Ed. Note: This post excerpts energy and climate material from the Media Balance Newsletter, a free fortnighly 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:
*** New Wind Energy Costs Blow the Doors Off Projections
*** Electricity from wind isn’t cheap and it never will be
*** Another fairy tale about the levelized cost of renewables
Wind farms gaming system to inflate millions earned when asked to halt production
Support for offshore wind sinks as costs soar
Low Interest Shown in US’ First Gulf of Mexico Offshore Wind Auction

Unreliables: Energy Health and Ecosystem Consequences:
Cobalt Carnage, Child Labor, and Ecological Destruction

Unreliables (General):
*** The US is facing a blackout ‘crisis’ – thanks to green energy
*** Why wind and solar power are running out of juice
California’s planning a renewable energy project at a scale never before attempted in the world
Maine town in path of proposed power corridor approves moratorium on utility lines
In Blow to Renewables, Ninth Circuit Mostly Upholds FERC’s PURPA Reforms

Wind Energy — Offshore:
*** Offshore wind project will damage ocean ecosystem with no environmental benefit
*** Offshore wind projects may be cancelled in NJ, according to report
*** This board advises RI on offshore wind’s impacts on fisheries: they all just resigned
Wind Industry Money Behind Media Misinformation about Whale Deaths
U.S.…

Ed. Note: This post excerpts energy and climate material from the Media Balance Newsletter, a free fortnighly 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:
*** Don’t believe the renewables myth: Wind and Solar are not cheap
Chinese manufacturers dominate wind power, taking 60% of global market

Unreliables: Energy Health and Ecosystem Consequences:
*** Video: Assoc Prof Simon Michaux – The quantity of metals required to manufacture just one generation of renewables
*** Carnage of Child Labor and Ecological Destruction Elsewhere acceptable to Wealthy Countries

Unreliables (General):
*** Residents vs Town Council re Solar and Wind Facilities
*** Green Breakdown—The Coming Renewable Energy Failure
*** The Grid as an Energy Weapon — Massive Lithium Storage Centers Spread
*** The Prophet of Power Density
*** There is no green ‘transition’ to renewable energy.…

The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) has been a consistent voice for classical liberalism in energy and climate for several decades. CEI stays scholarly on the intellectual front (thank Marlo Lewis et al.) and activist on the policy front. The latest from the lean, pound-for-pound, heavy hitting think tank (letter of August 16, 2023) follows:

Dear Members of Congress:

On the first anniversary of enactment of the so-called Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the undersigned organizations strongly urge you to ensure that the IRA’s Green New Deal-type policies quickly come to an end.

We recognize that in the next year complete repeal of the IRA’s harmful energy and environmental provisions is unlikely. However, clear and tangible legislative changes that make genuine progress towards that goal are realistic and expected.

IRA proponents will today be celebrating the bill’s passage.…

“The historic trends contradict the conventional view that fossil generation has been declining, while renewables are gaining. According to the data, ‘The share of low carbon fuels (nuclear, hydro, wind & solar) peaked at 36% in 1995, coinciding with COP1 [the first UN conference of parties].'”

In the worldwide battle for electric generation, coal isn’t down and out. It isn’t even on the ropes. According to World Energy Data (formerly BP’s data collection report), coal is still the champ.

In 2022, coal accounted for 35.4% of global electric generation, followed by natural gas (22.7%), hydro (14.9%), nuclear (9.2%), wind (7.2%), solar (4.5%), geothermal, biomass, and other renewables (3.6%).

The historic trends contradict the conventional view that fossil generation has been declining, while renewables are gaining. According to the data, “The share of low carbon fuels (nuclear, hydro, wind & solar) peaked at 36% in 1995, coinciding with COP1 [the first UN conference of parties].”…