vaca Muerta. All seemed well for the investor and for locals for greater economic activity and more energy.

But in 2011, Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner nationalized 51 percent of YPF, leaving Repsol with 6.4 percent ownership . Repsol wants $10.5 billion in compensation; Argentina’s most recent offer is $1.5 billion.…

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The Positive Social Benefits of Carbon Dioxide

By Viv Forbes -- October 24, 2013

“The very real positive externality of inadvertent atmospheric CO2 enrichment must be considered in all studies examining the SCC [social cost of carbon].”

– Craig Idso, “The Positive Externalities of Carbon Dioxide: Estimating the Monetary Benefits of Rising Atmospheric CO2 Concentrations on Global Good Production.” Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change (October 2013).

The Carbon Sense Coalition has accused those waging a war on carbon dioxide of being “anti-green.” Why? Because CO2 is the gas of life, feeding every green plant, producing food for every animal and in the process releasing oxygen, another gas of life, into the atmosphere.

A recent study in Remote Sensing, Measuring and Modeling Global Vegetation Growth: 1982–2009) notes that data from remote sensing devices show significant increase in annual vegetation growth during the last three decades.

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Windaction News Issue: October 23, 2013

By -- October 23, 2013
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Google’s Green Energy Brag: $375 Million from Taxpayers (or more)

By Glenn Schleede -- October 22, 2013
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A Conservative, Biblical Case for Windpower? (a red-state, Tea Party strategy at work)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- October 21, 2013
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$0.11/kWh: Why Wind Is More Expensive than Advertised

By Michael Giberson -- October 18, 2013
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Road to Kyoto: Letter from Ken Lay to George Bush (April 3, 1992)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- October 17, 2013
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Bald Eagle and Golden Eagle Mortality at Wind Farms: The Sanitized–and Rest–of the Story

By Jim Wiegand -- October 16, 2013
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Chambers of Commerce Falsely Promote Windpower (might be repeated in your local)

By Glenn Schleede -- October 15, 2013
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