A Free-Market Energy Blog

Remembering the Old James Hansen (give him some credit)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- March 12, 2009

I have previously posted on NASA scientist and leading climate alarmist James Hansen as a “scientist behaving strangely.” His mixing of politics and science–controversial science at that–has raised eyebrows among friend and foe.

But then there is the old, more moderate Jim Hansen. Below, I offer some quotations for the historical record. There are undoubtedly other quotations that can be added–and should be in the “comments” section, whether by Hansen or by colleagues of Hansen.

Perhaps Dr. Hansen can say that his thinking has evolved toward greater alarm. But if so, with temperatures little or no higher today than when he wrote a decade or more ago, the question must be asked: why has his alarm gone up rather than down?…

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Three Libertarian Women and Energy

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- March 11, 2009

March is women’s history month. In recognition, the Cato Institute’s post, “Three Women Who Launched a Movement: Celebrating Liberty in Women’s History Month,” brings attention to Isabel Paterson, Rose Wilder Lane, and Ayn Rand–each of whom wrote a powerful book in the 1940’s that helped launch the modern libertarian movement.

Each recognized energy as the master resource in different ways.…

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Renewable Investments vs. Recession-reduced GHG Emissions

By Tom Tanton -- March 10, 2009

In a March 4 article, writer Michael Burnham of E&E News PM (subscription required) talks about the slow down in “clean energy” investments and what this might mean for reducing the carbon peak:

Investments in new wind farms and other “clean” energy projects are slowing with the crumbling global economy, and that could make climate change’s bite harder in the decades ahead, financial analysts warned today.

With coal-fired power plants, steel mills and cement kilns producing less, greenhouse gas emissions are falling in the short term, the London-based market analytics firm New Energy Finance says in a report today. But flat investment in lower-emission alternatives in the next two or three years — presumably the time it takes for economies to rebound — could push what the analysts dub “peak carbon” back by more than a decade.

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Pickens Plan II’s Natural Gas Trucks: Mel Brooks Meets Energy Policy

By Donald Hertzmark -- March 9, 2009
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Science Magazine: Remembering a Rare Energy Realism Essay (Best Article Award?)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- March 8, 2009
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ExxonMobil’s Tillerson on Renewable Energy: Realism amid Politics

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- March 7, 2009
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More Doubts on “Green Jobs”

By Robert Murphy -- March 6, 2009
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Opposite Views on Climate Feedbacks (and perhaps the answer lies in the middle)

By Chip Knappenberger -- March 5, 2009
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Wind: Energy Past, not Energy Future (the intermittency curse then, as now)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- March 4, 2009
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Obama Climatomics: Politics Drives Science Amid a Fading Alarm

By David Schnare -- March 3, 2009
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