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 important articles in this issue are:

Bill Gates about the foolishness of renewables

Short Anti-wind video by Ohio citizens

Study: The $2.5 trillion reason we can’t rely on batteries to clean up the grid

Evolution of Electricity Rates

New Huge Study: Wind Turbines Devalue nearby Homes

Abstracts for upcoming 8^th International Meeting on Wind Turbine Noise

PhD Letter re Turbine Health Impacts

German citizen anti-wind effort results in installations slump

Electoral Platitudes = Energy Trauma for Citizens

Goodbye to a misguided war on coal

Hot Day in Australia results in massive blackouts

Wind + Natural Gas

Study: Grid Scale Electricity Storage Can’t Save Renewables

The 10 Most Insane Requirements Of The Green New Deal

The Green New Deal is a leftist politician’s worst enemy

Green New Deal: The Devil Is in the Details

Green New Deal: Looks Like A Dem Parody Bill

The Green New Deal is a Prescription for Poverty

Greenhouse-warming theory does not appear to even be physically possible

Physicist: Don’t fall for the argument about ‘settled science’

Revised: Deficiencies In the IPCC’s SR15 Special Report

Stop The Climate Stupidity

Why the Left Loves and Hates Science

Greed Energy Economics:

Bill Gates about the foolishness of renewables

Study: The $2.5 trillion reason we can’t rely on batteries to clean up the grid

Evolution of Electricity Rates

New Huge Study: Wind Turbines Devalue nearby Homes

The Three Major Problems with a Carbon Tax

Cost-Effectively Being Dumb

Study: Tax Abatements and the Texas Wind Industry

Short video: Texas town has $30M burden after going “100% renewable”

Green Energy Being Abandoned As Economics Go Red

The foolishness of Canadians paying a Carbon Tax

The Myth of the Revenue-Neutral Carbon Tax

Carbon Taxes Aren’t Working Any More

Wyoming takes its yearly look at raising a tax on wind energy

PG&E may shed $40± billion worth of renewable contracts

Could PTC rush jeopardize U.S.…

The [Houston] conference excitedly states that “momentum for a national carbon dividend is growing.” In fact there is momentum against a carbon tax to enable a “dividend.” As Justin Gillis wrote in the New York Times : “Efforts to sell Republicans on the idea that [a CO2 price] is the most market-friendly approach to the emissions problem have failed miserably, and will continue to fail.”

This Saturday at the University of Houston, a conference will be held on carbon taxes.  Titled Texas Energy & Carbon Pricing: Ready to Lead, the event’s main organizer is Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL), which (in its own words)

is working with Congress in a non-partisan way to advocate for a market-based climate solution that will allow consumers and businesses alike, including those with oil/gas interests here in Texas, to use the market to identify the most cost-effective ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.…

“The story of the carbon tax’s fading appeal, even among groups that like it in principle, shows the difficulties of crafting a politically palatable solution to one of the world’s most urgent problems — including greenhouse gas levels that are on track to reach a record high this year. ‘This aversion to taxes in the U.S. is high and should not be underestimated,’ said Kalee Kreider, a former Gore adviser and longtime climate activist. ‘I have a lot of scars to show for that’.”

“‘You do have this irony, and that is the policy that is overwhelmingly endorsed by economists of the right, the center, and the left as the best way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is inverse with what is politically feasible,’ said Barry Rabe, a University of Michigan professor who has studied carbon taxes.”…

“Private governance can be found in other examples in the oil and gas industry. Just think of the whole communities that exist on offshore oil and gas platforms. Why? Again as explained by Edward Stringham, ‘in many cases government officials do not have the knowledge, incentive or ability to enforce contracts or property rights in a low cost way’.”

Can the private sector assume functions now assumed if not monopolized by government? Such as building what is normally considered public infrastucture?

The answer is yes, as documented by examples and in theory. Regarding the latter, Edward Stringham explains: 

Government is often dysfunctional and crowds out private sources of order, or it is simply absent or too costly to use. That means parties can either live with their problems or attempt to solve them.