A Free-Market Energy Blog

DOE vs. Gas Cooking: A Review of Critical Comments

By -- April 27, 2023

The filed comments exceeded expectations. The free-market commenters were especially prevalent and displayed great content. Some trade associations also deserve special recognition.

Biden’s “whole of government” Department of Justice is becoming far less likely to challenge DOE on matters of fuel neutrality.

Good news! Filed comments opposing the U.S. Department of Energy’s “Energy Conservation Standards for Residential Conventional Cooking Products (Ovens)” beat the other side in quantity, quality and range. The sheer volume of opposition comments makes a summary difficult, as does the new format of the regulations.gov website (requiring each numbered comment be opened one-by-one to identify the sender’s identity). There are 2,650 comments in this docket, dating back to Feb 24, 2014. [1]

The following table is provided to give examples of some of the more thorough yet diverse comments opposing adoption filed in the last few days before the comment period closed on April 17th:

Submitter InfoComment ID
Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI)[i]EERE-2014-BT-STD-0005-2287
ONE Gas (utility company)EERE-2014-BT-STD-0005-2289
National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)EERE-2014-BT-STD-0005-2288
National Propane Gas Association (NPGA)EERE-2014-BT-STD-0005-2270
Heritage FoundationEERE-2014-BT-STD-0005-2281
Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM)EERE-2014-BT-STD-0005-0071
Institute for Energy Research (IER)EERE-2014-BT-STD-0005-2274
American Public Gas Association (APGA)EERE-2014-BT-STD-0005-2283
American Gas Association (AGA)EERE-2014-BT-STD-0005-0007
CO2 Coalition (Happer Lindzen Wrightstone)EERE-2014-BT-STD-0005-2275
Joint States Attorneys General (1 of 2)EERE-2014-BT-STD-0005-2277
Joint States Attorneys General (2 of 2)EERE-2014-BT-STD-0005-2264

Review of Comments

The filed comments exceeded expectations. The…

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Electricity Progressive Income Tax: California’s Answer to High Rates?

By Kennedy Maize -- April 26, 2023

“These too-high electricity prices are slowing progress on electrification and straining the pocketbooks of lower-income households.” (- Meredith Fowlie, University of California at Berkeley)

California electric customers could be seeing a radical new approach to electricity rates by 2025, if state regulators adopt a plan by the state’s three large investor-owned utilities. Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), Southern California Edison (SCE), and San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) have jointly filed a plan to comply with a state law enacted last June (Assembly Bill 205), that would combine a fixed, monthly recurring bill based on household income, not on how much electricity the household uses, along with a more conventional consumption-based charge.

The utilities will lower their consumption rates, making up the losses through the income-taxation mechanism.

Under Assembly Bill 205, the three investor-owned utilities must reduce their sky-high retail electric rates, using an income-related fixed charge mechanism.…

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The Infrastructure Overload of Renewable Energies

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 25, 2023

“The planned energy transition towards ‘net zero’ using ‘renewable’ energy, will inevitably lead to massive environmental destruction, with a six-times increase in environmental damage by 2050. This is concluded by scientists in a recent study [in Nature].” (below)

Highlighting a Nature scientific report, “Spatial Energy Density of Large-scale Electricity Generation from Power Sources Worldwide” [1], Hans Wolkers, science journalist, photographer, and writer, recently reported on social media:

Renewables lead to more destruction of ecosystems

The planned energy transition towards ‘net zero’ using ‘renewable’ energy, will inevitably lead to massive environmental destruction, with a six-times increase in environmental damage by 2050. This is concluded by scientists in a recent study (https://lnkd.in/emQwZBi2).
 
The EU has adopted a net-zero strategy that comes with the installation of even more wind turbines and solar panels.…

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Energy and Environmental Review: April 24, 2023

By -- April 24, 2023
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Resourceful Earth Day: Fred Smith on Julian Simon

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 22, 2023
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Federal Fiscal Reform: The Economists’ Letter

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 21, 2023
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Headwinds for Offshore Wind (Rhode Island’s RFP a sign of trouble)

By -- April 20, 2023
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Solar Optimism and Coal Alarmism a Century Ago

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 19, 2023
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“Degrowth” (Last refuge for climate alarmists?)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 18, 2023
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Addressing Wind/Solar Instability: Hardwiring the Grid

By Ed Ireland -- April 17, 2023
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