A Free-Market Energy Blog

California’s Path to Regulatory Hari-Kari: For What Climate Effect?

By Chip Knappenberger -- February 5, 2009

Ken Green’s post on California’s global-warming policy commented on the sad state of California’s economy under the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (Assembly Bill 32, or AB 32) . This raises the question: What is California climatically achieving for its sacrifice?

The answer? Even an immediate and complete cessation of all greenhouse gas emissions from California now and forever would result in no meaningful impact on the future course of climate change.

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Beware Windpower’s “Homes Served” Claims

By Glenn Schleede -- February 4, 2009

People who use the phrase “homes served” to describe the potential output from one or more wind turbines either do not understand the facts about wind turbines, believe false claims put forth by the wind industry, or are trying to mislead their reader or listener.

False statements about “homes served” by wind developers and their lobbyists are bad enough, but it is discouraging to hear politicians, reporters, and others adopt and regurgitate them.…

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Long Live Old King Coal?

By Robert Bradley Jr. --

As a fuel source, coal is a different product from what it was in past decades. Specifically, it is much cleaner. Yet, as always, it is much cheaper and more reliable than renewables such as wind and solar. In the generation of electricity, its real competition is natural gas.

In short, coal looks to remain a mainstay in the domestic energy mix and bodes to help defeat the Malthusian anti-energy crusade.

In a recent edition of EnergyBiz Magazine, Lee Buchsbaum reports on a 1,600 megawatt plant now being built in Illinois by Peabody Energy, the world’s largest publicly traded coal-mining company. When completed in 2012, the project will satisfy the power needs of as many as 2.4 million homes in nine or more states. The giant greenfield plant is a real stimulus plan that helps consumers and injects taxes rather than uses taxes.…

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Coal Hard Facts

By Robert Bryce -- February 3, 2009
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What Happened to ‘Painless’ Carbon Dioxide Reduction to Greet, Meet, and Exceed the Kyoto Protocol Targets?

By Robert Bradley Jr. --
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Lessons from California

By Kenneth P. Green --
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John Holdren in Retrospect (Part VIII on Obama’s New Science Advisor)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 2, 2009
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W. S. Jevons (1865) on Energy Efficiency (Memo to Obama, Part IV)

By Robert Bradley Jr. --
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Martin Weitzman’s Dismal Theorem: Do “Fat Tails” Destroy Cost-Benefit Analysis?

By Robert Murphy -- February 1, 2009
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Grist Wants CAP-and-trade, Not a “Poison Pill” Carbon Tax

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- January 31, 2009
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