A Free-Market Energy Blog

Countering Sen. Kerry’s Catastrophic Climate Claims (Part 1 of 2)

By Kenneth P. Green -- December 23, 2009

Editor note: On November 10, 2009 Mr. Green testifedbefore the Senate Committee on Finance about global warming. During the course of his testimony, an obviously agitated Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) challenged Ken on different aspects of the climate debate. His responses are printed here. [Part II of this series is tomorrow.]

1. Not One Peer-Reviewed Paper Contradicts the “Consensus” View of the Climate Crisis
Sen. Kerry asserted that not one peer-reviewed paper contradicts the “consensus” view that greenhouse gas emissions will cause devastating consequences, and that we must limit their emissions radically to avoid the maximum “consensus” value of two degrees Celsius, which Kerry claimed was the point at which catastrophic damage would occur to the Earth’s climate. I offered to provide several.

Perhaps the central issue in climate science involves estimates of the sensitivity of the climate to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.…

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Inferior Holiday Lighting: Another Cost of the Futile Climate Crusade? (Malthusianism is gloomy in practice, not only theory)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- December 22, 2009

“[LEDs are] not the same. They’re weird-looking. They’re sized different and have these unusual ripples. If you have those interspersed with your traditional lights, they’re going to look dumb.”

– Interviewed consumer, AP Piece, December 21, 2009

An AP piece yesterday by by Sean Murphy, Many Take Dim View of New-Fangled Christmas Lights, is another example of some of the problems that occur when an (inferior) product is forced on consumers in the name of “energy sustainability” (aka, the futile climate crusade).

Small, unsafe, high-insurance-premium micro cars are bad enough (do these things work on the highway?). But also troubling is the assault on quality lighting–and more lighting per se–that hinder those whose mood is elevated by brightness and the many who have trouble coping with the dark. (Of course some can go too far with holiday lighting, as with any pleasurable activity.)…

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China Secures Oil and Gas Resources: U.S. Fiddles with ‘Green’ Energy

By Mary Hutzler -- December 21, 2009

Around the world, China is investing in oil and gas resources to fuel its booming manufacturing industries and transportation sector to continue its sky-rocketing economic growth. China is not endowed with very much oil and gas resources of its own. Thus, it needs to partner with countries around the world to ensure availability of future supplies of oil and natural gas that it will need to keep up its current pace of economic growth.

The U.S., which does have oil and gas resources, is not following China’s lead in investing in these resources. Instead, the U.S. is looking toward wind and solar technologies to fuel its economy. However, wind and solar power are generating technologies and will not help where oil is needed in the transportation and industrial sectors.

Further, wind and solar power have capacity factors that cannot compete with those of fossil fuel generating technologies, and they can create instability issues with the electrical grid.…

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Debating Climate Change on Stossel: Economics to the Fore

By Jerry Taylor -- December 19, 2009
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“The Wind Farm Scam” by John Etherington (the UK environmental civil war builds)

By Glenn Schleede -- December 18, 2009
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Tom Friedman Has a Standing Invitation to My Weekly Poker Game: The Abused Insurance Analogy for Climate Change

By Jim Manzi -- December 17, 2009
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Wind Integration: Incremental Emissions from Back-Up Generation Cycling (Part IV – Further Reflections)

By Kent Hawkins -- December 16, 2009
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Smart Growth: Lower Carbon Footprint Not

By Randal O'Toole -- December 15, 2009
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Facts vs. Climate Alarmism

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- December 14, 2009
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Climategate: There Is Normal Scientific Discourse Too (revisiting the millennial temperature ‘trick’)

By Chip Knappenberger -- December 12, 2009
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