A Free-Market Energy Blog

On the Benefits of CO2

By Randal Utech -- April 11, 2023

Some interesting facts on CO2. The trace gas of life is very beneficial. CO2 is greening the earth and feeding the hungry. CO2 has not been proven to ‘drive’ climate change except as conveyed by the models which remain erroneous and incomplete. We are near the lowest level of CO2 over earth history. The secondary feedback heating effect of CO2 is limited by the IR logarithmic forcing law and is nearly saturated at current levels. The earth never had runaway heating even at 10x-20x current levels of CO2. Interesting that most plants evolved at levels averaging near 1200 ppm or roughly 3x current levels.

Desert greening

https://www.csiro.au/en/news/news-releases/2013/deserts-greening-from-rising-co2

Plant fertilizer higher than expected

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gcb.14950

CO2 reducing plant water needs

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1604581113

CO2 sink

https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.16866

Greening observed by NASA

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/carbon-dioxide-fertilization-greening-earth

NASA – greening mitigates warming

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/greening-of-the-earth-mitigates-surface-warming

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Energy and Environmental Review: April 10, 2023

By -- April 10, 2023

Ed. note: This post excerpts energy and climate material from the Media Balance Newsletter, a free fortnightly published by physicist John Droz Jr., founder of the Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions. The complete Newsletter for this post can be found here.

Greed Energy Economics:
*** The Death of a Wind Project 
*** The limitless hidden costs of the “Inflation Reduction Act”

Renewables (General):
*** Seize property to build wind and solar projects, says JP Morgan chief
*** Renewables and Fossil Fuels Are Not Comparable for Their Support of Humanity
*** The great renewables rip-off continues
*** This Is Why ‘Green Solutions’ Are a Gigantic Scam
Communities with renewable energy projects could lose out under NY Gov’s budget
Renewable Energy Crisis Coming and It’s Home Grown!

Wind Energy — Offshore:
*** Dem senators from 4 states ask NOAA to address whale deaths
*** Will Offshore Wind Lower Energy Bills?

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Southeast Ratebase Debacles: Tony Bartelme Revisited (nuclear, CO2 capture)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 6, 2023

“Flush with your cash, utilities tried to build plants with unproven technology; they launched projects with unfinished designs and unrealistic budgets; they misled regulators and the public with schedules that promised bogus completion dates; they hid damning reports from investors and the public; they tried to silence critics and whistleblowers.”

“In the mid-2000s, power companies across the South, including SCANA, NextEra, Duke Energy and Southern Company, had their robust lobbying machines running at full throttle. An energy gold rush had begun…. (- Tony Bartelme, below)

Tony Bartelme, senior projects reporter for the Charleston, South Carolina Post and Courier wrote an interesting exposé that should be revisited for its relevancy to the problem of utility ratebase economics: “Power Failure: How utilities across the U.S. changed the rules to make big bets with your money” (December 10, 2017; updated December 28, 2022).…

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Massachusetts Offshore Wind Troubles

By -- April 5, 2023
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‘Fuel of the Future’ Methanol: Remembering a California Energy Failure

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 4, 2023
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California vs. Affordable Gasoline (Senate Bill No. 2, March 28, 2023)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 3, 2023
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H.R. 1: Placeholder for Federal Energy Policy Reform (2024 elections ahead)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- March 31, 2023
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Henrietta Larson: Harvard University’s Answer to Today’s Gobbledygook

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- March 30, 2023
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GPSC Candidate Patty Durand: Plant Vogtle Miseries

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- March 29, 2023
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Chris Tomlinson: Muckraking on Texas Grid Unreliability

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- March 28, 2023
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