Gas Furnaces: Big Brother Says No

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- October 11, 2022 1 Comment

“[The DOE exercise] is egregiously biased due to its reliance on overheated climate models, inflated emission scenarios, and pessimistic adaptation assumptions. Using biased [social cost of carbon] SC-GHG estimates to estimate net benefits is arbitrary and capricious..”

“Reasonable alternative assumptions about climate sensitivity and CO2 fertilization substantially drive down SC-GHG estimates, even pushing social cost values into negative territory.”

The climate road to serfdom is one step at a time on different paths. One path is decarbonization, one step is government policy prohibiting or discouraging homeowners from using gas furnaces of their liking. The simple answer, which Milton Friedman popularized a half-century ago, is: free to choose.

An activist U.S. Department of Energy seeks to regulate/prohibit gas furnaces on a pure physical efficiency standard, demoting up-front cost considerations, as well as back-end reliability issues (such as when the power goes out).…

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MasterResource: New Principals Joining In

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 5, 2022 No Comments

MasterResource was founded in late 2008 as a “free market energy blog.” Several thousand posts from 300 contributors later, our niche includes:

  • The historical background of energy/energy policy to complement current discussions
  • The economic and ecological problems of industrial wind turbines and solar arrays, with reporting from the grassroots
  • Assessment of major players and important events in current energy debates for posterity

The online energy space has become very crowded in recent years, reflecting the importance and breath of the subject, nationally and internationally.

As organizer, I began with a team of leading free-market energy analysts (there were not that many of us). We were the first such group on the classical-liberal side. Over time, as the policy issues grew, several of my colleagues peeled off to blog at their home sites (Cato, CEI, etc.).…

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U.S. Treasury’s “Climate Hub” (on the road to serfdom)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 1, 2022 1 Comment

“Consistent with President Biden’s whole-of-government approach to climate change, Treasury will work with other stakeholders, including the National Climate Task Force and other agencies and regulators.”

“Treasury will focus on the broad range of its climate-related policy work connected to 1) climate transition finance, 2) climate-related economic and tax policy, and 3) climate-related financial risks…. Treasury is also creating a new Climate Hub and appointing a Climate Counselor to coordinate and lead many of its efforts to address climate change.” 

This 788-word press release below speaks for itself. An intellectual/political elite is all-in to assume the ‘commanding heights’ of the U.S. energy industries, just as is the case in the UK and EU.

It was once said that “war is the health of the state.” In our time, climate change policy (Al Gore’s ‘central organizing principle‘) is the health of the State at home and abroad.…

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Andrew Dessler: Going Downstream with Climate Alarmism (economics, public policy ahead)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- September 30, 2021 7 Comments

“I realize lots of people don’t like government regulation, but the alternative is an out-of-control climate.” (A. Dessler: March 23, 2019)

Andrew Dessler, the climate alarmist’s alarmist and Michael Mann ally, is shifting from (highly uncertain) physical climate science to climate economics and policy analysis.

Dessler’s web page states:

My work has shifted towards the intersection of climate change and human society, with the goal of helping us better cope with the impacts of climate change. This includes work quantifying climate extremes and how climate change can alter them, as well as analyzing how climate change will stress crucial energy, water, and other infrastructure and human systems. This is a new area for me, so my ideas are still evolving.

Mark my words: this professor is eager to model the most extreme scenarios in his scare campaign.…

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‘Ludwig von Mises: A Final Salute’ (1973 tribute for today)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- September 29, 2021 1 Comment Continue Reading

On the History of Resource Thought (Vettese dissertation comments)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- August 31, 2021 No Comments Continue Reading

Climate Leadership Council on Defense (ExxonMobil caper hits the front group)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- August 19, 2021 No Comments Continue Reading

‘Smart’ Meters: Big Brother in the Home? (shortages = government rationing

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 8, 2021 1 Comment Continue Reading

John Hofmeister: Shell Oil-ex a Stain on Oil and Gas

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 7, 2021 1 Comment Continue Reading

Mises on Resources: Short, Sweet, Definitive

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- May 6, 2021 2 Comments Continue Reading