A Free-Market Energy Blog

Joe Romm: "It is clear that solar and wind are competitive in many situations right now" (Where have we heard this before?)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 27, 2011

“It is clear that solar and wind are competitive in many situations right now — see Wind now on even playing field with gas and Solar costs may already rival coal.  And continued aggressive deployment along with continued R&D will keep driving the price down (see Energy Sec. Chu sees “wind and solar being cost-competitive without subsidy with new fossil fuel” by 2020.”

– Joe Romm, “Fred Hiatt Back to running Climate and Energy Disinformation from the Likes of Bjorn Lomborg,” April 21, 2011.

Are wind and solar really “competitive in many situations right now”? For decades, we have heard that this is the case. But the reality is that dilute energy flows do not compete on either a price or a reliability basis with the stock of energy that is oil, gas, and coal.

Continue Reading

Welcome Back, Carter

By -- April 26, 2011

The 100th birthday of President Ronald earlier this year brought forth a flood of nostalgia. Americans rightfully love their great man. But enviro-revisionism from some slammed Reagan for his reversal of President Jimmy Carter’s energy program. As Joe Romm puts it, Reagan “almost single-handedly ruined America’s leadership in clean energy.”

Such criticism reflects a extremely selective memory and a fundamental misunderstanding of the nation’s energy challenges.

Carter Was Pro-Coal, Nuclear Too

In recent years, true, some of Carter’s energy policies have been rehabilitated in the name of “energy independence” and addressing the alleged human influence on global climate. The implication—not always stated explicitly—is that Carter’s energy plan was primarily about renewable energies. The solar thermal panels he had installed on the White House roof, indeed, epitomized the differences between him and Reagan—who had the panels removed.…

Continue Reading

Atlas Shrugged: Its Philosophy and Energy Implications (Part V: Energy Crises)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 25, 2011

“The Arab oil embargo was not the cause of the energy crisis in this country: it was merely the straw that showed the camel’s back was broken.” (1)

“There is no ‘natural’ geological crisis; there is an enormous political one.” (2)

– Ayn Rand, “The Energy Crisis,” November 5, 1973.

The highly regulated society depicted by Atlas Shrugged includes many things energy. Her 1957 novel and now movie (Part I out;  Part II and Part III to come) has had relevance for U.S. energy policy ever since.

Atlas Shrugged describes oil shortages (342–44, 475), gasoline shortages (pp. 272–73), and electricity blackouts (pp. 669, 671). When the 1970s energy crisis hit, Rand commented:

Many readers have been asking whether I intended to write about the energy crisis. I would be tempted to answer: “I already have” – but they anticipate me by adding that things are “just as in Atlas Shrugged.”

Continue Reading

"Happy Earth Day": Julian Simon's Silver Anniversary (1995) Earth Day Letter

By administrator -- April 22, 2011
Continue Reading

Atlas Shrugged: The Philosophy and Its Energy Implications (Part IV: The Moral Obligation of Capitalists)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 21, 2011
Continue Reading

Atlas Shrugged: The Philosophy and Energy Implications (Part III: Objectivism)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 20, 2011
Continue Reading

Atlas Shrugged: Its Philosophy and Energy Implications (Part II: The Book)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 19, 2011
Continue Reading

Atlas Shrugged: Its Philosophy and Energy Implications (Part I: Overview)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 18, 2011
Continue Reading

Master Resource Update: 1Q-2011 (a blog for now and the future)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 15, 2011
Continue Reading

Dust in the Wind? (Eagle Claw Oklahoma project is government-dependent, iffy)

By Mike Riley -- April 14, 2011
Continue Reading