“Perhaps the most distressing characteristic displayed by the pushers of soft energy was the intellectual poverty of their grand designs, their impatient dismissal of all criticism, their arrogant insistence on the infallible orthodoxy of their normative visions.”

“There is little doubt about the origins and the real message of soft energy dogma: the roots are in the muddled revolts of young Americans in the late 1960s and the early 1970s, the goal is a social transformation rather than simply a provision of energy. The latter fact explains the widespread appeal of soft energy sources among zealous would-be reformers of Western ways.” 

Vaclav Smil is one of the leading energy scholars of our day. He has, time and again, tried to inject energy reality into energy fantasy. Some of his previous posts at MasterResource (see here) include ‘The Limits of Energy Innovation’: Timeless Insight from Vaclav Smil and the five-part Power Density Primer.…

“I know it’s a long shot, but there has to be someone telling the truth and showing a clear vision moving away from capitalism to an eco-socialist future that is just for everyone.”

– Gary Stuard (Green Party). Quoted in Kim McGuire, “Greens Steadfast on Environment.” Houston Chronicle, August 6, 2016, p. A4.

Milton Friedman once said: “One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.” The uncommonly wise economist also said: “Concentrated power is not rendered harmless by the good intentions of those who create it.”

Let’s assume that the Green Party is made up a fair number of well meaning, non-corrupted (as in ‘crony capitalist’) individuals that really want the common person to have a good life and entrepreneurial opportunities.…

Editor note: This op-ed, published on April 21, 2000, in the Houston Chronicle, can be revisited to see how the arguments have held up for today. One unanticipated development was the BP Horizon oil spill of 2010, which resulted in a cumulative cost to BP of $61.8 billion. (One only wonders if the spill would have occurred if ‘beyond petroleum’ BP would have focused on real environmental and safety issues instead of global-warming greenwashing in the decade prior to its historic, infamous environmental mess.) The fundamental question remains: are fossil fuels more or less ‘sustainable’ today versus 16 years ago?

A great hue and cry is being heard this Earth Day about how our hydrocarbon-based energy economy is unsustainable.  Air pollution is worsening, hydrocarbon resources are depleting and greenhouse gas emissions are destabilizing the planet, a chorus of individuals and groups contends.…

“Fear of global warming serves the interests of countless numbers of individuals and organizations. Idealistic dreamers of social justice, population control, and world government were early leaders in the global warming movement. They were joined by delegates to the United Nations and countless other officials who sought more power through government expansion.”

Global warming has been described as a hoax, scam and conspiracy as well as by other pejorative terms. It is true that many elites conspired to promote noble causes by instilling fear of global warming and hatred of fossil fuels. For example, the organizer of the UN Earth Summit in 1992 was a long-time advocate of world government while Mikhail Gorbachev and Al Gore sought political power. UN Assistant Secretary General Robert Muller went a step further in wanting our hearts and minds.…