A Free-Market Energy Blog

Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions: Newsletter Update

By -- January 21, 2013

[Ed. note: This is the second in a continuing series at MasterResource, the first of which was published November 21st.]

The Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions (AWED) is an informal coalition of individuals and organizations who are interested in improving national, state, and local energy & environmental policies. Our basic position is that energy and environmental issues are technical matters that should be addressed by genuine science.

Instead of a science-based approach, our energy and environmental policies have become a playground, even a cookie jar, for those who stand to economically or politically profit from them. As a result, anything genuinely science-based in these policies is usually inadvertent and accidental.

A key element of AWED’s efforts is public education. Towards that end, we send out a newsletter every 2-3 weeks in the interest of balancing what the mainstream media too often conveys about energy and environmental matters.

Continue Reading

4Q-2012: Continued Progress at MasterResource

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- January 18, 2013

MasterResource, which turned four last month, recorded its best quarter in history with 116,877 views, a 20 percent increase from 4Q-2011. We reached as high as #7 of 9,984 “green blogs” tracked by Technorati in the quarter and currently stand at #40.

With one in-depth post per workday, with occasional weekend fare, MasterResource is the leading voice for free-market, science-of-liberty thought in energy and related environmental issues.

MasterResource features many different writers, some academics, some think-tank analysts, and others citizen-activists.  Some areas of emphasis and impact may be mentioned.

Inconvenient Truths of Industrial Wind

Literally dozens of our writers have made MasterResource a leader of the windpower educational movement.  Turning wind into electricity is wholly government-enabled; even NIMBYSM that might be criticized in other contexts is justified given that government mandates and special, outsized subsidies enables the rural invasion of wind machinery.

Continue Reading

Towards Sound Energy Policy (Part II – Sensible Approaches)

By Kent Hawkins -- January 17, 2013

Part I yesterday addressed the drivers and flawed approaches to current energy policy in many developed Western countries. Part II today describes the rational approaches necessary to best position us to withstand all challenges/threats that face us, both known and unknown.

Time frames are an important consideration in assessing the various elements of sensible and feasible energy policy programs. Here are the periods used in this discussion, which are nominal in nature:

  • Short term (Up to about 10 years) – In this time frame, major radical changes in our energy infrastructures are not advisable and should be avoided, because energy is so intrinsically bound up in everything we do. Ill-advised, extensive tinkering with these is dangerous to our well-being. Best use must be made of reliable and powerful energy sources which are consistent with existing energy infrastructures and uses.
Continue Reading

Towards Sound Energy Policy (Part I – Current Flaws)

By Kent Hawkins -- January 16, 2013
Continue Reading

Creative Energy Destruction: Renewables Lost Long Ago

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- January 15, 2013
Continue Reading

Dear Carl Pope: What About the “Cuisinarts of the Air” (Sierra Club term still part of the windpower debate)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- January 14, 2013
Continue Reading

Dear Christian Science Monitor: Wind Is Not Sacred but a Sacrilege

By Mary Kay Barton -- January 11, 2013
Continue Reading

How the PTC was Extended (Obama to the rescue)

By -- January 10, 2013
Continue Reading

Economic Failure at U.S. EPA: NAM Study Raises the Hard Questions

By -- January 9, 2013
Continue Reading

Wind Energy Cost: Think Again ($0.15/kWh wholesale prohibitively expensive)

By Tom Tanton -- January 8, 2013
Continue Reading