Search Results for: "Pierre Desrochers"
Relevance | DateHuman Ingenuity: The Ultimate Resource (for minerals, adaptation)
By Robert Bradley Jr. -- January 7, 2020 5 Comments“… knowledge is truly the mother of all resources.”
– Erich Zimmermann, World Resources and Industries (1951), p. 10.
The new year presents an opportunity to step back and appreciate the driver of progress in the free economy: the liberated, liberating entrepreneur. The change-makers of the market drive the creation and usage of resources, as well documented by the oil and gas extraction revolution of the last decade or more.
But a largely invisible, ongoing application in the U.S. and elsewhere deserves more attention. Instead of futile and wasteful (government) mitigation policy, the positive approach to climate policy is human ingenuity to anticipate, mitigate, or just capitalize on changing weather patterns, aka climate change.
Increasing ‘depletable’ resources is a paradigmatic example of what Julian Simon called “the ultimate resource,” human ingenuity.…
Continue ReadingDon’t Debate the ‘Climate Crisis’? (Mann, Dessler, etc. want to assume, not discuss)
By Robert Bradley Jr. -- September 23, 2019 10 Comments[Editor note: A ‘clarification and apology’ associated with this post is here. The author failed to note that Andrew Dessler also stated, “I debate in the peer-reviewed literature.”]
… Continue Reading“Doesn’t the wholesale reordering of our society demand at least a little bit of public debate? We think so.” (Heartland Institute)
“In a public debate, advocates can use all kinds of rhetorical tricks, as well as outright lies, to advance their cause. There’s no way to counter them in that forum.” (Andrew Dessler)
“All of the noise right now from the climate change denial machine, the bots & trolls, the calls for fake “debates,” etc. Ignore it all. Deniers are desperate for oxygen in a mainstream media environment that is thankfully is no longer giving it to them. Report.
“Energy and Society” Course (Part IV: The Perennial Energy Debate)
By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 3, 2019 No CommentsThis is the final installment of the course syllabus of Pierre Desrochers’ Energy and Society class.
Part I explored the course description as well as the videos and readings from the first two weeks of the class; Part II covered carbon-based energy. Part III yesterday was on electricity generated from non-carbon sources (Hydro, Nuclear, Renewables, Biomass).
| • Population Growth, Resources and the Environment Deffeyes, Kenneth, Peter Huber. 2005. “It’s the End of Oil / Oil Is Here to Stay.” Time, October 23. Ellis, Erle C. 2012. “Overpopulation is not the problem.” The New York Times (September 13). Pearce, Fred. 2010. “The overpopulation myth.” Prospect Magazine, March 8. Ridley, Matt. 2014. “Why Most Resources don’t Run Out.” Rational Optimist (April 30). Mann, Charles. |
“Energy and Society” Course (Part III: Electricity from Hydro, Nuclear, Renewables, Biomass)
By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 2, 2019 No CommentsThis continues a series on the syllabus of Pierre Desrochers’ course at the University of Toronto Mississauga, Energy and Society, which gets my vote as the single best course on its subject in North America if not the world.
Part I explored the course description as well as the videos and readings from the first two weeks of the class; Part II covered carbon-based energy.
General
“Electrification.” Greatest Engineering Achievements of the 20th Century. National Academy of Engineering. 2000.
Bradley, Robert L and Richard W. Fulmer. Energy: The Master Resource, Kendall Hunt Publishing Company, 2004, Chapter 2: Using Energy, pp. 19-20, 25-29, 30-31, 45-48.
Environmental Literacy Council Website.
“Electricity.”
“Electric Current and Power Transmission.”
“Electric Power Grids and Blackouts.”
Lomborg, Bjørn.…