Wind power output in Texas is trending down even as wind generation capacity increases
By Ed Ireland -- February 16, 2024The inherent unreliability of wind power is highlighted by the recent experience in Texas.
I have written extensively about the intermittent nature of wind power (here, here, and here), highlighting that the only way wind power has survived and continues to increase is through federal tax subsidies. Wind proponents have long argued that the intermittent nature of wind is offset by over-building wind generation, based on the theory that the wind is always blowing somewhere.
The reality that the wind is not always blowing where it is needed, even over very large areas, is highlighted by the fact that wind power in Texas has been declining.
Total wind power generation in January 2024 was less than in January 2023. According to Reuters in an article published on February 16, 2024:
… Continue ReadingCumulative wind power output in 2023 was 4,500,000 MWh, compared to 4,400,000 MWh in 2022, LSEG data shows.
Cowen on ‘Fossil Future’: Expert Failure?
By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 15, 2024“I don’t agree with many (any?) of [Alex Epstein’s] points in his response, and it is conspicuously lacking in arguments about climate itself.” Tyler Cowen
“It’s sad that a guy as smart as Tyler not only 1) irresponsibly commented on a book he was not willing to read carefully, but also 2) refused to admit any wrongdoing whatsoever.” Alex Epstein
It was distributed on social media by the director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s loan programs office, Jigar Shah, described as “The man in charge of how the US spends $400bn to shift away from fossil fuels.” Shah forwarded Tyler Cowen’s post (at Marginal Revolution) critiquing Alex Epstein’s book, Fossil Future: Why Human Flourishing Requires Using More Oil, Gas, and Coal–Not Less.
A ‘classical liberal’ handing an intellectual gift to a DOE grifter?…
Continue Reading“Protect Our Winters” (Snow a thing of the past?)
By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 14, 2024Ed. note: This repost (April 7, 2021) is presented as one of countless examples of climate exaggeration from the highest scientific quarters…. Exaggeration backfires.
“Our winters are getting sick, and we know the reason why. It’s global warming, it’s rising temperatures, and that’s the only logical explanation for what’s happening.”
– Amato Evan (Scripps Institution of Oceanography) before the American Geophysical Union (Fall 2018), quoted here.
False science based on climate models is part of the complicated story behind the Great Texas Electricity Blackout of February 2021. As I posited in “U.S. Winter Outlook: Cooler North, Warmer South” (NOAA’s prediction bust):
… Continue ReadingEnter climate models, the Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and politics. And a very bad result for the South this winter. The lack of weatherization in Texas for traditional power plants, in particular, might well have been influenced by the climate narrative of warmer winters.