“The month-long decommissioning project was the first in the world for an offshore wind farm, but more projects will soon follow as early turbines reach the end of their two-decade lifetimes.”

– Sonal Patel, “Vattenfall Completes World’s First Decommissioning of an Offshore Wind Farm.” Power magazine, April 1, 2016.

“… many calculations of the much relied on measure of levelized hourly cost assume a 30-year lifetime…. As a result, many publications of levelized costs for wind turbines are understated by a factor of about two.”

– Kent Hawkins (below)

The April 2016 issue of Power Magazine contains a very likely revealing story on offshore wind plants. Given the political correctness of wind power, the revealing story can be interpreted in two ways:

1. It is critical of offshore wind plants, but in a way that is not clearly so, or
2. It is not critical, but the writer was not careful about what was being said.

[Editor note: An under-the-radar energy intervention is to force fossil-fuel fired water heating to go electric “regardless of adverse economic impacts,” as Mark Krebs explains in this post and Part I yesterday.]

Why should electricity monopolize energy if gas-fired alternatives are more economical as determined by self-interested consumers?

If the objective is low carbon water heaters, there are more direct means of doing so. The following graphics compare the full fuel-cycle efficiencies of traditional gas water heater to electric water heaters:

Gas Storage Water Heater Site and Source Energy Efficiency

Electric Resistance Storage Water Heater Site and Source Energy Efficiency

Note: The previous two graphs are used with permission form the Gas Technology Institute

The electric utility industry prefers a site-based energy efficiency metric because it can indicates that switching to an electric resistance water heater from a gas water heater can “save” over 30% more energy. …

“In the United Nations Paris Accord last December world leaders promised to try to reduce future emissions. These politicians shamelessly clapped each other on the back, pretending they had accomplished something important. However, they had agreed beforehand not to even discuss the only action that could rapidly reduce global emissions.”

– James Hansen, “‘I am an Energy Voter’” February 23, 2016.

James Hansen is mad at the “I am an Energy Voter” campaign that encourages consumers to vote for their favorite energies at the ballot box, not only at the pump. Hansen, in fact, is mad at the free society where buyers voluntarily buy and sellers voluntarily sell. Ludwig von Mises called that consumer sovereignty.

Hansen wants otherwise. Renewables as savior is for the Tooth Fairy, he believes, so nuclear and forced conservation (conservationism) is atop his agenda — forced by a punitive carbon tax (or fee-and-dividend as he puts it).…

The Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions (AWED) is an informal coalition of individuals and organizations interested in improving national, state, and local energy and environmental policies. Our premise is that technical matters like these should be addressed by using Real Science (please consult WiseEnergy.org for more information).

A key element of AWED’s efforts is public education. Towards that end, every three weeks we put together a newsletter to balance what is found in the mainstream media about energy and the environment. We appreciate MasterResource for their assistance in publishing this information.

Some of the more interesting articles in this issue are:

Five Reasons Why We Shouldn’t Subsidize Wind or Solar

Study: 3.8 Million US Jobs will be Lost in the Transition to Renewables

Turbine Noise Calculations for 1238 Homes

New Research on Turbines Killing Bats

Broken Wing: Birds, Blades and Broken Promises

Recycling: An Energy Loser

No Matter Where It’s Sited, Industrial Wind Energy is a NET loser

MIT PhD writes op-ed on some Wind Limitations

Community once in favor of wind energy, now overwhelmingly opposed

Climate Alarmists now Attacking Satellite Data

Climate Change Science & the Climate Change Scare

Paris Agreement: Recycled Socialism

Conservatives, Climate Change, and the Carbon Tax

1400 CEOs – Climate Change Not a Major Worry

1001 Reasons why Global Warming is so Over in 2016

New Scientific Study: “A New View on Climate Change”

The Corrosion of Conformity on Campus

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Greed Energy Economics:

Five Reasons Why We Shouldn’t Subsidize Wind or Solar

Study: 3.8 Million US Jobs will be Lost in the Transition to Renewables

Pope Francis and the Climate for Giving

60 Minutes: China is behind The Great Brain Robbery

Insurers: Global Warming Makes Natural Disasters Less Expensive

The Gov’t Has Spent a Lot on Electric Cars — Is it Worth it?…