A Free-Market Energy Blog

The Deceit of Turbine Noise Models (collateral damage from government energy forcing)

By -- October 19, 2011

“When will the environmentalist community writ large wake up to the unintended micro consequences of their increasingly futile macro policy of forced energy transformation?”

Herkimer County, New York, is the latest location to register wind turbine noise complaints. The source? Iberdrola’s Hardscrabble wind facility (37 turbines) that went online earlier this year.

Studies are underway to determine if the project is operating outside legal sound limits, but the larger question is “Why?” Why, with over 1,300 MW of wind installed in New York today and an extensive body of evidence showing turbine noise is causing deleterious impacts on people living near the towers, was Herkimer County fooled into thinking it would be spared?

The answer is simple: Herkimer County residents were lied to.

Yes, we could use softer words to explain the situation.…

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Perry's Energy Speech: Part II (EPA vs. abundant energy)

By Vance Ginn -- October 18, 2011

“The third part of my plan is to reform the bureaucracy, in particular the EPA, so that it focuses on regional and cross-state issues, providing scientific research, as well as environmental analysis and cost-comparison studies to support state environmental organizations. We will return greater regulatory authority to the states to manage air and water quality rather than imposing one-size-fits-all federal rules.”

– Gov. Rick Perry,  Energizing American Jobs and Security, October 14, 2011.

Part I yesterday described Governor Rick Perry’s call for greater oil and gas resource access to government land to help create economic and job growth–and open-ended opportunity given technological developments.

Indeed, ‘peak oil’ and ‘peak gas’ concerns have been waylaid by reality. At a recent conference of the U.S. Association for Energy Economics in Washington, D.C., it was clear that energy economists believe that demand for petroleum will not fall around the globe for many years, decades, and possibly centuries to come.…

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Perry's Energy Speech: Part I (Real Energy, Real Jobs–but what about the governor's windpower baggage?

By Vance Ginn -- October 17, 2011

Texas Gov. Rick Perry is swimming upstream in his quest for the Republican nomination for President of the United States, primarily from his weak performances during several debates. To improve his odds, last Friday he gave his first policy speech, titled Energizing American Jobs and Security.

Energy is that important. And it is a breath of fresh air that Perry’s analysis and prescription is 180 degrees from President Obama’s government-knows-best approach to energy and energy/environment.

Four Objectives

The Governor’s plan focused on four objectives that promise economic growth and numerous jobs in America. In Perry’s words:

  • “First, we will open several American oil and gas fields for exploration that are currently off limits because of political considerations.”
  • “It is equally important that we take a second step: eliminate activist regulations already on the books and under consideration by the Obama Administration.”
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Government as Referee: Who Regulates the Regulators?

By David Hutzelman -- October 14, 2011
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Beyond Solyndra: Solar Energy's On-Grid Torment

By Gary Hunt -- October 13, 2011
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Solar Power Cost: Don't Forget Intermittency (energy economics 101)

By David Bergeron -- October 12, 2011
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Rapid Loss of Arctic Ice: But Where is the Warming?

By Chip Knappenberger -- October 11, 2011
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The EPA's Benefit/Cost Jihad on U.S. Electric Utilities

By Garrett Vaughn -- October 10, 2011
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"Energy and Society" Course: Professor Desrochers's Model for the Academy

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- October 7, 2011
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Behind the 'Green Jobs' Curtain: Economic Fallacies and Counterfacts

By Nick Sibilla and Todd Wynn -- October 6, 2011
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