A Free-Market Energy Blog

A Moral Defense of the Oil Industry

By -- December 5, 2012

“It is the oil industry, not its opponents, that deserves the moral high ground. The moral arguments against oil pretend to be progressive but are in fact re-hashes of primitive philosophical doctrines. For example, ‘sustainability’ is a relic of centuries when human beings repeated the same lifestyle over and over–instead of finding better and better ways to do things.”

Imagine you are an advertising executive, and a CEO asks you: “Do you think you can help improve the reputation of my industry?”

You respond, “Sure, what are some ways your industry makes people’s live better?”

He replies, “Well, actually, our product helps people in just about everything they do. This past year, it helped take 4 million newlyweds to their dream destinations for their honeymoons. It helped bring 300 million Americans to their favorite places: yoga studios, soccer games, friends’ houses.…

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Wind Propaganda by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (Orwellian greenwashing calls for correction)

By Sherri Lange -- December 4, 2012

“In its heyday the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation was a bastion of objectivity. However this show revealed nothing but wind apologetics. The absurdities were thick and one-sided without a single thread of verity.”

Recently the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) pretended to take on the endless debate around the topic most people know little about – the health problems created by industrial wind turbines. The results were quite disappointing.

The Sunday, October 21st program (two segments) skated around the issues like Barbara Ann Scott.

The first segment was a cut and paste “documentary” by a novice reporter from Kincardine, Ontario about people in her “home town.” Frustratingly, and sadly, this entire set up piece merely touched at the edges of the actual concerns many of which have been reported on CBC by actual CBC reporters.…

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Carbon Tax: Climatically Useless

By Chip Knappenberger -- December 3, 2012

“No matter how much you pay with a carbon levy, virtually nothing is received climatically…. No matter the level of domestic action that we take, it will pale in comparison to the rapid expansion of carbon dioxide emissions in other parts of the world.”

How much global warming will result from U.S. emissions over the course of this century, and how much of that could be prevented by a carbon tax? These two questions have the same simple answer—virtually none. One or two tenths of a degree a century out with–and without–a carbon tax makes the whole climate debate a peculiar exercise.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates that the earth’s average temperature will increase somewhere between 1.1°C and 6.4°C over the 21st century, depending on the assumed pathway of anthropogenic emissions (both greenhouse gases and aerosols) and the actual (but unknown) climate sensitivity.

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Bill McKibben: Energy Enemy Number One

By -- November 30, 2012
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Energy Transformation and "Moore's Curse": Realism Before Action

By Steven Lightfoot -- November 29, 2012
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Saving the Wind Industry: Henry Hazlitt’s Lesson Applied Today

By -- November 28, 2012
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Texas Windpower: Will Negative Pricing Blow Out the Lights? (PTC vs. reliable new capacity)

By Josiah Neeley -- November 27, 2012
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San Francisco's 'Green' Energy Plan: Back-Door Coercion, Front-Door Costs

By Dave Roberts -- November 26, 2012
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Thanksgiving & Capitalism

By Richard Ebeling -- November 22, 2012
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Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions: Recent Newsletter

By -- November 21, 2012
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