October 17, 2017
Unicorns Are Awesome!
But, there are no unicorns.
CANBERRA, Australia--The Australian government returned coal to the heart of its energy policy, after blaming blackouts and rising power bills on a too-aggressive rollout of renewable sources and a surge in gas exports.Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Tuesday junked a plan promoted by the country's chief scientist, Alan Finkel, to require power producers to generate a minimum portion of their energy from low-emission sources by 2020.
I wish they would not include the exports among reasons, but a bit of reality is good for the national soul.
PL posts from a powerful: "Daring to Doubt" speech by Abbot.
First, he waxes philosophic:
There are laws of physics; there are objective facts; there are moral and ethical truths. But there is almost nothing important where no further enquiry is needed. What the “science is settled” brigade want is to close down investigation by equating questioning with superstition. It’s an aspect of the wider weakening of the Western mind which poses such dangers to the world’s future.then gets down to it.
Palaeontology indicates that over millions of years there have been warmer periods and cooler periods that don’t correlate with carbon dioxide concentrations. The Jurassic warm period and the ice ages occurred without any human contribution at all. The medieval warm period when crops were grown in Greenland and the mini-ice age when the Thames froze over occurred well before industrial activities added to atmospheric carbon dioxide.I'm still reading... Posted by: nanobrewer at October 20, 2017 12:38 AM
October 3, 2017
Trump Revolution, Indeed
"Mister Fair," they call me: Mister Fair.
After grousing about the President's participation in the NFL contretemps, I will -- again -- praise one of his stellar picks. Blessed be this great nation to have Rick Perry as Energy Secretary. Ronald Bailey at Reason describes his rational evaluation of renewables::
As more subsidized renewable power has been added to electricity markets, along with power produced by burning cheap fracked natural gas, conventional power plants have been unable to pay for themselves and are increasingly being shuttered. Good riddance to fossil-fuel and nuclear dinosaurs, right? Not so fast. Renewable power is highly variable, so back-up generation is needed to ensure that power still gets to consumers. As conventional power plants close down, there is less capacity available to cover renewable power shortfalls. This could produce power outages and price spikes.In his letter, Perry asks FERC to "issue rules to protect the American people from the threat of energy outages that could result from the loss of traditional baseload capacity."
Grown-ups looking at the energy grid. I like it.
Meanwhile, California runs the other way, as fast as it can:
If California were to enact a ban on sales of new vehicles with combustion engines, it would continue the state's leadership role in the U.S. climate resistance to the Trump Administration denial of climate science.
That's the editorial slant of 'Green Car Reports' for you, who end every article with the following directive:
Green Car Reports respectfully reminds its readers that the scientific validity of climate change is not a topic for debate in our comments. We ask that any comments by climate-change denialists be flagged for moderation. Thank you in advance for helping us keep our comments on topic, civil, respectful, family-friendly, and fact-based.
Unsurprisingly, my comment of "Censoring inconvenient facts? You should be ashamed." was censored: "[CLIMATE SCIENCE DENIAL REMOVED BY SITE MODERATORS]
I was scolded that "We do not permit claims that deny climate science just as we don't allow claims that the earth is flat."
When I replied that, "I did not deny anything. I criticized you for censorship." I was advised thusly:
A brief scan of your comment history indicates numerous comments elsewhere that deny the accepted scientific consensus. That's enough to get your comment on the topic moderated on this site. We censor comments that detract from fact-based discussion.Based on your comment history elsewhere, I would suggest you probably shouldn't be commenting on this site.
This is me, knuckles dragging, skulking away...
Posted by: johngalt at October 3, 2017 2:35 PM"I was banned by Green Car Reports dot Com!" 100% cotton T's available in Forest, Hunter, and Kelly Green, in a wide variety of sizes. Get 'em while they last!
Posted by: jk at October 3, 2017 2:59 PMI'll take seven in XL - one for each day of the week. And I'll also need that bumper sticker to plaster on the back window of my plug-in hybrid electric minivan. [third comment]
Posted by: johngalt at October 3, 2017 3:12 PMOctober 2, 2017
Makes You Appreciate Kneelers
In a Headline of the Day-worthy column: "Paying for Standing Rock:"
The Standing Rock protests ended seven months ago, but the saga is far from over. On Monday North Dakotas Department of Emergency Services announced that taxpayers will have to pay about $43 million in expenses accrued as the state struggled to respond to protesters.Between 8,000 and 10,000 people camped out to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline, many from outside the state. Locals frequently reported protesters who had trespassed on their land or stolen property. At state offices the phones rang off the hook; throughout the 233-day protests almost 90,000 people called to discuss the pipeline. A large portion of these calls were hostile or abusive, and state employees had to listen, screening for threats.
September 19, 2017
A Salute to Renewable Energy
I have seen untold approbation for our good Australian friends' successes in implementing renewable energy. The lads down under may talk funny, but they're truly leading the way on environmentally responsible energy.
As shown in this graph . . . oh, wait, no . . . this graph shows energy costs:
Ronald Bailey at Reason seems to think they are somehow related.
I've been quiet lately - lot going on - but this is a quiet reality being covered in typical fashion by the media: strongly, with a pillow!
I read an energy newsletter this little tidbit:
Another source, who asked not to be identified, attributed the growth to reasons other than tax credits — at least in those areas with vertically integrated utilities. "Utilities figured out a few years ago that they can put in high cost renewables and pass along price increases to customers because the commissions and enviros won't push back," the source said in an email Tuesday. "The more they spend, the more they make. If they put in lower cost traditional generation, they'll be fought tooth and nail. If they keep existing coal generation, they can’t raise rates. Shut down coal, add renewables and raise rates. ... Electric utility rates have gone up on average about 50% over the past decade ... and they'll continue to rise if renewables keep going in."Posted by: nanobrewer at September 22, 2017 7:54 PM
I like this a lot -- thanks! Is this available online?
Posted by: jk at September 23, 2017 11:07 AMNo, I doubt it; it's a pricey subscription model our company pays for called "Megawatt Daily" from Platts.
Posted by: nanobrewer at September 24, 2017 11:15 PMYes, I find it quite similar to how GE lobbied to make CFL's (and now, more "efficient" lights, aka LEDs) omnipresent. They get scant margin for the old standard lightbulbs, but very high prices for CFL's and LEDs....
Posted by: nanobrewer at September 24, 2017 11:32 PMI was guessing that -- thanks for sharing. Funny how these people never notice how much their good intentions benefit GE and Goldman Sachs, innit?
Posted by: jk at September 25, 2017 10:42 AMSeptember 7, 2017
Trump Revolution, Indeed
I'm nothing if not fair. James Freeman has some kind words for the President, on the WSJ Ed Page:
Former President Barack Obama sure seemed upset this week that his illegal gambit to avoid resolving Americas immigration argument now has an expiration date. So imagine how distraught Mr. Obama must have been over President Donald Trump's Wednesday speech in North Dakota.In his typical rambling fashion, with various asides more or less related to the topic at hand, Mr. Trump nevertheless offered impressive coherence. In both style and substance, virtually every moment was a repudiation of Mr. Obama and his economics.
Mr. Trump never mentioned his predecessor by name. He also never mentioned biofuels or any other type of alternative energy. Proudly standing in front of the Andeavor Refinery outside Bismarck, he talked about unleashing restrictions on U.S. oil production, approving pipelines and dominating world markets. Come to think of it, this speech may have annoyed Vladimir Putin almost as much as Mr. Obama.
September 1, 2017
Elecric Car + H20?
A Houstonian ponders an aspect of EVs:
What would it take to persuade you to buy an electric car?An electric Jeep that can ford 2-3′ of water, with a 360 mile range and be rechargeable in less time than I might have to wait in a gas line in Houston next week... might be what it would take to persuade me to buy an EV... Only if it cost less than $40,000. But that's just me.. What about you?
August 26, 2017
Stirring the Pot
I need some help before I infuriate thousands of my neighbors. Please look this over. First a bit of backstory:
My town of Erie Colorado has been invaded by a diaspora of suburbanites fleeing the city of Boulder and Boulder County (the town straddles the county line). Like me, they fled exorbitant housing costs and gridlocked traffic. Unlike me, most want to import the same political solutions which created them. To understand the politics: most residents wish they lived in Boulder.
Against this backdrop, a home exploded in the neighboring community of Firestone. It is a horrible tragedy, killing two and seriously wounding another. It was caused by negligence on the part of oil and gas extraction firms. The victims had zero responsibility, and the devastation was dramatic, obliterating the complete structure.
Today a huge portion of the new residents, who dislike oil and gas to begin with, have combined legitimate concern (one day, your home is there and one day it is a pile of boards) with some manufactured outrage (legal methods to usurp property rights have all failed -- let's use this tragedy as a cudgel). In response, Weld County is providing home testing machines. My Erie neighbors are making a beeline to get them and complaining on Facebook that the commissioners underestimated demand.
Here -- at long last -- is my point. And I am tempted to put it on the Erie Facebook page and attract the slings and arrows of outrageous local Moms.
Dear Erie Neighbors:Might I suggest that you reevaluate risk profiles before driving up to Greeley to get your home methane test kits?
The explosion in Firestone is a horrific tragedy -- all the more so because it was caused by negligence of energy extractors.
But there were 57 traffic fatalities in the County last year. If you drive 32 miles each way to pick up and again to return your test equipment, you are not only driving more than 120 needless miles, you are participating in an activity that is more than 25 times more dangerous than living in your untested Weld County home.
There were 99,226 "housing units" in the 2010 Census (many more now). While the explosion in Firestone was tragic, a serious accident mitigating this minute risk would be worse. Stay home. Fix the rickety back step. Get that medical test you've been putting off. All better moves than testing for methane.
Am I wrong? If I am right, is it worth it?
Not wrong. Though I would suggest that they also use Amazon services and purchase their own kit vs using a free one. Surely the children are worth the $150 asked. Saving the free ones for those who can least afford them.
Just be sure you yourself have your protective gear available from the slings and arrows!
Or you could just suggest that they read the entire Greeley Trib article:
"There is a limit of one monitor per household, and county officials will give them out as long as there is demand."
Now, if they are actually asking for more than one monitor per household, tell them to pound (fracking) sand.
And while we're on the subject, I wonder if BoCo is offering these to residents on the Boulder side of the county line?
Posted by: johngalt at August 28, 2017 2:32 PMBoulder clearly doesn't care that <remy_voice>people will die!</remy_voice>
The complaint is that their are not sufficient units for the number of households that want exactly one. (Innumeracy is more rampant than appreciated.)
Thanks, but I don't think I'll doe on this hill. I feel I should make a stand against the anti-extractors, but it should be on property rights, not misplaced risk.
On that end I was working on:
"What about the majority? Well, a majority of your neighbors would like to your home razed and replaced with a Broncos Cheerleaders' training facility. But we don't put that up for a vote because you have been paying your mortgage and taxes. These mineral rights predate you, so the owners are not bound to win an election to exercise them."
Better? Worse? Posted by: jk at August 28, 2017 3:01 PM
Not sufficient units *where* for the number of households that want one? On Earth? Weld County has spent $1,901 to purchase monitors "to date." There is no cap on available units other than - "as long as there is demand."
Or is the Trib wrong?
On your "majority" argument, it's way too complicated. Modern suburbanites expect everything, for nothing, immediately and always. Capiche?
Posted by: johngalt at August 28, 2017 3:31 PMYou want to wait until a unit becomes available? When your house is about to explode? Have you no children?
Posted by: jk at August 29, 2017 11:28 AMJuly 13, 2017
Did Someone Say "Government Boondoggle?"
Not our government this time, but that of South Australia (which should be thought of as "like Canada" because down under it gets colder as you go south, not warmer, and because they have a higher than average propensity for telling people what to do, and going along with what they're told.)
Elon Musk's Tesla has contracted to provide the "world's largest battery storage facility" for connection to South Australia's electrical grid. The 100 Megawatt, 129 Megawatt-hour array of thermally-managed rechargeable lithium-ion battery packs "will be able to power around 30,000 homes at max capacity, which Tesla says is equivalent to how many were without power during a storm that caused a state-wide blackout in South Australia in 2016. The real goal, however, is to help stabilize the South Australian electric power grid, by controlling power delivery according to peak demand."
Nevermind that the storm lasted for days, and the battery can power all of those homes for just a little more than an hour, the real necessity is grid stabilization. Not because loads fluctuate any more than they ever have, but because generation by wind is inherently variable and unreliable. And if wind speeds are either too low, or too high, for more than that hour-plus, the same problem would occur.
But why is SA in this situation?
South Australia needs this project because of decisions by its political leaders:Over the last three years, South Australia has decided to shut down its coal-fired power stations and instead rely on wind, solar and gas.
I won't debate the merits of such policy here except to wonder whether building additional gas-fired electrical generation would be a far less costly and more reliable solution than relying on wind and batteries.
Fear not - they're doing that too:
The system will not solve South Australia's grid woes by itself.The response plan also includes a new government funded, A$360 million, 250 MWe fast reacting gas turbine power plant, a bulk electricity purchase contract designed to encourage construction of a new privately owned power plant, a taxpayer financed exploration fund for additional natural gas supplies, special powers granted to the SA energy minister to order plants to operate, and a requirement for electricity retailers to purchase a fixed portion of their power from SA generators.
July 12, 2017
'Lectriccars!
George Ip has a great article in the WSJ today. It is even in the "Economy" section, not those wingnutty Ed pages.
He makes a superb point about Electric Cars. But starts with a pedestrian point, near and dear to ThreeSourcers' icy, lithium hearts:
Nonetheless, that means a 75 kwh battery (about what you need for 250 miles of range) still adds about $20,000 to a car's cost. So how do the cars sell? Public largess helps a lot.The federal government offers a tax credit of up to $7,500 each for the first 200,000 electric or plug-in hybrid cars a manufacturer sells. Throw in state tax credits, subsidies for recharging infrastructure, relief from gasoline taxes, preferential lanes and parking spots and government fleet purchases, and taxpayers help pay for every electric car on the road.
What happens when the credits go away? When Hong Kong slashed a tax break worth roughly $55,000 for a Tesla in April, its sales ground to a halt. In Georgia, electric vehicle sales plummeted 80% the month after a $5,000 tax credit was repealed.
The even better point is that -- in the estimated eight years required for them to become price competitive -- the energy industry and developers of traditional vehicles will see incredible advances and innovation.
The parity estimations fail to take this in to account. The 2026 Volvo Gëfüülstenschteerën will not be compared to the 2017 Chevy.
Lessee, $7,500 times two-hundred-thousand adds up to, fifteen with eight trailing zeroes... $1.5 ba-ba-billion. Per automobile manufacturer. A car company would have to be nuts not to make some to collect their share of OPM*.
That said, I'm warming to the gasoline-hybrid tech. Electric motors can't be beat for torque, efficiency, quietness, simplicity and longevity. It's the electricity storage and replentishment that falls short - along with ability to create heat as needed. Both of these problems are easily solved with a petrol-powered generator. Clever folks have found a way to share this petrol power between charging and wheel turning. And at least one of government's declared intentions with this multi-billion dollar bonanza is coming true: Higher volumes of hybrid systems are bringing costs down and quality up.
Pure electric still has obstacles galore, but I'm convinced that hybrid will soon be as ubiquitous as unleaded gasoline, which was unimaginable in the days of "ethyl" gas. I hope I'm wrong, 'cause if I buy one I'll really enjoy being "better" than all the other single-occupant drivers who can't use the express lane and the front row parking.
Posted by: johngalt at July 13, 2017 2:48 PMI think we all agree with whatever tech that could win out in a non-subsidized field.
The manufacturers certainly share your enthusiasm for hybrid. I confess to two concerns, either or both might be unfounded:
-- Thanks to Penn & Teller's show on Hybrids, every tine we spot one the lovely bride and I yell "It's like having two extra lesbians in the trunk!" If you don't get the allusion, you should look up the program ("Nukes, Hybrids & Lesbians"), but the theory is that two engines and mechanisms to switch between them add quite a bit of weight. (At least ten years old, your reports of innovation might have obviated this -- though it is still funny.)
-- How much are the manufacturers counting on government back-pats and consumer halo effect? I see the (I am not a Lexus guy, but outrageously sexy) Lexus L500C advertised. in a conventional or hybrid. I'd love Clarkson, May and Hammond when he gets out of the hospital to evaluate them side by side and honestly.
Posted by: jk at July 13, 2017 6:47 PMI don't get the allusion. I did look up the program. It's on Prime! Now I'm almost guaranteed to watch all eight seasons, not needing a Showtime subscription or having to watch on my PC.
One of the points they made about "nuclear" is that you can say it without the word "bomb." Accordingly, you can say the word "hybrid" without the word "Prius."
P&T accurately concluded that the ugly Prius with non-remarkable fuel economy is "no good for a family of four." Yours truly is ogling a hybrid that is perfect for a family of six. It is the first ever hybrid minivan, and is also a plug-in hybrid. It gets 33 mpg instead of 22, and that's without plugging in. Charging at home regularly gives fuel economy equal to the Prius. Or better. (Mfr claims MPGe of 84.) And to top it off, it's Italian! Or maybe it's a Mopar. It's hard to tell these days but either way is fine by me.
Do I have concerns about the battery life? Yes. The fly-by-wire hardware and firmware? Naturally. But I also trust in Moore's law to bring battery costs down before the 100,000 mile (or 10 years, but mine will never take that long) warranty expires. To buy a replacement battery today is priced at $13k, but I'm told that is a "placeholder" price that will come down by the time they're actually available.
I've driven one of these and I liken it to driving a spaceship. It's so quiet that all you can hear is a fan sound from the engine compartment. But only from outside the car. Inside it's virtually noiseless.
On top of all this there is the significant fact that Chrysler is still a tax credit eligible manufacturer, so between Federal and State "hippie credits" it costs $12,500 less than the dealer price by the time I prepare my tax returns. Pass the patchouli bro!
But now I gotta go 'cause it's time for pre-race coverage of the New York ePrix, all electric Gran Prix race. (11:00 MDT today on Fox) Right on, dude!
Posted by: johngalt at July 16, 2017 12:47 PMI'm going to cede to your "authoriteh." Any biases you might bring to the evaluation would run the other way. Ergo, if you have been won over with the technology, I am convinced.
Though I'd still like to see the subsidies disappear...
Posted by: jk at July 17, 2017 11:54 AMAs would I. It irks me to see, as Jon Caldera describes it, "government subsidizing rich, white guys buying their vanity cars." But it exists whether I participate or not so, as long as it's there...
As Penn explained, its not about the "hybrid" (or the "nookulur") it's about what you do with the technology. Since it was born from the urge to be more efficient in the name of conservation, emissions reduction and all-around minimalism, it was natural that its first incarnations were the hair-shirts of the automotive specie. But eventually, some human or another will use it to create "bloody hell fire.
The world's first hybrid minivan is somewhere in between.
Posted by: johngalt at July 17, 2017 2:59 PMJune 28, 2017
Solar Trash
I am not the only one who looks out on the City of Lafayette's solar farm and sees a field of trash. Julie Kelly at National Review Online calls it "Clean Energy's Dirty Little Secret."
This is one of the dirty little secrets behind the push for renewable energy. While consumers might view solar panels as harmless little windows made from glass and plastic, the reality is that they are intricately constructed from a variety of materials, making it difficult to disassemble and recycle them. Japan is already scrambling for ways to reuse its mounting inventory of solar-panel waste, which is expected to exceed 10,000 tons by 2020 and grow by 700,000 to 800,000 tons per year by 2040. Solutions are hard to find, due both to the labor-intensive process of breaking down the panels and to the low price of scrap.
Oh well, at least the batteries are easy to dispose of.
I just thought of a use for the hundreds of thousands of tons of solar-panel waste - road base, under the good intentions paving the road to hell.
Posted by: johngalt at June 28, 2017 11:18 AMSolar panels are considered a form of toxic, hazardous electronic or "e-waste," and according to EP researchers Jemin Desai and Mark Nelson, scavengers in developing countries like India and China often "burn the e-waste in order to salvage the valuable copper wires for resale. Since this process requires burning off plastic, the resulting smoke contains toxic fumes that are carcinogenic and teratogenic (birth defect-causing) when inhaled."
I can't debate someone into caring about what happens to their fellow human beings and their unborn children when government-subsidized solar panels are burned by the poorest and most vulnerable citizens of the world.
Posted by: johngalt at June 28, 2017 11:27 AMHeh. I see what you did there.
The reason I cannot abandon Arthur Brooks [Review Corner] in spite of his insipid adherence to the Pope and the Dalai Lama, is that the story of Heart needs be told.
Ethanol! Let's burn food for no discernable good to anybody but ADM.
Tyler Cowen asks policy makers to give future citizens a seat at the table. That which impedes wealth creation and innovation steals from future people.
May 30, 2017
Quote of the Day
Mr. Trump should decline [signing on to the Paris climate accord] if he wants to fulfill his campaign promises to lift the U.S. economy. Mrs. Merkel's embrace of green-energy dogmas has done enormous harm to the German economy. She reacted to the Fukushima meltdown by phasing out nuclear power, and her government has force-fed hundreds of billions of dollars into solar and wind power that have raised energy costs. As Der Spiegel once put it, electricity is now a "luxury good" in Germany. -- WSJ Ed Page
It would seem that WSJ joining the ranks of climate "deniers" is big news. Don't they understand that "climate change is undeniable?" And "climate action is unstoppable?"
When did Breitbart acquire the WSJ?
Posted by: johngalt at May 31, 2017 6:24 PMAt the risk of missing a touch of sarcasm, I'd point out that the WSJ News Pages are most certainly all-in for the risks of man-made climate change. The Editorial board, however, deserves awards for decades of reasonable skepticism. They've published a gooberload of guest editorials from Richard Lindzen of MIT, John Christy of UAH, and Bjorn Lomborg.
Posted by: jk at June 1, 2017 2:49 PMFair enough. And I willfully conjoined the two wings of that newsprint bird-of-prey. And they earn this disapprobation from me for being tools of the pre-Trump status quo once referred to as "RINO" or "Establishment." That they, and even the likes of Mitch McConnell, now endorse exiting the deal is evidence, to me at least, of their redeemability.
Posted by: johngalt at June 1, 2017 3:27 PMBut it's not a function of time. I assure you you will find consistent and stern opposition to the Paris Agreement. The differences I see between you and the Ed Page are issue by issue, not last administration versus this.
On a lighter note, I was thinking about prey-bird-wings today -- which I fairly-or-not ascribe to you and Mr. Pat Buchannan. My own biological brother was passionately commenting on an "Anonymous" meme with Guy Fawkes and "both parties are bought by the same Corporations" yadda-yadda. It was "a lie, repeated so often that it is thought true" and "the reason we got Trump."
Pragmatism -- maybe we are related after all.
Posted by: jk at June 1, 2017 3:42 PMApril 26, 2017
Well, I got an answer.
Do the Capital-S Science marchers accept overwhelming evidence on energy production safety?
One of the best consolation prizes about our Democratic Governor, John Hickenlooper, is that he is a trained geologist and has run interference on fracking. In the linked video, he is taken to task for his moderation.
The second best, I suppose, is the potential for clever rhymes with his polysyllabic sobriquet. "Hicken - Loop -Er, don't Frack our Fyoo - Ture!" Not bad for third graders..
April 25, 2017
The pros and cons of carbon dioxide
Pros? Well then, now that I've "outed" myself as "anti-science"...
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (read: self-interested government bureaucracy) has concluded that carbon dioxide (CO2) is an atmospheric "pollutant" that is subject to regulation - by them - under the Clean Air Act. Their power grab has been deified by a SCOTUS ruling that such a policy is, somehow, not Unconstitutional. As a result of that, not to mention a relentless campaign to vilify CO2 and the "fossil" fuel consumption that emits it, the approval rating of this little molecule is in the toilet. Which is surprising because the biological process of photosynthesis is one of the few components of a classical education that has not been eliminated from our schools. Somehow a public perception exists that while plants are good, the primary contributor to plant life is bad. Recent congressional testimony sought to put a dent in this "science-based" belief:
There are many other byproducts of combustion that really are pollutants, in that they have measureable harms to many forms of life, from plants to humans. But those have been regulated nearly out of existence - a fact I am not sorry to acknowledge. But let's not ignore that CO2 is the opposite of a pollutant - it is an essential compound for cellular growth of plants, and therefore animals, and therefore all mankind.
"our Luke-warming home planet [~0:40]"
Posted by: jk at April 25, 2017 4:27 PMI have met many climate change deniers and I am still baffled by their statist, uninformed commitment to partial truths and misinformation. The seem incapable of carrying the cognitive load required to comprehend the facts behind climate science. This article does a good job of combining the collection of poor arguments frequently regurgitated by the "denialists"
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2015-whats-warming-the-world/
April 18, 2017
Standing Up!
Y'all might be proud of me. I let most of the nonsense about recycling and sustainability and such drivel pass on the Erie Facebook page. But this was too far:
UPDATE: Good old Weld County! Three of the next four are pro-energy, including:
Erie students are entitled to a school that has light, heat, and a/c, powered by clean, green natural gas energy from fracking. Hopefully, some scientifically literate teachers too, please.
Seriously, haven't the anti-frackers jumped the shark?
Posted by: johngalt at April 18, 2017 5:21 PMShould have. I am not at all convinced that it has.
This is a big deal to all the Boulderites who have moved into Erie (missing the part about Weld's being the 8th County in the nation in energy production): "you can't frac around schools!"
But the pushback is much better than I expected.
Posted by: jk at April 18, 2017 5:39 PMApril 17, 2017
Calling the Market Top
I saw the future once. I did not act, but I bet it was a good stock pick.
It was clear to me in the early 00's that Hyundai Motor Corp was poised to climb a tier and become a serious competitor. I was rather impressed with their design, and the sequence of models they were rolling out seemed well-considered. Their extended warranty addressed uncertainty customers may have held about quality and reliability. "These guys have got it together," thought 2003 me. The 2007 price was 56.70 and it is 120 today. That's not bad but not Facebook.
I'm calling "hold" or "sell" today, though:
YONGIN, South Korea -- Hyundai Motor Group's plans for green cars are a costly array of hybrids, plug-ins, pure electrics and fuel-cell vehicles for both the Hyundai and Kia brands.But the automaker's eco-car czar, Lee Ki-sang, expects a technological shakeout between 2020 and 2025 that will make it clearer whether a post-lithium ion battery breakthrough is on the horizon.
I fear they are over-committing to the eco-sector. At the risk of preaching to the choir, I'm rather impressed by the muscle sector. Those who've bet on abundance have beat those who bet on scarcity.
It could change. But I am not loading up on eco-car manufacturers.
Here's the thing about "eco-cars" - see if it affects your calculus:
The ones that add an electric motor to a petrol power plant are, often, more economical AND more powerful. There's a full collection of hybrid models from the top-end performance brands: Porsche, Audi, Bentley, Ferrari, etc. When you compare a pure torque electric drive motor to a turbocharger, for example, the latter comes up short. There's no such thing as "EV lag."
And another data point for you is this: Fiat-Chrysler chairman Sergio Marchionne said that by 2025, 90 percent of all new FCA vehicles will be some sort of electric hybrid.
A funny thing happened on the way to government distorting the market to make hybrids more readily available - the tech and the economics made them market winners.
Posted by: johngalt at April 17, 2017 7:31 PMPerhaps. That's not how I read the article, but if the company is as savvy as I thought, maybe that is where they're headed.
Posted by: jk at April 18, 2017 9:51 AMApril 14, 2017
Ethanol and Mohair
You'd think the left and right might come together to oppose ethanol subsidies. You'd -- of course -- be wrong, but you'd think...
Ethanol per se is not the problem, however; Washington's lack of common sense is the problem.For decades now, ever since the Arab oil embargo of 1973-74, U.S. policymakers have been preoccupied with oil scarcity. That, along with environmental concerns, is what led to the renewable fuels mandate, which triggered huge increases in corn production at the expense of other crops and prairie grasslands.
Currently, roughly half of the entire U.S. corn crop -- which topped more than 15 billion bushels last year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture -- winds up in biofuels.
The trouble is this: When prairie is plowed under to grow corn it becomes a barren landscape. Without the grasses, the environment supports little wildlife. With the grasses, it is home to ducks, pheasants and some 800 other varieties of birds, as well as monarch butterflies and honey bees. -- IBD Politics
Well, if we're going to have multi-decadal global depression because of tariffs, we might as well have a Dust Bowl too.
I blame NASCAR. (Well, not really, but they have been duped along with the rest of the marketing public.)
Maybe it will take some special interest group accusing them of helping to "destroy the habitat of ducks, pheasants, and some 800 other varieties of birds, as well as monarch butterflies and honey bees." Then they can return to 100% petrol, instead of 85%.
Posted by: johngalt at April 15, 2017 3:15 PMNASCAR Retards...
Posted by: Jk at April 15, 2017 5:09 PMApril 13, 2017
State Charging Stations for 'Lectriccars
Firstly, every Centennial Stater should follow Laurie Bratten on Facebook. She provides a daily rundown of the shenanigans going on in the State Capitol, ranked for frugality and liberty.
And I'll give her quote of the day for her droll opening:
"Widespread adoption" of alternative fuel vehicles is necessary to "diversify the transportation fuel mix." If adoption is widespread enough, perhaps as much as proponents would like, then the transportation fuel mix will not be diverse at all - it will be all-ternative.
The upside is that if everyone drives 'lectric cars, free charging doesn't represent a redistribution anymore (from petrol-heads to pointy-heads.)
The downside is too voluminous to get in to here.
Posted by: johngalt at April 13, 2017 2:51 PMBut still a redistribution from telecommuters and transit riders, n'est ce pas?
Posted by: jk at April 13, 2017 3:58 PMYes. All seventy-six of them. Perfect must not be the enemy of good enough.
Posted by: johngalt at April 13, 2017 4:44 PMMarch 30, 2017
Pollution "Costs"
Still on the theme of government getting everything wrong in energy policy, Investors Ed Page shares how President Obama's EPA fudged the spreadsheet in creating health cost savings to offset energy cost hikes.
In pushing the Clean Power Plan, the EPA claimed it would cost industry $9 billion a year, but produce up to $54 billion in annual health benefits, including "avoiding 2,700 to 6,600 premature deaths and 140,000 to 150,000 asthma attacks in children."Who could complain about that?
Turns out, the benefits of the Clean Power Plan will be closer to $0, while the costs would be far higher than the EPA claims.
Yes, fellow Americans, we've been played.
I read an energy newsletter in work downtime (decreasing soon, now that I've seen my 2017 goals), that has real baseball-insider level detail on the actions of FERC and the lawyers/lobbyists who quibble, sue and defend the edicts (technically, NOPR's) that drive the grid. Some authors are outing themselves as on the activist side (aka, citing "97% of scientists" as tacit truism). I'm collecting a string of stories on the cost of Renewables ("RE"), and found this bit interesting not the least b/c the "source" wished to stay hidden:
Another source, who asked not to be identified, attributed the {RE} growth to reasons other than tax credits — at least in those areas with vertically integrated utilities.Posted by: nanobrewer at April 1, 2017 9:47 AM
"Utilities figured out a few years ago that they can put in high cost renewables and pass along price increases to customers because the commissions and enviros won't push back," the source said in an email Tuesday. "The more they spend, the more they make. If they put in lower cost traditional generation, they'll be fought tooth and nail. If they keep existing coal generation, they can’t raise rates. Shut down coal, add renewables and raise rates. ... Electric utility rates have gone up on average about 50% over the past decade ... and they'll continue to rise if renewables keep going in."
"Prices will rise as more and more renewables are installed," the source said. "Renewables impose additional costs that are not normally included in their 'cost.'
Excellent point, and from an inside source that gives it more credibility than my personal observations, reading the news reports of ratepayer hikes approved by Colorado's highly politicized Public Utilities Commission. There is literally no limit to the places and ways that special interest mischief can be promulgated upon the public in our "advanced" society.
Posted by: johngalt at April 2, 2017 3:54 PMMarch 29, 2017
Energy Costs
I was going to add this to a comment thread, below. But I'm going to exercise bloggers' prerogative and give it its own post.
Amy Oliver-Cooke brought a few handouts to the LOTR-F meeting I mentioned. One of the best was this bylined WaPo story, How Not to Shut Down Coal Plants [jg's PDF]
PUEBLO, Colo -- Sharon Garcia is stumbling around her dining room in the dark, trying to find Post-It notes.As she has for years, Garcia wants to affix the notes, marked with dollar signs, to light switches all around her house. The message to her five kids: Light is expensive.
"Why do you need to turn the lights off?" she asks her son, Mariano.
"Because otherwise there's no money," he answers, dutifully.
"And when there's no money?"
"You can't feed us or take us anywhere."
Bingo, again.
Bingo, indeed. You're gonna wanna read the whole thing.
Wow. Just, wow. Bills for reconnect charges in the hundreds of dollars to low income Coloradoans because electricity costs have risen 26% in seven years, while consumption has held steady and the fracking boom has massively increased supplies of natural gas. A better title for the article would be, not "How not" to shut down coal plants, but "Why not" to do so.
And for what? President Obama's misguided "Clean Power Plan" would, by their rosiest attempt at predicting the future, "prevent" 0.019 degrees (C) of warming EIGHTY THREE YEARS from now. Reason:
That's the amount of temperature change a person will experience in about every second of life. It is simply impossible to detect this change in any global temperature history.
I'm sure all of the homeless, energy-poor folks in Colorado will be really glad that their betters in Washington took this decision.
Posted by: johngalt at March 29, 2017 4:36 PMPaywall? I am not a WaPo subscriber and it likes me...
Now, if not for SB 252 driving up my electricity rates, perhaps I could afford to subscribe...
Property rights and freedom folk get on the "perceived as mean" side of issues so frequently. This is an excellent chance to whack all your progressive friends for their cruelty to the poor. #kiddingnotkidding
Posted by: jk at March 29, 2017 4:50 PMI think there's a 5 page view limit - per month or per year or per lifetime, I'm not sure. Apparently I'm more well-read than y'all.
Posted by: johngalt at March 29, 2017 6:00 PMI'm just halfway through my third.
Posted by: jk at March 29, 2017 6:27 PMGood news is the Trumpster is doing all the right things: killing the CPP and 'Waters of the US' rule, and his nominee slate for FERC look good. Still, even a full retract of the CPP won't save king coal, natural gas prices are driving nearly everything currently, which has an interesting dual effect of killing coal and boosting RE, b/c modern NG plants can ramp faster thereby lessening the strain on baseload generation which have to ramp up & down quickly due to the intermittent nature of RE plants. The fancy newsletter from Platts had this to say about the XO retracting the CPP:
the order had no noticeable impact on coal, natural gas or crude oil prices Tuesday; … and appears to roll back regulations already being unwound in courts.
For those not versed in history, the CPP has been "promulgated" (aka, approved as admin. law) but stayed by the courts, so is not actually in effect.
Posted by: nanobrewer at April 1, 2017 10:31 AMFebruary 3, 2017
Fossil remains within "fossil" fuel?
If "fossil" fuels, like natural gas, crude oil and coal, are really the product of decomposing ancient plants and animals, how can they also fossilize ancient plants and animals as shown in the picture above? A blog entry at Unconventional Geology quotes a Dr. Thomas Gold:
"The coal we dig is hard, brittle stuff [but] it was once a liquid, because we find embedded in the middle of a six-foot seam of coal such things as a delicate wing of some animal or a leaf of a plant. They are undestroyed, absolutely preserved, with every cell in that fossil filled with exactly the same coal as all the coal on the outside... The fact that coal contains fossils does not prove that it is a fossil fuel; it proves exactly the opposite. Those fossils you find in coal prove that coal is not made from those fossils. How could you take a forest and much it all up so that it is a completely featureless big black substance and then find one leaf in it that is perfectly preserved? That is absolute nonsense."
According to the abiotic theory of geologic hydrocarbon fuels, occasionally mentioned 'round these parts, "fossil" fuels are, in actuality, renewable. And naturally so.
Brothers forever! Thanks.
I had the disadvantage of first hearing about this from an incredibly gifted and charismatic physicist. The former President of the College I was attending and I were dinner guests at the home of a PhD candidate and hippie guitar player bandmate.
Dr. Colgate explained this forcefully and lucidly and the 19-year-old me was forever convinced. I try to look back and see if I was perhaps bamboozled. Yet, once you accept it, the reigning, dead-dinosaur-guts theory seems the crazy one.
The heart is that every astronomical object of remotely similar makeup "outgasses" hydrocarbons. Earth would be very strange if I did not. It's not a great stretch to think the trip from core to crust could produce more complex organic molecules through heat and pressure.
I gave away my age. Jimmy Carter was President, Fitzpatrick Sale was selling books, and our world was at Peak Everything. Aside from the Rolling Stones output, things were bleak and Malthusian.
This was like discovering Rearden metal. "Wait a minute, you mean there might be all the oil we ever want just as a gift of our astronomical heritage?" It may have been the foundation of my optimism.
January 25, 2017
Go Home, Hippies!
FORT YATES -- The Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Council unanimously voted to support the district of Cannon Ball in asking all Dakota Access Pipeline protesters to leave the area and canceling plans for a nearby winter camp."All the individuals at all the camps in and around Cannon Ball need to leave the district," residents wrote in a 10-point resolution passed during an executive session of a district meeting Wednesday night. "The building of an alternative site for the camp(s) within the Cannon Ball District is not needed or wanted. If there is to be any kind of a 'site' for the commemoration of this historic event that took place with all the tribes, the people of Standing Rock need to vote on where, what and cost before any 'shanty town is built."
Ha! If it were only that easy.
Posted by: johngalt at January 25, 2017 7:44 PMTwo Steps Forward, One Back
Bully for the President! Approving Keystone XL and Dakota Pipelines. Way to go.
The WSJ Ed Page -- like me -- is quite enthusiastic. The rule of law was truly subverted on both of these to appease the environmentalist left.
Such carve outs for progressive constituencies are one reason voters rejected Democrats in November, and the pipelines promise broader prosperity. Keystone is predicted to spin off 20,000 construction and manufacturing jobs, many of them to be filled by union workers, and add $3 billion to GDP. The pipeline could move 830,000 barrels a day along the route from Alberta to Nebraska; up to 100,000 would come from North Dakota, where a glut of crude has to travel by rail to reach refineries built to process it. The efficiencies will ripple across the oil and gas industry.
Pretty awesome huh? Boy, we sure like the cut of that Trump fellow's jib. Oh. Wait...
One danger here is President Trump's campaign promise to "renegotiate some of the terms" that included bromides about how "we'll build our own pipes, like we used to in the old days." He floated royalty payments during the campaign, and a separate order on Tuesday directed the Commerce Department to develop a plan to use U.S. steel and iron in all new pipelines. TransCanada has said in past months that it's "fully committed" to Keystone XL, but the company may not be eager for another politician to direct its investment decisions.
Ah yes, the good old days when we built our own pipes. Wow -- America was really great back then. I'm going back to bed -- call me on my mobile if you need anything...
Perhaps. The WSJ Editorial Board has suggested that President Trump offers business a bargain: I'm going to lower your taxes and keep government regulators off your back; you're going to let me browbeat you and bias your investments toward domestic production.
As a great blue-eyed economist once said "That ain't love. But it will have to do until the real thing comes along." Much as I love trade, that's likely a better bargain than they saw over the previous eight years,
Posted by: jk at January 25, 2017 4:49 PMI'm actually hopeful that Trump is more saavy than all of the principled free-market advocates realize. Yes, he is distorting markets with his browbeating. But perhaps he is doing it as a countermeasure against foreign currency manipulation. There is a direct way to counter such manipulation, which is "by far, the world’s most protectionist international economic policy in the 21st century" and there are indirect ways. Perhaps President Trump is engaging in one of these. Among other things, the browbeating has the advantages that it can be done quickly, by executive action, and it is not an obvious countermeasure to something else. It just looks like unbridled populism. It is that, of course, but a principled executive knows how far to take it before backing off.
We have admitted that Trump is smarter than most critics assume, haven't we?
Posted by: johngalt at January 25, 2017 7:13 PMDagny told me I'm a hopeless, rationalizing, optimist.
Guilty!
Posted by: johngalt at January 26, 2017 1:40 PMAnd he thinks the Rockies are going to be good this year.
Posted by: dagny at January 26, 2017 1:57 PMI was going to comment on your optimism, but I would never have gone so far as Sister Dagny (though the brave black and purple are not without talent...)
On a serious note, optimism is good and I must admit that -- so far -- more of your rosy scenarios have materialized than my dark dystopian visions. But it is Day Four; I hope you'll be willing to hold him accountable.
And yes, he is well served by the compete insanity of his critics. Holy Cow, those people have left the rational plane. But they can be bonkers and he can still be wrong.
And the bullpen. Some steps up, but enough?
Posted by: jk at January 26, 2017 3:28 PMYes, I'll hold him accountable. I probably won't march on the capitol or cut off any parts of my anatomy, but I'll always be willing to condemn bad acts.
I haven't been following the Rox off-season moves but I did hear about the once great Royals reliever who's coming off some surgery or another. But a sports radio jock I know is predicting Rocktober already!
Hope springs eternal - if not this year, then next. Or the year after that. ;)
Posted by: johngalt at January 26, 2017 4:17 PMDecember 8, 2016
Dakota Pipeline - Why do they stay?
As winter approaches, in the wake of an Army Corps of Engineers announcement that it is investigating alternative routes for the DAPL, and with tribal chairman Archambault imploring that they "head home" the agitators at the intended river crossing site are pledging to remain where they are. From a CNN article:
"The call to service and to help Mother Earth is a huge honor," Calderon says. And the Army Corps announcement about rerouting the pipeline doesn't change a thing."We're still sticking it out and hoping that what they say is true and that there's no sneaky business going on," Calderon says. "We'll stay here until we're told otherwise."
Which I take Mr. Calderon to mean "We'll stay here until we're sure that "there's no sneaky business going on." And by "sneaky business" he means, constructing a pipeline.
But what does it mean, exactly, to "help Mother Earth?" It means this:
But despite [Indian novelist Amitav] Ghosh's dark sense of realism about our political options, he still manages to find hope in surprising places. "The very speed with which the crisis is now unfolding," he notes, might save many parts of the world from the destructive social and cultural consequences of the Great Acceleration. Still more provocatively, Ghosh proposes that religious traditions might offer the most effective social basis for popular resistance. Ghosh observes that religious movements could "mobilize people in far greater numbers" than secular organizations. Religious belief reaches beyond the boundaries of nation states and embraces "intergenerational, long-term responsibilities" that "do not partake of economistic ways of thinking." Indeed, the "idea of the sacred" involves an "acceptance of limits and limitations" that strongly resembles the ethos of stewardship and simple living central to radical forms of climate justice. Could it be that religious belief, with its appreciation of "nonlinear change" (i.e., apocalypse and planetary disaster), might be our best resource in breaking the spell of Holocene thought?
Some translations are in order, to fully recognize what the author is saying.
The "Great Acceleration" propelled by "economistic ways of thinking" is what you and I might call... prosperity.
The "ethos of stewardship and simple living" is a monastic tendency, featuring an "acceptance of limits and limitations" on human beings. Essentially, the opposite of prosperity.
It has long been observed that environmental extremism has morphed into a cult-like religious pursuit. And it's no accident that the DAPL agitators chose "medicine man and spiritual leader" Leonard Crow Dog to participate in their staged guilt-building exercise on Monday.
Also this week, Donald Trump was named Time Magazine's "Man of the Year." They dubbed him the "President of the Divided States of America." To the extent that characterization is a fitting one, the division is between two competing moralities - Liberal economic prosperity and human rights, on the one side, and a zealous mobilization to impose the limits of "simple living" upon everyone. Between these two visions for mankind, President Elect Trump falls into the "liberal" camp.
Yes, the Kevin Cramer editorial in WSJ is excellent. I had read it too. He channeled Three Sources:
The Obama administration has decided to build a political legacy rather than lead the country. It is facilitating an illegal occupation that has grown wildly out of control. That the economy depends on a consistent and predictable permitting regime seems never to have crossed the president's mind.Posted by: johngalt at December 9, 2016 11:37 AM
I too loved "Dances..." And I recently re-watched the splendiferously awesome Hatfields and McCoys miniseries. I remarked that it is inherently unfair -- whichever side Kevin Costner is cast into will be perceived as the heroic side and will get audience sympathy.
I just see my conservative friends #StandingWithBlackRock Addressing energy needs, rule-of-law, and public opinion will be fraught with peril.
Political archeologists will write dissertations on "Mocking the disabled reporter." It will outlast the "Daisy Ad." I am astonished at how central it was to the Clinton campaign. I saw several commercials specifically on it, and recently a Facebook that claimed "that was all you needed to know" to oppose Trump.
I -- a disabled-American -- found it a stretch all along. It was at worst a three second mistake. What makes me laugh is that the target was a powerful reporter who had attacked him.
We've elected a few "nice" Presidents, but a quick gander through a history book shows that lack is not disqualifying.
Posted by: jk at December 9, 2016 12:36 PMYou've gone three levels down in the segue swamp. What reporter? Was he at the pipeline protests?
Posted by: nanobrewer at December 10, 2016 1:37 AMKids, don't try this at home -- these are professional dissemblers. :)
"Trump Mocks disabled reporter" provides 2,090,000 Hits on Bing® Here's a WaPo video.
Posted by: jk at December 10, 2016 12:32 PMAnd yet, I'll take 84-plus percent agreement every time. Thanks!
Posted by: johngalt at December 12, 2016 3:20 PMHere's the explanation I read - Trump mocked the reporter, but not by mimicking his disability.
Conclusion: Media manipulation makes us believe things that aren't so. That Donald Trump hasn't been savaged worse than he was is miraculous. Maybe they held some punches because they didn't know the Russians were actually going to succeed in "stealing the election" for him.
Posted by: johngalt at December 12, 2016 3:31 PMDecember 6, 2016
#DAPL Me This... Vol III?
Chairman David Archambault, of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, continues to maintain that the most meticulously engineered and constructed oil pipeline to be routed eighty-odd feet below the Missouri riverbed poses a threat to that community's water supply. This, despite said water supply inlet being moved fifty miles further down river and feeding a brand new $30 million water treatment complex exclusively for the Standing Rock Sioux community.
"Just because the new intake is 70 miles away doesn't mean our water is still not threatened," said David Archambault, chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe.
The project, which has received little attention in the months-long fight over the Dakota Access pipeline, has been a goal for the Sioux for more than a decade. It was first funded in 2009.
The funding for the water works came from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act - that's "The Stimulus Bill" for those who remember it. It was part of a $500 million dollar investment in projects specifically for the benefit of America's native tribal descendent populations.
As for the "threat" to the water, one begins to suspect the only solution the chairman and the climate activists will be pleased with is the "keep it in the ground" solution - No pipeline... No fracking... No oil for thankful and prosperous human customers. A Hoover Institution senior fellow has dubbed this the "Indian Energy Wars."
But the biggest foe for the Standing Rock Sioux is the federal government itself, entrusted with protecting Indians since Chief Justice John Marshall declared Indians "wards" of the state in 1832. After the first Indian Wars, the federal government signed treaties setting aside 43,000 square miles as the Great Sioux Nation. That territory would include much of the DAPL route. However, in 1889, it "repossessed" much of the territory opening it for white settlement and creating the private lands on which the pipeline will be built. Since then, the federal government has nothing to give Native Americans confidence in their trustee.A paper by 3 Texas A&M political scientists, forthcoming in the Policies Studies Journal, shows how "paternalistic control over Indian nations" has failed to protect tribal water quality under the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act supposedly enforced by the EPA. Comparing regulatory compliance and enforcement on and off reservation, they find 125 percent more management violations and 57 percent more health violations for tribal water utilities under.
American Indians have a right to be fearful that projects such as the DAPL could violate their rights to land and water, but their fear would be better focused on the "Great White Father."
December 2, 2016
#DAPL me this...
An interesting piece in FEE: Josh Siegel wonders Are Environmentalists Hijacking the Concerns of Native Americans?
I'm too big a man to share spoilers, but
This is a very good opportunity for them because the best way to bankrupt fossil fuel companies is to target the supply chain--the modes of transportation. Some tribe members think their issues are being hijacked. For them, this is not a war on fossil fuel. It's a specific argument about not honoring the historical practices of Native Americans and about rerouting this particular pipeline.
I've been very strident on this topic. The "numinous Native American" shtick drives me mad. Siegel lays out facts, but is much more fair than I, willing to see the conflict as part of larger historical list of legitimate grievances.
Aseem Prakash, director of the Center for Environmental Politics at the University of Washington, contends that the Standing Rock tribe's stake in the conflict reflects deeper-seated grievances of Native Americans."The American Indian community, at least some sections of it, is aggrieved over the years about injustices, essentially the notion being--right or wrong--that their preferences are not taken into account seriously," Prakash told The Daily Signal in an interview. "The Dakota pipeline is epitomizing their perspective of injustice."
Though the pipeline goes through private land and not Native American property, the tribe contends this land was acquired improperly and actually belongs to them by the terms of a 1851 treaty with the U.S. government.
I highly recommend the article. Everything I have seen to date is completely one-sided: the protesters all are either Gandhi or Beelzebub. This is FEE, I don't think my lefty friends would accept it as unbiased, but it is one of the better accounts I have seen.
But of course they are! "It's for the first Americans" is in third place, behind "it's for the children" and "it's for the animals" on the list of sympathetic social justice ploys.
Here's the real question: If mountains of state and federal regulations and permits do not grant a guarantee, or at least a reasonable assurance, that a $3.7Bn project can reach completion then why do we have such permits?
Energy Transfer Partners has property rights too. It is government's purpose to protect those rights.
Posted by: johngalt at December 5, 2016 2:56 PMJust when I think I have inured to life in a banana republic... It felt like a kick in the stomach to hear that this has been stayed.
Carrier stays, the pipeline goes. And Francisco d'Anconia is proven correct.
Posted by: jk at December 5, 2016 3:29 PMNovember 26, 2016
#DAPL
The Dakota Pipeline protests pit everyone who has read Ludwig von Mises against those who have seen "Dances with Wolves."
We are so completely, totally screwed.
UPDATE: A ray of hope! This post was shared from an unexpected source, tagging his son! Maybe the truth is pulling its pants up after all.
Before traveling, [St. Charles Parish Sheriff Greg] Champagne admitted he had the wrong impression about the pipeline based on what he called sensational news reports that the pipeline was to run directly through the Standing Rock Reservation and disturb ancient burial grounds."I quickly learned and saw for myself that this was untrue."
Yes, that is a problem. I feel that way about North Carolina's infamous transgender bathroom law. I've never felt I got a truly accurate appraisal of the law and ramifications. And I lack interest to take a week off work to clarify.
But, you almost have to hand it to the bad guys here. "Defiling Sacred Indian Burial Grounds!" "Poisoning the Water!" "Big Oil!" "Climate Change!" "The Infield Fly Rule!" They truly have all the emotional weapons on their side. Cue Eric Cartman: "You don't hate Native American Children, do you?"
Our side has property rights and rule of law. Yawn. But for those of us who prefer a heated condo with WiFi and hot showers to a buffalo skin by the fire -- and are willing to admit it, those are the difference. It is a difficult fight I have largely shrunken from.
Not me! Emboldened by the election of Trump and the death of Political Correctness which that represents, I let my inner "Deplorable" show in comments to the same form-letter type FB post about "I know I've posted a lot about the Dakota Access Pipeline but..."
The lament was, "water cannons are being used against unarmed, peaceful protesters in winter! They are subject to death from hypothermia!" (No mention of death from hyperbole.)
I replied: "Maybe they should just go home."
Poster: "They are home."
I replied: "They are camping. They can be charged with trespassing if they don't leave. That's a strange definition of "home."
Then silence. Until last night, when another woman chimed in ... on MY side!
Posted by: johngalt at November 28, 2016 2:21 PMI just went back with this, in as "undeplorable" a tone as I was able:
I agree with you Andrea that water should be protected from contamination, but I also believe we need to be reasonable. We can't eliminate all risk. And I disagree that a few get rich while the rest of us pay. All of civilization is richer, safer and more prosperous because of inexpensive, reliable energy and the many byproducts of oil and gas.Posted by: johngalt at November 28, 2016 2:39 PMSome people and special interest groups want to reverse all of the gains from carbon-based energy. Even worse, they work to prevent...
Continue reading
third world countries and their people from ever having those gains. What about their children? I have compassion for them too.
Props.
Typing this, I realized I was wrong to be pusillanimous. I have striven for a politics here, cute kittens on FB split. But I break it for "important" things where I feel I might offer perspective many of these people might not otherwise encounter.
This is the definition of that -- I just know that it will upset many.
Posted by: jk at November 28, 2016 2:46 PMThe post I mentioned in my update attracted one meticulously-researched response:
Sorry, Xxxxx. But this is wholly untrue. Sacred burial grounds have already been disturbed by bulldozers and the Sioux are most concerned about their water supply being affected. The natural gas pipeline that exists already does not threaten water supply.
But when I went back to share this with y'all, I find yet another person has shared a couple links. In addition to mine.
Pulling up pants. Perhaps there was some value in letting them "own the space" for a couple of weeks.
Posted by: jk at November 28, 2016 2:52 PMHere is a summary of the treaty disputes with native tribes in the Dakotas, much of which took place before the territories became states, and which was finally resolved in 1980 with a billion dollar payment to the tribes by federal taxpayers. It appears to be objective and unbiased.
While none can suggest that all of the historical dealings were fair, although the contemporary murders of white settlers are rarely spoken of with as much sturm and drung, it does appear that the tribes have been fairly compensated and the matter is resolved at the highest possible levels of our federal government.
The tribes do not own the land being crossed by the pipeline. That they once did is immaterial. What would the environmentalists have instead - dynamite the dams on the Mississippi, drain the ancestral lands "once hunted and fished" by generations long since gone, and let the entire central United States suffer seasonal catastrophic flooding once again? Please.
Posted by: johngalt at November 29, 2016 3:21 PMNovember 16, 2016
If Elon Musk were in 'Atlas Shrugged'...
... he would be Oren Boyle.
It has been widely reported that among SolarCity, Tesla, and the rocket company SpaceX, Elon Musk's confederacy of interests has gotten at least $4.9 billion in taxpayer support over the past 10 years.This is almost half of Musk's supposed net worth - taken from the pockets of American citizens and put into companies that can survive only by cannibalizing each other, spending without end, and promising that success is always just beyond the horizon and yet never arrives.
The American people are being taken on a ride by SolarCity, Tesla, and Musk. The ride is fueled by a cult of personality in Musk. And it costs billions of taxpayer dollars as he promises us not only the moon, but to harness the power of the sun and send us all to Mars.
In the cases of Enron and Bernie Madoff, in the end the cheated victims wished to have woken up sooner to the hubris that enabled such a downfall - or that at least regulators had pulled their heads out of the sand before the full impact of the collapse was realized.
We've seen this story before and we know how it ends.
But one of the good things about changing regimes in Washington D.C. is that cronies often get uprooted.
The Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee have launched a probe into tax incentives paid to solar companies, according to The Wall Street Journal. The committee probes, led by their respective Republican chairmen, Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas and Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, have found an appropriate and disturbing target to begin this work.SolarCity, a solar installation company set to be purchased by Tesla Motors Inc., is one of the seven companies named in the initial investigation.
September 26, 2016
Debate Greatst Hits
We shall run out of "Oll" by 2011:
Hat-tip: Miss Liberty
May 25, 2016
Dumbest Damn Thing Ever
Well, there's California's Train to Whenever, and Denver's very important train to the plane which has some issues. But I nominate the Ivanpah Power Plant as Dumbest Damn Thing Ever.
Not just because it is on fire. Not just because it has missed all expectations. Because -- like the gorram trains -- it has no flexibility:
Ivanpah's biggest problem, though, is hard economics. When the plant was just a proposal in 2007, the cost of electricity made using Ivanpah's concentrated solar power was roughly the same as that from photovoltaic solar panels. Since then, the cost of electricity from photovoltaic solar panels has plummeted to 6 cents per kilowatt-hour (compared to 15 to 20 cents for concentrated solar power) as materials have gotten cheaper. "You're not going to see the same thing with concentrated solar power plants because it's mostly just a big steel and glass project," says Schultz. It can only get so much cheaper.Photovoltaic solar systems also have the advantage of scaling up or down easily. You can have one panel on your roof or the airport can have 100, and electricity can be made where it's used. But for concentrated solar power plants, you need a huge tract of empty land. Ivanpah has 173,500 garage door-sized sets of mirrors spread over 3,500 acres. Each mirror has a motor controlled by a computer, which angles the reflective surface to track the location of the sun.
Isn't Ivanpah the name of one of Donald Trump's smoking hot daughters?
Hayek vs. Keynes in a nutshell. Do you build the giant, expensive, and immovable object because you know what the world will look like in ten years, or do you put faith in spontaneous order and distributed knowledge organization?
Posted by: jk at May 25, 2016 5:21 PMEmphasis on "smoking hot." I've driven past the Ivanpah plant many, many times, and it is a spectacle, a veritable sight to behold. I've never had the privilege of seeing a "streamer" -- a passing bird suddenly erupting into flames on the fly, leaving a smoke trail of burning feathers worthy of Michael Jackson's ill-fated soda commercial or Richard Pryor's infamous 1980 experiment with cognac and freebasing, and serving itself up medium-well on one of the mirrors -- but I'm told from those who have that it's a jaw-dropping sight.
Much more exciting to watch than your average wind-farm bird blender.
And at just $2.2 billion, it's a steal at half the price. I understand it's currently operating at just one-third capacity, due to a combination of the present conflagration, bad planning, and something called "scheduled maintenance."
Posted by: Keith Arnold at May 25, 2016 6:36 PMAs the man said: "Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius."
Posted by: jk at May 25, 2016 6:42 PMApril 17, 2016
Brother Keith's Senator at Work!
The evil philosopher is Alex Epstein [Review Corner]
Unbelievable how philosophers can be so uppity. Doesn't he know that only scientists are credible on climate change, particularly those with a PhD?
Or maybe, in certain instances, his holiness the Pope.
Posted by: johngalt at April 17, 2016 5:45 PMI'm sure that KA is very proud!
Posted by: johngalt at April 17, 2016 8:00 PMIt's a low blow to bring him into it. A good man wouldn't do it. I'm all right.
Posted by: Jk at April 17, 2016 9:23 PMNot MY Senator. Not my circus. Not my monkey.
Funny thing is, I once that that Senate hearings were for obtaining facts and worthwhile information so as to be able to cast informed votes on important bills -- not for grandstanding, browbeating, or cheap shots. People like Boxer need to be reminded that they are the nation's servants, not our bosses or our overlords.
It's a dangerous job. I volunteer as tribute!
And by the way, bonus points are awarded for the Mal Reynolds reference, in case you had any trace of a thought that I'd overlook it.
Posted by: Keith Arnold at April 18, 2016 2:02 PMThat's SENATOR monkey to you, knave. She's quite sure she's earned it.
Posted by: johngalt at April 18, 2016 3:32 PMApril 1, 2016
Fracking Causes Earthquakes, Not God
That is the implication made by this Denver Post story covering the Republican Women of Weld senate candidates forum in Fort Lupton Wednesday night (attended by dagny and me.) "Peg Littleton says God causes earthquakes, not fracking" blares the sub head.
"I say, 'Drill, baby, drill,' " said Littleton, an El Paso County Commissioner and member of Colorado's homeland security and hazards advisory committee.Later, she took a step further as she attacked scientific reports showing links between hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and earthquakes, suggesting God is the reason they occur.
"There have been earthquakes long before we ever did fracking," she said. "Let's be honest. You know God is kind of in control of those. And not by us drilling down in the ground and doing the fracking."
The implication is clear, and is reflected in comments on the story - that Republicans in general, or at least these seven candidates at the forum, or at least this Sarah Palin wannabe, are anti-science religious nut jobs.
Well what do the "scientific reports" say? That small earthquakes can indeed be induced by high-volume wastewater disposal into wells drilled specifically for that purpose. It is not caused by fracking. So Littleton's claim that the earthquakes are not caused by fracking is accurate.
And who is surprised by that finding? Fracking is done all over the country, and earthquake activity is localized in this area of Oklahoma within 30 kilometers of water disposal wells.
If we were so unfortunate that we had to rely on the Denver Post for all of our information about the world I could only exclaim, God help us.
Keyser sounded most reasonable of all ... he's shaped up to be my pick, reminding me of Tom Cotton; if anyone's asking?
Posted by: n at April 4, 2016 11:51 PMThanks for the comment, n!
Posted by: johngalt at April 7, 2016 6:16 PMFebruary 8, 2016
Coming to their senses?
Who says there's no good news in the papers anymore? Robert Bryce [Review Corner] has a guest editorial in the WSJ today Juxtaposing Sen. Bernie Sanders's (I - Venezuela) calls for renewal energy with opposition in his home state of Vermont.
If Green Mountain Staters have tired of windmills, I pronounce them dead.
Why are so many Vermonters opposed to wind energy? The Sanders presidential campaign did not respond to questions. But Sen. [John S.] Rodgers told me by email that the state must protect its tourism industry. "People come here from around the world for our scenic vistas and rural working landscape." Asked whether concerns about climate change should trump the concerns of rural communities, Mr. Rodgers was frank: "Destroying the natural environment in the name of climate change is moronic."
Bryce lists several wind projects which have been recently been rejected.
In July the town board of Somerset, N.Y., voted to oppose a proposed 200-megawatt project known as Lighthouse Wind. And the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a ban on large wind turbines in the county's unincorporated areas."Wind turbines create visual blight," said Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich. Skyscraper-size turbines, he added, would "contradict the county's rural dark skies ordinance which aims to protect dark skies in areas like Antelope Valley and the Santa Monica Mountains."
I've considered them visual blight for years, but the world -- particularly near Boulder, Colorado -- is not ThreeSources. Bryce is not an impartial observer, but it's good too hear the opposition is rising.
February 4, 2016
Never Gets Old
Bashing Elon Musk! An activity of which I will never tire.
The man is no doubt a genius. The Tesla cars are unquestionably works of aesthetic and engineering art. His past ventures include genuine entrepreneurship, most notably PayPal.
But the dude is an Ayn Rand villain -- and nobody but me and my friend Wendy notice.
Charles Lane of the Washington Post said: "Tesla owes its survival to subsidies from taxpayers, who are usually less well-heeled than its plutocratic customers." The average household income of Tesla owners is $320,000, according to Strategic Visions, a consumer research company.Tesla buyers have also raked in $38 million in California government rebates (they receive a $2,500 rebate for each Tesla bought) and $284 million in federal tax incentives (they receive a $7,500 federal tax credit for each purchased Tesla).
The Los Angeles Times calculated that Elon Musk's three companies, Tesla Motors, SolarCity, and SpaceX, combined have received a staggering $4.9 billion in government support over the past decade. As Kerpen noted: "Every time a Tesla is sold . . . average Americans are on the hook for at least $30,000 in federal and state subsidies" that go to wealthy Tesla owners. This is crony capitalism at its worst.
I post items like this on Facebook, I get far worse pushback than any political post. "Dude's a genius!"
Well, so in his own way was Wesley Mouch.
January 22, 2016
Those Damned Speculators!
Daniel Bier @ FEE suggests supply and demand might control oil prices, contra Trump & Sanders:
Fortunately, when he wrote that in 2012, Sen. Bernie Sanders was ahead of the game, having never read anything about supply and demand at all. Unencumbered by basic economics, he was able to see that Big Oil "gouging" and Wall Street "speculators" were to blame.Remarkably, right around the time of the fracking revolution, the price of oil and gas started tumbling. I guess Wall Street's heart grew three sizes that day.
January 18, 2016
Aren't we Supposed to Emulate Denmark?
Right? If Denmark does it, we should. If Facebook memes have any meaning at all, surely this is . . . oh, wait.
Denmark's new government will reduce the amount of money it spends on "green" energy by 67 percent, according to a Sunday New York Times article.Denmark and other Nordic countries have long been viewed as environmental utopias, but the government plans to reduce spending on green energy to save money and lower the country's electricity rates, which are among the world's highest.
What was that thing about the high electricity rates again?
Denmark currently has some of the highest electricity prices in the world at 41 cents per kWh. Electricity in Denmark is almost four times more expensive than in the United States. Impoverished citizens in the lowest Danish income brackets spend about 8.9 percent of their total budget on electricity. The poorest citizens in neighboring Sweden, which doesnt subsidize green energy to the same extent, spend only 3.6 percent of their household budget on electricity. The lowest income brackets in the United States spend a mere 2.9 percent of their household budget on electricity.
Hate the poor, do they. I wonder why Sen. Sanders (NRA - VT) wants us to follow in their footsteps?
January 6, 2016
Ethanol
That math thing again. There is actually another bad thing about ethanol which I had not considered. You smart guys, and Merrill Matthews at the WSJ Ed Page are likely way ahead.
Maybe even Iowans are having second thoughts about a law that has been a boon to corn growers but hardly anyone else. Before long, it may be politically safe to take a wise step and eliminate the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). This would immediately and dramatically increase the demand for oil, help stabilize energy markets, boost the economy--and likely reduce carbon-dioxide emissions.The RFS requires gasoline to contain a specified level of ethanol--renewable biofuels mostly from corn, but increasingly from other plant and animal substances. The law also requires the Environmental Protection Agency to periodically increase the amount of ethanol that must be used. But raising the amount of ethanol in gasoline past 10% could harm millions of car engines.
I had not considered that, as oil prices tumble, we are forcing refiners to use more expensive ethanol and in greater quantities. "You have to add caviar to that Mac'n'Cheese -- the First Lady says!"
Much as I love filling up the MR2 for $19 instead of $30, I worry about my property values in the country's eighth cranked county for energy production. I dig the idea of exports (Thanks, Speaker Ryan!) but it would be a start if we were allowed to, say, add it to gasoline.
Replacing the 18 billion gallons of ethanol under the EPA's 2016 RFS with roughly 18 billion gallons of gasoline would reduce the oil glut and improve the nation's carbon footprint. Sounds like a candidate for bipartisan agreement.
Add to this that commercial fuel ethanol production has been (barely) profitable for only about two of the last four years and repeal of the RFS is a win-win-win proposition.
Posted by: johngalt at January 6, 2016 6:41 PMDecember 15, 2015
Propsworthy: Western Oil Producers
When America's fracking-enabled shale oil revolution took off, OPEC leader Saudi Arabia was adversely affected by the drop in worldwide oil prices. Fashioning itself the 900 pound gorilla, the Saudis embarked on a sort of "WalMart strategy" whereby they hoped to put the upstart American companies out of business by driving the price of oil low enough to undermine fracking economics. But they made a big mistake in underestimating the competitive spirit of American businessmen. Guardian's Nils Pratley writes:
Investment in shale and conventional oil has plunged, it is true - the evidence is the slump in the number of rigs operating in the US. But investment and production are different things. Producers adapt. They squeeze their suppliers, they drill only their best prospects, and they cut costs. BHP Billiton, for example, has slashed spending on its US shale fields, but last month predicted that "improved recoveries and lower drilling costs will deliver stable production" this year at its Black Hawk and Permian onshore oilfields in Texas.
And where does that leave Saudi Arabia, Russia, Venezuela, and the bulk of the OPEC cartel?
In the end, of course, low oil prices will probably deliver production cuts, as the Saudis intended; it's just that the timescale is constantly being extended as oil inventories soar. Having persuaded its Opec co-travellers to sign up for a short campaign, the Saudis risk being dragged into a long battle by default. The low oil price is great news (at least for the time being) for oil-consuming countries. But when, like the Saudis, you require $100-a-barrel oil to balance your budget, you have a serious problem. Even foreign-exchange reserves of $640bn don't last for ever.
Nice. Although you may need to weave in the fracker's cute new puppy, or his child that was being bullied at school because Texas Sweet Crude futures for March were trading below $37 but then sang a song at the school show and nobody expected what would happen next...
A solid first effort, though!
Posted by: jk at December 15, 2015 3:31 PMYou're right, I slipped back into 3srcs mode there at the end. Replace the second excerpt with this:
"And as a result, everyone can afford to drive himself (sorry) herself, to the places she wants to go for the same price as bus fare! And she won't have to choose between buying ramen and birth control pills or keeping her apartment warm for Fluffy and Biscuit while she's gone.
'We are the world!
We are the children!'"
Posted by: johngalt at December 15, 2015 3:50 PMDecember 13, 2015
Hard to Pick a Side
I hate Junk Science. It saddens me to see technology abjured for claims that lack credulity.
But, if it has gotta happen...
US town rejects solar panels amid fears they 'suck up all the energy from the sun'
You gotta love the "retired science teacher" helping to uphold the ban.
Posted by: nanobrewer at December 14, 2015 12:51 AMOr perhaps there were other good reasons not to participate in this eco-boondoggle that didn't paint the desired portrait of backwards, inbred, hayseed American hicks "rejecting science." UK Independent wouldn't want to include those reasons, nosiree Robert.
Posted by: johngalt at December 14, 2015 11:40 AMBut the Pope, cancer, and renewables!
I share your sentiment, but this does not push the dialectic in the proper direction -- just more flat earth deniers.
Posted by: jk at December 14, 2015 12:35 PMOf course it doesn't push in the right direction - it is propaganda designed to push in the wrong direction. By singling out two fringe voices, and omitting any others, they paint a distorted scenario of what really happened and why.
Posted by: johngalt at December 14, 2015 2:57 PMNovember 9, 2015
A Nation of Laws? Anybody?
Kurt Mix has his Harvey Silverglate moment
At 6:30 a.m. on April 24, 2012, federal agents, wearing Kevlar vests and with guns drawn, raided my home in Katy, Texas, with a warrant for my arrest. This was as shocking to me as it would be for any normal, law-abiding citizen.I'm not a drug dealer, violent criminal or money launderer. I'm an engineer. In 2010 I helped stop the BP oil spill after an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig left a damaged well spilling crude directly into the Gulf of Mexico.
They wanted to throw somebody in jail. Mister Mix had a pulse and had -- I hope you are sitting down -- deleted a couple text message threads.
Looking back now at the Justice Department's conduct, I realize that I made one egregious error: I naïvely believed that the task force simply wanted the truth. I was certain that once it had the full record of my actions, everything would be fine, and the trauma my family and I had gone through would end.I was in for a rude awakening. Facts were not what the investigators wanted. They wanted a conviction. They wanted to prove to the public that their lengthy, expensive investigation was successful. And success meant conviction. I had banked on the truth saving me, but the truth was not enough.
WHO DOES HE THINK HE IS? THE GORRAM SECRETARY OF STATE?
I did my job with honor and professionalism. I served the public's best interests. For this, I was hounded for four years and threatened with up to four decades in a federal penitentiary.
Unlike a Harvey Silverglate story [Review Corner], Mix did not get 40 years in the calaboose. After just four years of ruinious litigation, he was offered a misdemeanor plea -- to something he didn't do of course, but he can go back to work.
I hate to mix outrages, but it is upsetting both from the Siverglate, three-felonies-a-day perspective and the unfavorable comparison to Sec. Clinton's treatment. If anybody wanted a "collar" (I watch TV, too!) it's there for the taking. Mix admitted readily to the deletions and cooperated extensively to recover them.
A nation of law. Riiiiiight.
It is a grave error to suppose that a dictatorship rules a nation by means of strict, rigid laws which are obeyed and enforced with rigorous, military precision. Such a rule would be evil, but almost bearable; men could endure the harshest edicts, provided these edicts were known, specific and stable; it is not the known that breaks men’s spirits, but the unpredictable. A dictatorship has to be capricious; it has to rule by means of the unexpected, the incomprehensible, the wantonly irrational; it has to deal not in death, but in sudden death; a state of chronic uncertainty is what men are psychologically unable to bear.
"Antitrust: The Rule of Unreason," The Objectivist Newsletter, Feb. 1962, 5
From Law, Objective and Non-Objective at the Ayn Rand Lexicon
There is a memorable scene in Atlas Shrugged Part 2, in Hank Rearden's steel mill, when the government regulator blithely boasts to Mr. Rearden that, "A law is of no value whatsoever, until the right person violates it."
Posted by: johngalt at November 10, 2015 2:59 PMOctober 12, 2015
Saudi Oil Manipulation in the Texas Briar Patch
Remember when Saudi Arabia announced that they were going to keep oil production high to depress prices and, by their calculation, undercut the U.S. oil boom?
What the Saudis and the naysayers closer to home seem to have forgotten is that the free market is the greatest incubator of technological innovation. Energy producers in this country have gauged the challenges of lower prices, are working to tackle them, and its paying off.OPECs gamble to kill American innovation was a short-term strategy without an endgame, and no appreciation of how the strategy would spur greater efficiencies and innovation in the U.S. Call this a gentle reminder: It is never wise to bet against capitalism, especially in Texas.
Unfortunately for the Saudis, they don't understand the power of innovation and free markets. Perhaps that's because President Eisenhower gave them the innovation of American and British countries in the 1950's, and they haven't had to innovate for themselves since... ever.
The linked piece is another fine article brought to us by Opportunity Lives.
October 2, 2015
Renewable Energy vs. Real Energy
Courtesy of the "Boulder Valley & Northern Colorado Economic Profile & Market Facts" glossy mailer just arrived from BizWest.
On the Energy page, we find that Oil & Gas provided more than 110,000 jobs (5 year averaged trend 6.7% growth) to northern Colorado, whereas the Renewable industry (aka, Vestas) provided 3000 (4.1% growth). One wonders why they didn't include all the various, crunchy solar installation companies... couldn't have hurt the numbers...
Real Energy for real shiny people....
September 2, 2015
And grow your own food, Weave own clothes
I thought we had a pejorative category for nonsense from Boulder already...
From the "too stupid to come from anyone without an advanced degree department:" new homes in Boulder will have to generate their own power.
Boulder County is eyeing changes to its building code that will require all new homes to produce as much energy as they consume by 2022, a move that could add $100,000 to $200,000 to the home's cost.The proposal is being reviewed as part of the county's annual update of its building code and comes under the county's sustainability plan, adopted in 2013.
The rules, right now, apply to homes 6,000 square feet or larger.
If the county agrees to adopt this latest version, in 2016 it will apply to homes at or above 4,000 square feet with the goal of having all new homes meet the standard by 2022.
I'd ask if they had read their Adam Smith, but that would be insane.
But God help you if you try to collect and store your own rainwater.
Posted by: Keith Arnold at September 2, 2015 2:03 PMWith or without the proposed change, it is already worse than you think in Boulder County. Or at least, it's worse that I thought.
Rodwin believes that the proposed changes will have a small effect because of the already stringent nature of building codes in the county.Posted by: johngalt at September 2, 2015 2:46 PM"For a typical house in Boulder County, you are required to build almost to net zero just to get a permit," he said.
[emphases mine]
Update: Boulder County staff recommends that only "homes 5000 square feet or greater" be required to include power plants.
Another public hearing is scheduled for September 22, with a County Commissioners vote expected in October.
Posted by: johngalt at September 2, 2015 2:58 PMI don't see how it's such a big deal. All that's necessary for my house to produce as much power as it uses would be for them to approve my permit request for that nuclear reactor in my basement.
No problemo, right?
Posted by: Keith Arnold at September 2, 2015 3:56 PMHAHAHA! Yes, I can see it now: "Hello Sirs, Please find my attached mixed-use development plan for the Nuclear Acres subdivision NUPUD." Sincerely yours, Homer T. Simpson.
Posted by: johngalt at September 2, 2015 4:38 PMY'all are so negative. I'm sure that if you promise to use GMO-free, organic, gluten-free plutonium...
Posted by: jk at September 2, 2015 5:21 PMJune 19, 2015
Gotchyer Feel Good Story of the Day
Doubt this has received much play outside of Colorado, but liberty and pro-energy development sites have been having some fun.
Several bars and liquor stores in Craig, Colorado pulled New Belgium and Breckenridge beer off their shelves [Full disclosure: New Belgium's 1554 is nectar of the freaking Gods themselves, and Breckenridge's Nitro Vanilla Porter is what you order when they're out of 1554]. Both breweries tout their progressive bona fides at every opportunity, but their appearance on a website of business supporters for a group trying to shut down the Colowyo coal mine was too much for locals whose customers' livelihoods are tied to the mine.
Stockmen's Liquor pulled several brands of beer -- including New Belgium Brewery -- because they are listed as WildEarth Guardians supporters."We pulled those beers because their support of WildEarth Guardians... who said their ultimate goal is to shut down coal mines," said Lori Gillam, owner of Stockmen's. "Craig is a coal mine town."
Now, WildEarth Guardians has updated its website:
The Craig Daily Press published its first story about local liquor stores and restaurants pulling New Belgium and Breckenridge Brewery beer on June 8, and shortly thereafter, WildEarth Guardians staff deleted its webpage called "Businesses for Guardians."The newspaper then published the cached webpage of supporters, and less than 24 hours later, the environmentalists republished the webpage.
On that page, a total of 605 businesses across Colorado and New Mexico were listed as supporters. As of June 18, that number shrunk to 151 businesses listed as supporters.
Atkins-boy does not consume enough to impact either brewery, but I'll buy something else the next few months.
June 5, 2015
Quote of the Day
EPA's conclusion really is remarkable. The agency has yearned for an excuse to take over fracking regulation from the states, which do the job well. So if there was so much as a sliver of evidence that fracking was dangerous, the EPA would have found it. Think of this as the Obama Administration's equivalent of the Bush Administration failing to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. -- WSJ Ed Page
Obama lied. EPA tried. Fracking survived.
Posted by: johngalt at June 5, 2015 11:32 AMIf this was the Obama Administration's equivalent of the Bush Administration failing to find WMD in Iraq, the British army would have specialists in Pennsylvania helping local governments clean up fracking fluid in drinking water supplies.
Posted by: AndyN at June 5, 2015 12:07 PMMay 14, 2015
More on Elon Musk's Amazing Batt'ry
Peter Van Doren is not convinced it is a good idea even if viable:
"...other means of production are actually very low cost, much lower than solar, even if we had some sort of carbon tax that allegedly charged for the externalities created by traditional fossil fuel boilers."
Van Doren assumes a status quo ante that I think Musk simply ignores. He wants to REPLACE the grid. How very individualist of him! Except - since mass produced and distributed energy is cheaper than any form of source generation, anyone making an objective decision will choose the local power company. Unless, of course, government takes that option away, by one mean or another. And since "everyone knows" that mass produced energy is "destroying the earth," putting them out of business is something we "must do" according to Musk. His battery is the way he now suggests, "we can" do it.
Posted by: johngalt at May 14, 2015 2:26 PMHe speaks clumsily - sounds young, as well - but his point is spot on. Musk has created a straw man that I think he hopes more like a Trojan Horse.
Mr. Van Doren is spot on: PV is lovely, but expensive - he cites, properly from what I can tell (and he's actually paid to know this) 17c/kWhr, vs. Nat. Gas which is close to 3 cents.
Note that the price of NG is at "the box" of the generator, which takes a while and more than a bit of infrastructure to get to OUR meters.
Techhie speak aside, the general idea is that Musk is making making a rutting scent with which he hopes to gather sympathy and more subsidies. The Gridwall will be as useful as EV's were in the 60's.
Posted by: nanobrewer at May 20, 2015 12:45 AMMay 4, 2015
Going from annoyance to extreme dislike
Of this preening, cronyist asshole:
UPDATE: I lashed out. I wish I had not posted a personal attack. If what he presents is true. it sounds great. Color me skeptical of his claims, and all too prepared for a Gazillion dollar subsidy required to launch his plan. Most worrisome is the closing line "We Can. We Must. We Will." I'd like to ask something about "should."
I want this to work. Really I do. Forget about the #*&#ing CO2 for a moment - the idea of distributed standalone generation and storage is the holy grail for survivalist TEA Party redneck knuckledraggers more than anyone. And it's so, so... "not ugly." But. [I really don't know how this is going to turn out but let's figure it out together.]
The 10kW power wall is $3500. He doesn't put a price tag on the 100kW power pack but I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it costs $35,000.
To power Boulder takes a "gigawatt hour class pack." 1,000,000,000 / 100,000 = 10,000 power packs. At $35,000 each that's a cool $350 million.
According to the Colorado Energy Fact Sheet, annual electricity use per capita is 10,200 kWh (10,200,000 Wh) and another source lists the Boulder service area population at 111,000. Using a calculator that's 1.1322 TWh (terawatt hours).
At 9.15 cents per kWh that's, with a calculator, $103.6 million. So the utility savings will pay for the gigabattery in about 3 and a third years. That's not as bad as I expected! But it doesn't include the cost of solar panels.
Going from the last rule of thumb I can remember, $1 per watt, and generously figuring 10 charging hours per day, the panels will cost 1.132 TWh/10h= 113.2 GW x $1/W =113.2 gigabucks.
If that's correct, and I admit to working fast and loose here just after midnight, the total cost of 113.55 billion dollars will be recouped in utility savings in 1096 years.
Unless they can bring down the cost of the panels (or unless I screwed up somewhere, and my glass of Tincup American Whiskey is nearly quaffed) it looks like only Elon Musk could afford this.
Posted by: johngalt at May 5, 2015 2:37 AMThanks for your work. What I don't get on either side is time. The enthusiast could claim that you are using annual usage and -- as the sun famously shines 300 days in Colorado -- your figures could be divided by 300. Go Elon!
By the same token, how many days did he have to charge the wall packs for his little soiree? Was that a hotel -- the whole event powered by batteries charged by roof panels. That was impressive but hard to believe (it looked like they was using a bit of juice).
I share your distaste at skepticism. I'm an unabashed advocate for modernity and many things I champion are more far-fetched than solar power. I go back to "we must." He closes his speech with, and I have heard it before in an interview: "Can we get off fossil fuels?" he is asked. "We Must."
That's a religious argument, not economic or physics-based "Can we convert the whole world to Jihad?" "We Must!"
I'll close with a little Bastiat. It is tempting to say it is worthwhile to go his direction, but what is the opportunity cost? What better use of that capital? One 10kW for le condo d'Amour that does not seem so bad and I am protected from outage. But I could have bought a $600 generator to accomplish the same goal -- and had $2900 left over for guitars. If we spend petabucks over a cheaper alternative, we will forgo wealth elsewhere.
Posted by: jk at May 5, 2015 8:05 AMGood catch mon frer, I left out the term for days per year. So 113.2 GW / 365 = 310 MW of charging capacity... $310 million.
$310 million for panels and $350 million for batteries is $660 million, which breaks even in 6.4 years - or about the lifespan of the laptop batteries these things are made with. So it might be on par with grid power (inflated grid power I should add here - it should cost less than 5 cents per kWh. And would, without government meddling.) But it has better optics and we all know what counts most these days.
Posted by: johngalt at May 5, 2015 12:08 PMBefore you sign that check, is 1/365 too kind? We have a rare-but-not-unprecedented cloudy, overcast week ahead. We're going to need a few days' batteries or double the panels are we not? It looks like a 50% at best day out there today.
Glenn Reynolds fretted that, while we were wasting stimulus money anyhow, we should have got something out of it. He suggested a "Smart Grid" that would allow distributed generation, enable selling back surplus power, and price by demand hour.
Had they done that instead of shoveling it at unions to dig holes and fill them up, Mister Musk's attractive batteries would have an immediate market and value proposition.
Posted by: jk at May 5, 2015 1:05 PMYou caught me. Putting my finger on the scale for renewables again! ;)
My math didn't account for Colorado's 55 cloudy days per year. And 10 hours of peak generation per day is also too kind. When one factors in the loss from low-angle sunlight and off-axis incidence on the panels it would easily be reduced by half. So double the cost of the panels - the breakeven time is now 9-1/3 years for this 0.97 billion dollar "investment."
Are you happy now, you hater?
That does equate to an awful lot of guitars though, I must admit.
(And you forgot to include "turn off folks lights and air conditioning for them when they aren't looking" as one of your SmartGrid TM features. Hell, that's the most important one! Our betters call this "load shedding." I think it was one an element of society as depicted in the classic flick "Soylent Green." Or was it "Logan's Run?")
Posted by: johngalt at May 5, 2015 2:30 PMI saw both on a triple feature; the third flick was "Silent Running." Now there's a piece of ThreeSources cinema... My massive crush on Jenny Agutter affected me more than the eco-agitprop.
Discounted non-peak power does not require infrastructure changes. The user could change the meter. I wonder if that sells enough of Mister Musk's widgets to keep him in ever younger film stars. It would add a lot of resilience to the grid and reduce peak capacity requirements.
Posted by: jk at May 5, 2015 6:39 PMApril 27, 2015
President Obama's Legacy
I now know what the eight years of the Barack Hussein Obama presidency will be remembered for, and our lefty friends aren't going to like it. Not because I'm about to bash Obama again - in fact, I will praise him (faintly.) Obama's legacy will not be national health care, wage equality, Mideast peace or even "stopping the rise of the oceans" although he will actually "do" this. (More later.) Instead, it will be the start of a new era of peace and prosperity across the globe.
The United States is poised to flood world markets with once-unthinkable quantities of liquefied natural gas as soon as this year, profoundly changing the geo-politics of global energy and posing a major threat to Russian gas dominance in Europe."We anticipate becoming big players, and I think we'll have a big impact," said the [sic] Ernest Moniz, the US Energy Secretary. "We're going to influence the whole global LNG market."
Mr. Moniz said four LNG export terminals are under construction and the first wave of shipments may begin before the end of this year or in early 2016 at the latest.
"We?" Yes, President Obama's energy secretary is attaching his boss to this effort. The faint praise I promised lies in the fact that he allowed the LNG export terminal permits to be issued. He is "responsible" for the coming 'copious carbon energy for a pittance' revolution to the extent that he didn't try to stand in its way. (Although it likely would have flattened him the way his EPA is attempting to flatten the coal industry.)
America's parallel drive for shale oil is equally breath-taking. Scott Sheffield, head of Pioneer Natural Resources, said his company has discovered huge reserves in the vast Permian Basin of West Texas."We think the Permian could produce 5-6m barrels a day (b/d) in the long-term," he said. It is a staggering claim. This would be more than Saudi Arabia's giant Ghawar field, the biggest in the world.
Ryan Lance, head of ConocoPhillips, said North American oil output could reach 15m b/d by 2020 and 25m b/d over the next quarter century, three times Saudi Arabia's current exports.
A vault forward on this scale would establish the US as the leading energy superpower in both oil and gas, a revival that almost nobody could have imagined seven years ago when the United States was in near panic over its exorbitant dependency of imported fuel. It would restore the US to its mid-20th Century position as a surplus trading nation, and perhaps ultimately as world's biggest external creditor once again.
So this revival, this oil and gas "renaissance" started "seven years ago." Circa June 4, 2008, i.e. "the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal." And as soon as the Global Warming Policy Center's "Blue Ribbon Panel" determines that global warming is a mirage of misguided scientific error corrections, President Obama can take credit for that too. But the accomplishment that will be remembered - the real change that makes real changes in the lives of real people - is cheap and abundant energy worldwide. And like the birth of liberty and prosperity that came in the 20th century, this one will also be a uniquely American creation.
Fracking is still an almost exclusive preserve of North America, and is likely to remain so into the early 2020s. China has large ambitions but the volumes are still tiny, and there is a shortage of water in key areas. Fracking remains mere talk in most other regions of the world.Lukoil analysts say Russian extraction costs for shale are four times higher that those of US wildcat drillers. Sanctions currently prevent the Russians importing the know-how and technology to tap its vast Bazhenov basin at a viable cost.
John Hess, the founder of Hess Corporation, said it takes a unique confluence of circumstances to pull off a fracking revolution: landowner rights over sub-soil minerals, a pipeline infrastructure, the right taxes and regulations, and good rock. "We haven't seen those stars align yet," he said.
Above all it requires the acquiescence of the people. "It takes a thousand trucks going in and out to launch a (drilling) spud. Not every neighbourhood wants that," he said.
Certainly not in Sussex, Burgundy, or Bavaria.
Or in Erie, Colorado.
This is as unlikely a legacy as anyone could have imagined for a president who, as candidate, bragged that electricity costs would "necessarily skyrocket" as a result of his policy goals designed to promote alternatives to oil and gas. But given the bareness of the cupboard in his presidential library storeroom, I suspect he will gladly take it - deserved or not.
Firstly, this constant malignment of my home town has got to stop. We may have elected a bad mayor, but our council held firm against the encroaching Boulder loonies and rejected a moratorium. There's frackin' in them thar' plains. Trust me.
It borders on the humorous how the fracking boom has rescued the Obama Presidency against his wishes and actions. The economic stagnation of other sectors would likely have been a full blown recession. Energy saved his economy and Gov. Hickenlooper (Bloombergian - CO). But Hick has the smarts (he is a Geologist by training) not to stand athwart progress.
Posted by: jk at April 28, 2015 9:53 AMApril 26, 2015
Problem, Meet Solution
News this week that the town of Erie, Colorado has embarked on a growth program in an effort to attract commercial activity and its concomitant tax revenue to fund city services.
[Erie Mayor Tina] Harris said that the commitments to so much water infrastructure and residential construction were made in order to attract the kind of commercial tax revenue for which the town is still starved."We wanted to be able to have commercial development in town, like King Soopers, like a Super Target in the future, hopefully -- just the amenities that our citizens would want to have in town," she said. "We had to have enough rooftops to get those amenities even interested in Erie, so previous boards made decisions to build so much residential to try to prove to the commercial industry that Erie had enough residents that would be their customers."
Well I have one suggestion: Stop trying to ban oil and gas development, and its concomitant tax revenue! Perhaps instead you might try negotiating a deal where they are given streamlined permitting in preferred areas in return for a municipal surtax. Wouldn't that prove something to commercial industry about Erie's priorities? Or does that make too much sense for you to consider, Ms. Mayor?
April 22, 2015
EV Superfund Alert
It is common knowledge that hybrid and EV cars are better for the earth than gas guzzling SUVs. Which of course means it is not true.
While conventional lead acid batteries used for starting internal combustion engines (ICE) are readily recyclable, state-of-the-art lithium ion batteries are not.
Given the extremely high metal value of used cobalt-based lithium batteries it seems strange that only one company in the world, Unicore of Belgium, has bothered to develop a recycling process. When you take the time to read and digest Umicore's process description, however, the reason becomes obvious. Recycling lithium-ion batteries is an incredibly complex and expensive undertaking that includes:The process is economic when a ton of batteries contains up to 600 pounds of recoverable cobalt that's worth $40 a pound. The instant you take the cobalt out of the equation, the process becomes hopelessly uneconomic. Products that cannot be economically recycled can only end up in one place, your friendly neighborhood landfill.
- Collection and reception of batteries;
- Burning of flammable electrolytes;
- Neutralization of hazardous internal chemistry;
- Smelting of metallic components;
- Refining & purification of recovered high value metals; and
- Disposal of non-recoverable waste metals like lithium and aluminum.
Disposable diapers are less a scourge upon the earth.
Worth it to run your car on coal...
Posted by: jk at April 22, 2015 4:03 PMI'm still holding out for a Delorean with the bolt-on Mr. Fusion on the rear deck.
Posted by: Keith Arnold at April 22, 2015 4:35 PMhybrid and EV cars are better for the earth than gas guzzling SUVs
It's not common knowledge, it's CONVENTIONAL WISDOM.. And (tsk-tsking the crude language on order) it's not 'untrue' it's about convention, not about wisdom.
Posted by: nanobrewer at April 23, 2015 1:06 PMHAPPY EARTH DAY!
My Facebook feed is full of Malthusian nonsense, and the Denver Post has a whiny, uneconomic article decrying "Lexus Lanes." Things is bad. As The Refugee would say "Mongo pawn in the game of life."
But I held out long enough for good news, and I found it:
Record Numbers Of Drivers Trading In Electric Cars For SUVsPresident Barack Obama promised to put a million more hybrid and electric cars on the road during his tenure, but new research shows drivers are trading them in to buy sports utility vehicles (SUVs).
The auto-research group Edmunds.com found that 22 percent of people who have traded in their hybrids and [electric vehicles] in 2015 bought a new SUV.
Happy Earth Day!
Sorry, left this link out. My bad. http://bit.ly/1K5uma6
Posted by: Keith Arnold at April 22, 2015 1:45 PMCrikey, three in a row. Meanwhile, in the Buffyverse: Joss Whedon says climate-change deniers should be barred from life-saving medicines. As or me, I aim to misbehave: http://bit.ly/1QkbDvQ
Posted by: Keith Arnold at April 22, 2015 2:41 PMSchadenfreude, schadenfreude, Earth Day morning you greet me.
Electric cars are also facing increased competition from more fuel-efficient vehicles. Aside from market forces, federal fuel efficiency standards have been forcing automakers to increase the miles per gallon of engines.
If POTUS wants to hawk more EVs he'll need to roll back federal CAFE laws. Even counting the entire membership of the Sierra club he doesn't have enough fingers to poke in the holes of his anti-gasoline political dike.
Electric cars also suffer from issues with battery life. Each hybrid or electric car battery can cost thousands, or even tens of thousands, of dollars, which only helps tip the economic scale in favor of traditional vehicles."It wouldn't make sense to replace a 12-year old battery with a new battery that's going to last 12 years, because chances are the car's not going to last that long," Eric Ibara with Kelley Blue Book told Detroit News.
And even if it did, what do you do with the old battery? "It's recycling!" No. No, it's not.
Posted by: johngalt at April 22, 2015 2:58 PMAh yes, The Man Who Invented Reavers.
Posted by: jk at April 22, 2015 3:47 PMGeorge Carlin opines in classic foul-mouthed hilarity: the Earth is just fine, if humans are a pestilence, the earth will get rid of us!
It's also a fabulous slap-down of uppity, spoiled types obessed with white guilt that are preaching "We've got to save the [xyz]!!!..."
Posted by: nanobrewer at April 23, 2015 1:13 PMGlad to see that "Bill Nye, the Lyin' Guy" is catching on. Of course he's not a science guy, he's a politician!
Posted by: nanobrewer at April 23, 2015 11:08 PMApril 8, 2015
Change.org
The United States Postal Service is buying 180,000 new vehicles. Our government plans to spend $6 billion dollars on new trucks to deliver neighborhood mail, and they only make this big of a fleet purchase about every 25 years! In a moment when more and more companies and individuals are turning to sustainable energy, it is time our USPS does the same. President Obama recently announced the federal government will cut carbon emissions by 40% over the next 10 years. What better place to start than with the new fleet of postal vehicles?
Awesomest idea ever, huh? Sign here!
But but but - 'lectric cars have a bigger carbon footprint than internal combustion vehicles, unless they're charged by the wind or the sun or a nuke or hydro plant.
ThreeSources segue-machine to the rescue: Require that they only be recharged at abandoned VA Hospital solar farms.
Where do I sign for that?
Posted by: johngalt at April 8, 2015 2:55 PMApril 7, 2015
Harvard Prof: My Former Student, President Obama, is "Misguided" on Climate Regulation
Mr. Tribe dismissed the criticism and said that his brief and comments reflect his views as a constitutional scholar, not as a paid advocate for the coal company. "I'm not for sale," he said. "I'll say what I believe."
Nevertheless, the highly respected left-leaning Harvard Law Professor Lawrence H. Tribe, has made himself a pariah. Or, looking at it from a different perspective, he's decided to stop being a rube.
"I feel very comfortable with my relationship with Peabody," he added. "Somebody wanted my help and it happened to coincide with what I believe."But a number of legal scholars and current and former members of the Obama administration say that Mr. Tribe has eroded his credibility by using his platform as a scholar to promote a corporate agenda -- specifically, the mining and burning of coal.
So one must choose - he can be a scholar or he can defend commerce qua commerce - but not both.
Next week Mr. Tribe is to deliver oral arguments for Peabody in the first federal court case about Mr. Obama's climate change rules. Mr. Tribe argues in a brief for the case that in requiring states to cut carbon emissions, thus to change their energy supply from fossil fuels to renewable sources, the E.P.A. is asserting executive power far beyond its lawful authority under the Clean Air Act. At a House hearing last month, Mr. Tribe likened the climate change policies of Mr. Obama to "burning the Constitution."
Clearly this is stinging the Rube Movement, and more than just a little.
"Whether he intended it or not, Tribe has been weaponized by the Republican Party in an orchestrated takedown of the president's climate plan," said one former administration official.
Weaponized? If so, it is indisputably as a countermeasure to the president's climate plan for mass economic destruction.
It is widely expected that the fight over the E.P.A. regulations will eventually go before the Supreme Court. If it does, Mr. Tribe said that he expects he "may well" play a role in that case -- which would be argued before two other former students, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Elena Kagan.
Is it possible then that Tribe was retained by Peabody in a strategy to intimidate the high court in favor of "a corporate agenda -- specifically, the mining and burning of coal?" Sure, that's possible. And it's also possible that one branch of government strangling an entire economic sector against the will and without the complicity of other branches really is like "burning the Constitution."
UPDATE: Furthermore, strangling an entire economic sector, or a specific corporation, or even an individual, is the very thing that a "Republican form of government" guaranteed by the Constitution [Article IV, Section 4] was intended to prevent - by a single branch or even, indeed, by all three in concert! It was to be, a minimal state.
The minimal state treats us as inviolate individuals, who may not be used in certain ways by others as means or tools or instruments or resources; it treats us as persons having individual rights with the dignity this constitutes. Treating us with respect by respecting our rights, it allows us, individually or with whom we choose, to choose our life and to realize our ends and our conception of ourselves, insofar as we can, aided by the voluntary cooperation of other individuals possessing the same dignity. How dare any state or group of individuals do more. Or less.
I guess by the same logic (and I'm using that word charitably) every climate scientist who takes government money to continue pushing the AGW lie is eroding his credibility by promoting the agenda of his paymasters?
Posted by: AndyN at April 7, 2015 10:41 PMI can be a pretty calm, equanimous guy. But the double standard AndyN points out drives me insane.
With all due respect, petroleum engineers and scientists would find good paying work irrespective of the effect CO2 has on climate. They'll eat.
Climate researchers likely have other options, but their funding is 100% predicated on climate concern. Should accurate risk assessment spread, these folks would all be crafting new grant applications to observe snails or leeches. Yet, a guy who works for Shell or once got a free AFP T-shirt is tainted.
Posted by: jk at April 8, 2015 11:09 AMDon't be silly Andy. Everyone knows that nobody "profits" by the spending of tax money by government. It is strictly for the "public good."
Posted by: johngalt at April 8, 2015 2:59 PMI don't believe that everyone knows that, JG. I doubt that you could find a better real world example of a disused hole filled to the top with rubbish than most departments at a modern university. There must be at least a few people who believe there's profit to be made by burying bank notes in those holes.
Posted by: AndyN at April 8, 2015 8:28 PMYes. But even though corrupt individuals do personally gain through the misapplication of government revenue, it is called power not profit. They don't seek personal gain so much as the ability to harm others - a power they wield with glee against anyone who they perceive as more powerful or successful than themselves. The term "profit" is dirty to them. They call their gains something else - "Social Justice."
So-called Social Justice is the wage of the bureaucrat. He spends it paying off debts in the ledger of his own self-esteem.
Posted by: johngalt at April 9, 2015 11:30 AMI should add that I did sense your complementary sarcasm, AndyN.
I also want to call attention to a timely example of a bureaucrat seeking personal gain through the harming of others - doing so through the tactic of "social justice" - for the advancement of her own dilapidated self-esteem. Her name is Starlight Glimmer, a.k.a. Ivy Starnes.
Posted by: johngalt at April 9, 2015 2:46 PMMarch 25, 2015
'Lectriccars!
While my blog brother takes to ThreeSources to point out the dangerous racism of Tesla motor vehicles, Holman Jenkins lays down some obvious on the WSJ Ed Page. Tesla's whole business plan is to get bought out by an automaker to balance its efficiency portfolio for Federal regulation. Until then, it can limp along (at a high market cap, all admit) by treading water on the flood of subsidies and mandates.
And all the while, Libertarians will cheer Elon Musk. But this is not a rant. Put the caps lock key away, son... Besides, Jenkins takes some whacks on my behest:
In what way, then, is Tesla disruptive, the fanboy description of companies that come along and render obsolete what went before?Good question. When a user leaves his driveway in a Tesla, he still wastes time staring out a windshield and gripping a wheel. He still sits in traffic. As with any other car, Tesla's electronics are long out of date before the car's useful life has expired. As with any other car, a Tesla owner ties up thousands of dollars in a piece of equipment that sits idle 95% of the time. Uber is disruptive. Tesla isn't. Tesla is disruptive mostly of a driver's confidence that he's going to reach his destination without needing a tow.
Tesla solves no problem of the automobile. It only creates a new problem.
Gotta break some eggs to make an omelet!
The Jenkins piece is a cry to short Tesla. One good Saskatchewanian report or -- NED freakin' forfend -- the election of a Ted Cruz or Rand Paul and their value could plumment.
Posted by: jk at March 25, 2015 1:42 PMI know it's off topic, but I'm too cheap to pay for a subscription and read the whole thing to find out for myself. Does the column explain how, exactly, Uber is disruptive?
My understanding is that Uber just provides a minimal amount of screening of drivers and cars who can be hired directly by people in need of a ride. While conceptually it's a nice step away from the over-reaching regulatory state, functionally it looks to me like a modest compromise with the status quo ante cab system. The consumer can usually get a ride for a better price than by calling a cab, but in exchange puts his safety in the hands of someone whose only qualification was owning a relatively new car and being able to pass a test that every teenage boy in the country can pass.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think anybody should be stopping Uber from doing their thing, I think they should live or die on the strength of what the market thinks of them. I just doubt that they'll ever be anything close to disruptive of that market.
Posted by: AndyN at March 25, 2015 2:03 PM@AndyN: I can send the article if you'd like, but it's really about Tesla's market cap being overly contingent on Federal subsidies and regulations.
Uber is just thrown out as a comparison, but I'll play.
Uber is not disruptive to cabs (well it is, but...) Uber is disruptive to car ownership. I even thought about it as I posted the excerpt. My love for my little MR2 is well known 'round these parts. But do I need a car?
I work from home. I have <60,000 miles on an eleven-year-old vehicle. I could scrap insurance and maintenance and just call Uber or Lyft when I want to go to Starbucks -- and probably come out spending less.
If that's not appealing -- and I confess it isn't to me, Uber replaces the second car of the exurban couple and the first car of the urban single millennial. As it becomes more popular or more automated, ride-sharing becomes a better substitute to car ownership. That disrupts parking, maintenance and all the cottage industries around private vehicle ownership.
You would not be the only doubter around ThreeSources (I may be the only believer) but you must admit that a move from ownership to sharing changes everything. Jenkins's point is that a move to EVs changes gas stations (and they probably just trade a row of pumps for chargers).
On the safety issue I will push back. I think that has been overblown, if not by big-Taxi, by luddites in general. There are some pretty horrific tales of very bad things from taxi drivers. The protection is not from Uber's comprehensive check -- it is from the rating. You only select a driver with a high and frequent ratings if you're a young woman coming home late from a bar. The safety is crowdsourced.
Every bad incident gets a lot of press -- I don't think that is a fair proxy for the relative safety.
Posted by: jk at March 25, 2015 2:35 PMjk - I just spent too much time typing out a thorough response, previewed it, hit post and had it blow up. I'm taking that as a sign that I need to be less verbose and prolix, so I'll just summarize.
The only reason Uber jumped out at me here is because I just read a cabbie's take on it last night - http://taxicabdepressions.com/?p=1759. I think the most important point he raised is that even if a cabbie isn't inherently safer, an Uber driver who screws up doesn't have commercial insurance to make you whole.
I think Uber is even less of a threat to private car ownership than it is to traditional cab companies. Too few of us base our transportation budgets on strict cost/benefit analyses. This is still a nation where full-size pickups are consistently among the top selling vehicles. Before people embrace the (possible) practicality of ride sharing, I'd expect them to at least take the baby step of not buying a fuel-guzzling cargo vehicle to use as a passenger car.
Posted by: AndyN at March 25, 2015 4:43 PMAnd they do AndyN, many of them, just not me or you. I think Holman's point of including Uber in this discussion was to illustrate just what it is to be "disruptive." It means a fundamental change in things, not just fueling your self-driven conveyance at a different "pump."
What you seem to be hung up on is the magnitude of Uber's disruption. I think we'd all agree that, for now, it is relatively small. But so was the horseless carriage in its infancy.
Posted by: johngalt at March 25, 2015 5:29 PMAndyN -- as ThreeSources' sysadmin, accept my sincerest apologies for technical failure.
Okay, let's put time scales on it and see if we cannot all get along. Short term, yes, Uber is much more of a threat to BigYellowTaxi; that is why they are fighting it tooth and nail. Long term, however -- and the reason for Mister Jenkins to call it disruptive -- is its potential to affect car ownership (disagree or not, there is potential).
Yes, they'll have to pry the steering wheel of brother jg's awesome 70 'Cuda from his cold dead fingers. I look at Lyft as Uber as transition to driverless cars. Yeah, we all like to read Kerouac, but commuting everyday, why not get driven and recapture the time you'd have spent. No parking, no insurance, no maintenance, no tipping the valet -- you get door to door service everywhere you go.
That is an appealing vision, and just the changes in parking qualify as disruptive. We can build bars on all those parking lots.
I get Uber and Lyft confused but at least one adds substantive insurance on top of what drivers are required to carry. There was a big contretemps over whether it is in effect on the way to pick up a client, but once the rider is onboard, he or she has that. I'm pretty skeptical of the cabdriver's word.
Lots of reasons for a truck, but I might turn your argument around. One buys for one's largest need. Maybe if truck-sharing becomes popular, you buy the Camry and call LyftGate when you need to go to Home Depot.
Oh, and 20,000 - 30,000 fewer people die every year. There's that. DUI, handicapped, 73-year old 60's icons...
Posted by: jk at March 25, 2015 5:35 PMMarch 19, 2015
Maybe the World is not ThreeSources after all
UPDATE: That's one way to put it...
In other news, Denver VA hospital $1 billion over budget
That's a thousand $millions.
That's 136% MORE than originally budgeted.
That's 236% of the originally budgeted cost.
That's 865% of the originally INTENDED cost.
Okay, I only have one question: When are we going to elect a president with the balls to increase it's "clean" energy use to 100 percent overall?
Posted by: johngalt at March 19, 2015 7:14 PMYou act as if these two topics were somehow related...
Posted by: jk at March 19, 2015 7:15 PMEV Math
In the fine tradition of this blog's 2009 gem "Oil Math" I'd like to paint a comparative portrait of two types of automobile: The gasoline fueled internal combustion engine and the battery fueled electric vehicle, or EV.
Oil Math shows us that a gallon of gasoline contains 131,760,000 Joules of energy, or 132 Megajoules for short. JB Straubel, the CTO of Tesla Motors in 2008 told us that the firm's Roadster battery has a capacity of 55kW-hours, and since 1 Watt equals 1 Joule per second, can be converted to Joules by multiplying kWh times 60 seconds per minute and times 60 minutes per hour.
55,000 * 60 * 60 = 198,000,000 Joules
Which seems like a lot until you divide by the number of Joules in a gallon of gas and find that a fully fueled Tesla Roadster has as much energy on board as
198 mJ / 132 mJ = 1.5 gallons of gasoline
That's about 1/10th the fuel capacity of an average internal combustion auto, and now you know why, a) EVs have such a short range between charges, and b) that range fluctuates wildly depending on such things as:
Single driver ~180lbs
Soft top or Hard top on vehicle (with windows up)
No air conditioning usage
No heat usage
No headlights or cabin air blower (large 12V loads)
Tires inflated to recommended efficiency setting 30/40 front/rear psi
At your next few fill ups, stop the pump at 1.5 gallons and see how much your range varies with the myriad changes in driving conditions.
So let's recap: An EV has, a 1.5 gallon fuel tank that weighs 900 pounds and takes 2-12 hours to refuel. That fuel tank also has, according to Jerry's posting on the Tesla Motors forum, a predicted useful lifetime of 10 years and costs $30,000 to replace. (Or the bargain price of $12,000 if you buy your first replacement battery up-front, at the time of purchasing the Roadster.) And all this on a $90,000 car?
The next time you get to speak to a Tesla owner, ask him, "How do you justify the horrible economy of your motor vehicle?" Sure fill-ups are free, if you can find a Tesla charging station on your Google Map, but how many gallons of gas could you buy for $30,000 over ten years? Keeping it simple, at $3 per gallon, 1000 gallons per year, or 20,000 plus miles of driving. That would require 67 full charges in your Tesla, if you never drive faster than 30 mph. But if you choose to drive the speed limit like everyone else does, double that. And if you use the heater, A/C and headlights too, triple it. 200 charges per year, or once every day or two. And remember it takes 2-12 hours depending on the charger.
Maybe he's not like regular folks though, but instead is more like "Roblab" from the forum:
I don't know about the rest of you, but long distance driving is a pain in the ... for any car. Who does roadtrips anymore? All you need to know is whether your car will make it to the airport.
UPDATE: Looking at the EV from the other direction, to carry as much energy as a typical auto with a 15 gallon fuel tank would require a battery ten times as big - 550 kW-h. Such a battery, if you could afford it, would weigh 9,000 pounds. Something tells me the efficiency metric just ticked down.
"The next time you talk to a Tesla owner.." Huh. I don't consider myself either Goober Pyle or Mick Jagger, but I don't think I know a Tesla owner or even an aspiring Tesla owner.
I am a big fan of Peter Diamandis [Review Corner]. He challenges readers to see things on logarithmic scales. The EV might double specs twice in ten years; the gas car will be more linear. So give the tank a six gallon capacity that refills in 30 mins to three hours. Then the comparison is not so bad assuming affordable and plentiful electricity.
I think, knowing you, that you join me in saying "cool -- just don't give $7500 subsidies."
I do not disparage the E or the V in EV. (I am an electrical engineer, after all.) Electric motors are on the order of 90% efficient, compared to 50% for internal combustion. The villain here - the *ahem* "900 pound" gorilla - is the electrochemical battery.
In ten years we may well have fuel cells that can be refilled at a gasoline pump (with gasoline) and give us the best of both worlds. Sadly, development of that spectacular solution is handicapped by the environmental religion that preaches: gasoline is evil.
By the way, those electrochemical batteries are Lithium Ion chemistry. The exact thing some suspect of crashing Malaysian Airlines flight 370.
Posted by: johngalt at March 19, 2015 6:18 PMBecause, Science!
"War is the continuation of politics by other means," said Carl von Clausewitz... and so is environmental "science."
She said the Bureau of Land Management study, known as the NTT Report, is "based on the best available science," while the Fish and Wildlife Service Conservation Objectives Team Final Report "would mean restrictions for the oil and gas industry in sage-grouse habitat.""Any time there are any restrictions, whether it's for wildlife or health or safety, you hear the oil and gas industry complain," Ms. Spivak said.
The coalition's data challenges focus on three "highly influential" scientific reports, prepared by the BLM, FWS and U.S. Geological Survey, that rely on data from "an insular group of "scientist-advocates" who skew their research to advance "policies they personally support," according to the executive summary.
"The Reports were developed with unsound research methods resulting in a partial and biased presentation of information, and peer reviewers have found them to be inaccurate, unreliable, and biased," the summary says. "They contain substantial technical errors, including misleading use of authority and failure to address studies that do not support a federal, one-size-fits-all narrative."
For example, the coalition says the reports are quick to blame human activity for the bird's decline but fail to give proper weight to the impact of predators such as ravens, even though their population has increased by 300 percent and local raven-management efforts in states like Nevada have shown success in boosting grouse habitat.
The three reports "all fail to recognize predation as the single most important factor affecting the abundance of the Greater sage grouse," according to one of the coalition challenges.
"Restrictions" on industry based on the "best available science." Not irrefutable science, or even accurate science. Merely, "the best we have at the moment."
What would we do without scientist-advocates? Live long and prosper, that's what.
March 4, 2015
Nice graphix can't help KOS-niacs understand economics of Nuke & Coal
An interesting series titled GETTING TO ZERO (CO2 emissions, that is), from which the nicely-done graphic comes.
(UPDATED... it worked!)
Higher graph = better. Good article and explanation of the buffered bit as well:
n this study, "unbuffered" is the raw generation without storage, while "buffered" includes the cost of pumped hydro storage where it is needed to buffer the difference in peaks between production and consumption
Now that I've read the comments: I see that even a well-written article which was not blasted in the Comments section, nevertheless did not make much headway (I only spend few min. in the comments section). Best summary:
OK Nukes might help, but I've got problems with waste...
One even cited her HS Chemistry teacher (still having her brain in a jar I suppose).
Others pattered about not being able to get CSP on their rooftops (DOPES: this is about massive amounts of energy...like quads and stuff).
Hat tip to PowerLine (once again)
My appreciation for Cato is well known 'round here. Their energy guys assure that "you can take a lefty's solar/biomass/wind proposal, do a global replace for "nuclear," and hand it to someone of the right.
The exact same levels of subsidies are required -- but the nuke plants need it for insurance, permitting, &c. I hear that as gub'mint protection from gub'mint, but some people I admire greatly say the current technology is not economically viable. They all wet?
Posted by: jk at March 4, 2015 4:36 PMJK:
say the current technology is not economically viable. They all wet?
Yes, the currently employed technology for nuclear power plants in today's (horribly overblown) regulatory environment is not viable.
Why? Because current technology employed are 40-50 year old designs! It's been a coon's age since I've looked into it - once professionally, once as a lurking/blogger - but the state of the art designs are very viable, or so says the PM with whom I interviewed (who would have no reason to lie to me)! There's a small cadre of companies, a few local, sitting on very nice designs and just waiting.... which is why I didn't get the job! Greenwood Village.... just as well, I suppose.
The regulatory environment is - well, let's just say it would be quite comfortably familiar to the architects of the ACA.
Posted by: nanobrewer at March 4, 2015 6:08 PMCATO energy guy: is that Chip Knappenberger?
Btw, that same article I cited has a great explanation of how the energy storage in Norway & Sweden's copious dams is what makes Danish wind power close to viable: when the wind blows, the Danes send power north & the northern folks hold their water, when it doesn't the water & electrons flow south.
Posted by: nanobrewer at March 5, 2015 4:20 PMFebruary 27, 2015
Move that State Line
I think we can safely say that Colorado's 51st State, secessionist movement has fizzled. A better metaphor is drowned -- 100 year floods both captured the media's attention and forced moderates to cling to existing security institutions.
Well, it was a good time and it highlighted the urban-rural divide in State politics. I had warm thoughts as I read a WSJ editorial reporting that 15 New York towns want to trade the Empire State for neighboring, fracking-friendly Pennsylvania.
That part of Pennsylvania is booming. Upstate New York, as anyone who drives through it can attest, is an economic bummer.James Finch, town supervisor in Conklin, New York, described to a local TV station the difference in life on either side of the state line. "Everybody over the border has new cars, new four-wheelers, new snowmobiles," he said. "They have new roofs, new siding." Life in New York's Southern Tier towns is "desolate."
Governor Cuomo has created an American version of the Cold War's East Berlin--with economic life booming on one side of the divide, while an anti-economic ideology stifles it on the other.
We might have to update the photo:
February 4, 2015
But, Vermont Does It
Not blessed with that Yankee Ingenuity like The Green Mountain State, the UK is struggling to heat homes with windmills.
UK demand hit 52.54 gigawatts (GW) between 5pm and 5.30pm on Monday, according to official data from the National Grid. But wind contributed just 0.573GW during the same time, just over 1pc of the total.In stark contrast, gas accounted for 42pc, coal for 29pc, nuclear for 16pc, pumped storage and hydro for 5pc, and interconnector imports for 5pc (the total doesnt quite add up because of rounding).
It adds up plenty good for me -- commercial wind power is a complete waste, providing 1% of the energy needs at substantive cost.
Congratulations, Burlington!
You'll save millions of gallons of gasoline as people no longer want to drive to view the fall foliage!
From US Uncut, shared by a Facebook Friend. And, yes, they are both serious.
UPDATE: PBS News Hour link
Dude -- it was on the Internet! Of course it is true! I added a link to a PBS video. "Climate Change is the biggest problem we face -- the biggest problem we've ever faced!" ~1:35
Posted by: jk at February 4, 2015 12:39 PMUnlike Colorado, they include hydro as renewable. I think that means Las Vegas is there too.
Posted by: jk at February 4, 2015 12:43 PMResidential? Is that a qualifier?
Posted by: jk at February 4, 2015 12:54 PMOnly if anyone wants to shop or hold a job.
It's not a lot windier here, or a lot more rivers here, and certainly not a lot sunnier here than lots of parts of the U.S. It was just a bunch of decisions made over ten years or more, to get towards renewable energy.
Tell that to the Boulder City Council, who doesn't have a Winooski river, or an underutilized [fish habitat destroying] hydroelectric dam in a neighboring state to leech 45% of their power from. But Boulder could build the same "renewable" power plant that Burlington did: Wood stoves, aka "biomass."
Biomass is just a fancy word for something that gets burned to produce energy -- in this case, they haul in scrap wood from across Vermont, use the heat to make steam, and thus generate electricity.
That smokestack up top? That's just water vapor being emitted.
Sure! Plus CO2.
I am just sick and tired of these Democrat voters who ignore science.
Posted by: johngalt at February 4, 2015 1:42 PMLike.
Posted by: jk at February 4, 2015 3:26 PMThe electric rates have not gone up -- anybody else guess they were sky high to begin?
Posted by: jk at February 4, 2015 4:27 PMJanuary 29, 2015
Three Cheers for Sen. Michael Bennett
My Democrat Senator joins my Republican Senator in supporting KeystoneXL!
No Republicans voted to block the legislation, and eight Democrats voted to approve it.
Well done, Senators.
Would you settle for one cheer? "A single cheer only, please."
Posted by: johngalt at January 30, 2015 3:11 PMHuh? The quality of mercy is not jg?
-- One of eight D's voting yea (cheer the one!)
-- 20 months from election (cheer the two!)
-- Potentially pissing off Tom Steyer (cheer the three!)
If my math is incorrect, let me know.
Posted by: jk at January 30, 2015 4:14 PMI'm willing to suggest that the Senior Senator's strategery is as follows: Cheer the one will do him more good regarding cheer the two than would cheer the three.
Posted by: johngalt at January 30, 2015 6:45 PMPerhaps. One of my gripes has been that he is a backbencher and 100% reliable vote for Team Blue. Just eight strikes me as borderline ballsy (well, on the Michael Bennett scale).
Posted by: jk at January 30, 2015 6:57 PM"Selfishness" Rocks!
Economics Hoss Walter E. Williams: Gas-Price Demagogues Feed Off Economic Ignorance
Show me someone who doesn't want more of something, be it cars, houses, clothing, food, peace, admiration, love or war. The fact that people want more is responsible for most of the good things that get done.You'll see Texas cattle ranchers this winter making the personal sacrifice of going out in blizzards to care for their herds. As a result of their sacrifice, New Yorkers will have beef on their grocery shelves.
Which do you think best explains cattlemen's behavior, concern about New Yorkers or their wanting more for themselves?
Dr. Williams can sneak both of our favorites into one short column.
Which worker receives the higher pay, a worker on a road construction project moving dirt with a shovel or a worker moving dirt atop a giant earthmover? If you said the guy on the earthmover, go to the head of the class. But why?
It's not because he's unionized or that employers just love earthmover operators. It's because he is more productive; he has more physical capital with which to work.
My lefty friends credit unions and regulations with the 40-hour work week and absence of child labor, when it is capital and capitalism. Posted by: jk at January 29, 2015 5:16 PM
January 28, 2015
And, It Fails!
They may have had numbers, but the withering rationality of Brother JG held the day!
Two weeks after the Erie Board of Trustees narrowly voted to delay its consideration of a one-year fracking moratorium, the town's elected leaders struck down the measure along the same 4-3 line Tuesday night.
The accompanying photo is of LOTR-F friend Brad.
Heh. I see this made it as an update below (thanks, jg!) but I am unrepentant -- victory deserves its own post!
Posted by: jk at January 28, 2015 11:52 AMJanuary 27, 2015
CALL TO ACTION!
Enough Boulderites have polluted the freedom-loving polity of Weld County, that my home town of Erie is voting on a fracking ban. There was a hearing last week which I could not attend. Brother jg emails that it is continued or brought to a vote tonight. I will see whether I can attend.
But -- either way, there is a handy web page to email council members. Here is mine.
Thank you for your time. I write to urge a no vote on any bans or moratoria on fracking or energy development in Erie.Weld County has practiced safe energy development for a long time. My wife and I moved into the county in 2008 and we love it here. I own no mineral rights nor directly profit in any way from energy production. All the same, I am a strong proponent of property rights and it is unfair of me to determine the disposition of others' property.
I do benefit indirectly from the economic activity, lower energy costs, and tax revenue from energy production.
I have no doubt that those who seek to restrict it have good intentions. But they are wrong on property rights, wrong on the externalities of energy production and wrong to oppose an important economic source of wealth for Weld County and the State of Colorado.
Please vote for property rights.
UPDATE: Rejected.
Two weeks after the Erie Board of Trustees narrowly voted to delay its consideration of a one-year fracking moratorium, the town's elected leaders struck down the measure along the same 4-3 line Tuesday night.
Click through for details, and for a picture of blog friend Brad Beck giving testimony.
"Like"
Posted by: johngalt at January 27, 2015 6:31 PMI have made plans to attend. And I have reprinted copies of this 2008 ThreeSources blog post, which I intend to share with council members.
Posted by: johngalt at January 27, 2015 7:16 PMI went. I saw, the teeming hoarded waiting to speak. I read, the agenda with "Oil and Gas" as item 9. I left, to go pick up my children. But not before handing a stack of "Oil Math" blog reprints to a staffer with assurance that she would make sure each Town Trustee receives a copy.
Have a good evening frackfriends and fracktards. I'm gonna go have dinner. And listen to Andy Peth , tonight's guest on Grassroots Radio Colorado!
Posted by: johngalt at January 27, 2015 9:34 PMThey even let me on the radio with them.
http://grrc.podomatic.com/player/web/2015-01-27T18_05_45-08_00
Scroll to 2:00, I come on around 4:20. Fun stuff!
Posted by: johngalt at January 28, 2015 1:50 AMWell done on both counts.
Posted by: jk at January 28, 2015 10:28 AMJanuary 19, 2015
NIMBY
Zen Koan of the day: "If a fracking well required the destruction of 500 acres of farmland in Minnesota, would Yoko Ono make a sound?"
The clever boys and girls and those who choose not to identify with a defined gender who sit up front have likely guessed that this is not about a fracking well at all.
Five hundred acres of farmland will be plowed under to make room for 200,000 to 275,000 photovoltaic panels that will generate 62 megawatts of solar powered electricity, Nextera Energy Resources revealed.
Man, that is going to be picturesque, ain't it? 500 acres of ugly black squares of toxic poison on the prairie! Where's Norman Freakin' Rockwell when you need him?
I'd love to discuss aesthetics with you Mister Muller, but the law is the law. And knowing Minnesotans -- you probably voted for it.
Facing a new state mandate to generate 1.5 percent of its power from solar energy, Xcel Energy picked Nextera from other competitive bids. Because of the size of the project, county and township officials have no local control over the approval process.
You know what they say:
The irony of mandated solar PV above the 44th parallel is bad enough, but for Minnesotans to Quixotically tackle "global warming" is downright chilling.
Posted by: johngalt at January 19, 2015 2:26 PMThis is an interesting day for Minnesota - first this, and now the protestors in St. Paul, expressing their solidarity with... well, something, I'm pretty sure. Something they feel is more important than the commuters on the Interstate and on the light rail, anyway.
I have a solution for this, but apparently the City of St. Paul has run out of fire hoses.
Posted by: Keith Arnold at January 19, 2015 7:08 PMTalk about "chilling," IYKWIMAITYD.
Posted by: Keith Arnold at January 19, 2015 7:09 PMIf You Keep What I Make ... umm ... I'll Take You Down?
Posted by: johngalt at January 21, 2015 2:33 PMIf You Know What I Mean, And I Think You Do
Posted by: Keith Arnold at January 22, 2015 5:56 PMJanuary 8, 2015
President Carter was Simply Way Ahead of his Time
Super-insulated clothing could eliminate need for indoor heating
Phys.org -- By wearing clothes that have been dip-coated in a silver nanowire (AgNW) solution that is highly radiation-insulating, a person may stay so warm in the winter that they (sic) can greatly reduce or even eliminate their need for heating their (sic) home. Considering that 47% of global energy is spent on indoor heating, and 42% of that specifically for residential heating, such highly insulating clothing could potentially have huge cost savings.
I enjoy and recommend the PhysOrg Facebook Page. It is very interesting. But be warned they are 97% -- at the very least -- invested in catastrophic climate change.
Oy! This is Wrong in so many ways. Even with a suffix of "- in non-freezing climates" do they imagine swaddling our hands and feet in the stuff too, or simply adapting to frigid dishes, flatware, appliances and the like? And I don't even want to think about the shower room or the toilet seat!
Hey, PhysOrg, have you heard that elimination of commerce and industry would result in huge cost savings on transportation fuel and conveyances? Bark up that tree next, eh?
Posted by: johngalt at January 8, 2015 3:13 PMDecember 1, 2014
That Supply and Demand Thingy Seems Promising
Two editorials in the WSJ page beg for treatment in the Internet Segue Machine™.
Tim Phillips of Americans For Prosperity ("Koch, cough, cough...") is not too keen on extending subsidies for wind power:
Thirty years and billions of dollars later, the wind industry is still saying it needs taxpayer support. Congress is currently hearing this argument as it debates whether to extend the 22-year-old "production tax credit" in the lame-duck session. The PTC, which gives wind producers a 2.3-cent tax credit for each kilowatt-hour of electricity produced over 10 years, expired at the end of 2013. Now wind-industry lobbyists are roaming the halls of Congress, asking legislators to renew it as part of a tax-extenders package before adjourning on Dec. 15.
[...]
Over the past seven years, the PTC has cost taxpayers $7.3 billion, and it is expected to pay out $2.4 billion more in 2015. Combined with other subsidies and programs, wind generators received $56.29 in government subsidies per megawatt-hour in 2010, according to a 2012 report from the Institute for Energy Research. That's compared with 64 cents in subsidies for natural gas and $3.14 for nuclear power.
On the other hand, it kills birds.
Right there, on the same page, in juxtaposy-fervor, Dan Yergin (Kudlow's go-to expert on Oil prices) says it's supply that is driving oil process down.
Since 2008--when fear of "peak oil," after which global output would supposedly decline, was the dominant motif--U.S. oil production has risen 80%, to nine million barrels daily. The U.S. increase alone is greater than the output of every OPEC country except Saudi Arabia.The world has experienced sudden supply gushers before. In the early 1930s, a flood of oil from East Texas drove prices down to 10 cents a barrel--and desperate gas station owners offered chickens as premiums to bring in customers. In the late 1950s, the rapidly swelling flow of Mideast oil led to price cuts that triggered the formation of OPEC.
And in the first half of the 1980s, a surge in oil from the North Sea, Alaska's North Slope and Mexico caused prices to plunge to $10 a barrel. That posed a much greater crisis for OPEC than today: Over those same years, global demand fell by more than two million barrels a day owing to a deep recession, greater conservation and the switch to coal from oil for electricity generation. This time world oil demand is still growing, but weakly.
For the past three years, oil prices hovered around $100 a barrel as disruptions in Libya, South Sudan and elsewhere, and sanctions on Iranian exports, eerily balanced out the production increases from the U.S. and Canada. But the slower global economic growth that became apparent a few months ago was accompanied by weaker demand for oil, just when Libya suddenly quadrupled output to almost a million barrels a day. The result: Prices weakened in September and then tumbled.
Yergin calculates the effect on oil producing states and concludes that those with capital reserves like Russia and Saudi Arabia will get through it okay, but marginal states like Venezuela, and new production scheduled for Africa will be in danger. The Keystone pipeline, specifically endangers Venezuela's workers' paradise as the heavier oil would replace theirs in the gulf refineries.
I read of a real, world market producing real energy at lower and lower process, and a graft machine propped up by subsidies.
Love it or loathe it, the mortgage interest deduction is still, in government speak, a subsidy - but - it can only "give back" a portion of what is taken from that same taxpayer in the first place.
So there's the distinction: Is the "subsidy" comprised of the receiver's own money, being rebated, or did it belong to someone else first? On the first hand it isn't fair to call it a subsidy. On the second it is redistribution, pure and simple.
Posted by: johngalt at December 2, 2014 8:44 AMI'm going to really offend you right now. I hope you're sitting down.
I like the EITC better than the mortgage deduction. For better or worse (probably worse) we have adopted a stance to help the poor and that is not going away. The EITC is transparent, only minimally-distortionary, and as a %-of-GDP, fairly affordable. The interest deduction meets none of those criteria.
Me and President Reagan and Rep. Paul Ryan believe that if we did not redistribute income to the wealthy and the middle class, we could afford a safety net for the poor.
I see your distinction. And I would join you in voting to return to private charity. But I don't think that is on the menu, whereas cutting subsidies for Ted Turner's ranch and Google's solar toys, and perhaps the economy-ruining distortions of the mortgage interest deduction . . . maybe . . . someday . . .
Posted by: jk at December 2, 2014 10:05 AMYou did offend me, but not for the reason you might think. Because you said, maybe "we could afford a safety net for the poor." That safety net cost $2,279,000,000,000 in 2013, or $7200 per American. Two-thirds of total government spending and 14% of GDP.
I don't think we're gonna overcome a spending leak that big by eliminating the mortgage deduction.
Posted by: johngalt at December 2, 2014 1:19 PMNo, that's pretty much the reason I expected to offend you. It's philosophically dubious to accept wealth transfers as a function of government. I can hear Yaron Brook, chiding me in his mellifluous Israeli accent as I type. But I can accept that that ship has sailed.
You elbow back too hard to compare the complete cost of current poverty programs with the mortgage deduction. On the poverty side, I would like to reduce that figure. President Reagan talked about the "truly needy;" covering health insurance through 400% of poverty for SCHIP does not meet my definition of "truly needy." I bet I could find a few such programs to cut -- right in time from Christmas!
On the other side, indulge me in bucketing corporate welfare, middle class entitlements, Tesla credits for Hollywood stars, maybe property taxes for churches, all energy subsidies -- and the mortgage interest deduction. We gettin' closer?
The class of non-poverty transfers appeals to you more. Yes, we are actually manipulating and perhaps returning actual income. I am risking my neck by saying that if government is going to move income around, I'd prefer it be to help the poor and leave the productive economy to market forces.
Beyond altru -- umm, benevolence, public choice theory suggests that these programs would be under more scrutiny if they served only the poor. The interest deduction is untouchable because everybody gets it. The Democratic dream is that ObamaCare® subsidies quickly attain the same status.
Posted by: jk at December 2, 2014 1:49 PMI presupposed that you thought I would bristle at your endorsement of any social safety net. I do not. I agree that ship has sailed, but there is no defense for it costing $2.7T per year and growing.
Your basket of tax breaks is all fine with me, including the mortgage deduction. I also reject paying former workers a majority of their highest career wage just to sit on their ass in retirement - defined benefit pensions must GO. But where you suggest spending this new found "revenue" on the SoshSafetyNet I want it to be NOT TAKEN from earners in the first place. Then fewer workers need a SoshSafetyNet. Capisce? Moral hazard, and all that. But yes, still a small non-hammockey safety net for the truly needy.
Posted by: johngalt at December 2, 2014 2:36 PMKumbaya -- looks like we've fixed another one!
Posted by: jk at December 2, 2014 2:41 PMNovember 19, 2014
Correction: It Is Easy Being Green!
Don't believe everything you hear on live at the coffeehouse dot com. This story in the New York Times suggests that -- thanks to generous subsidies -- it can be quite easy Bein' Green.
"I have never seen anything that I have had to do in my 20 years in the power industry that involved less risk than these projects," [NRG's chief executive, David W. Crane] said in a recent interview. "It is just filling the desert with panels."
I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that even some ThreeSourcers will be surprised by the cravenness.
The government support -- which includes loan guarantees, cash grants and contracts that require electric customers to pay higher rates -- largely eliminated the risk to the private investors and almost guaranteed them large profits for years to come. The beneficiaries include financial firms like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, conglomerates like General Electric, utilities like Exelon and NRG -- even Google.A great deal of attention has been focused on Solyndra, a start-up that received $528 million in federal loans to develop cutting-edge solar technology before it went bankrupt, but nearly 90 percent of the $16 billion in clean-energy loans guaranteed by the federal government since 2009 went to subsidize these lower-risk power plants, which in many cases were backed by big companies with vast resources.
The NY Times includes this charming bit of understatement:
The windfall for the industry over the last three years raises questions of whether the Obama administration and state governments went too far in their support of solar and wind power projects, some of which would have been built anyway, according to the companies involved.
Ya Think? Just maybe? A hair too far?
Even if you are not surprised at the depths of cronyist depravity, I think you might want to bookmark this as an enumeration that you can share with friends. Considering the source, it is stunning.
...some of which would have been built anyway...
This may not technically be a lie, but I suspect that the percentage of these projects that would have been built with the owners own money, and without government price guarantees is vanishingly small. The people running those companies didn't get rich by being stupid.
Posted by: AndyN at November 19, 2014 12:54 PMOr by producing a lot of energy, either.
Posted by: Keith Arnold at November 19, 2014 1:18 PMEnergy companies would naturally have made some investments in new technology simply for the sake of innovation. But the key element behind "would have been done anyway" is "contracts that require electric customers to pay higher rates."
"Subsidies and government support have been part of many key industries in U.S. history -- railroads, oil, gas and coal, aviation," said Damien LaVera, an Energy Department spokesman.
So has slavery, Mr. LaVera. So has slavery.
Posted by: johngalt at November 19, 2014 1:55 PMAdvocates say these policies "create jobs" and "promote economic growth." Sure, it's a freakin' perpetual motion machine - just keep adding money and money will "come out."
Posted by: johngalt at November 19, 2014 1:57 PMOld time TS'ers know my history with Green Energy (summary: a guarded optimism). That optimism been slipping b/c of just this type abuse, which I've been watching grow for over a decade. Yes, some of these projects would have been "built anyway" but far, far fewer.
It's a good time to review how Green Energy crazy programs have worked in other places:
Here's the Economist (summary: much more a fan of gov't programs than free market solutions) "The Cost del Sol"
Another report (Puffington Host, of all places!) notes: Spain's expensive green energy failure can serve as a lesson to Ontario. A recent study shows for every 'green job' created 2.2 real jobs were lost elsewhere in the economy due to the impacts on electricity pricing.
Posted by: nanobrewer at November 20, 2014 2:28 PMNovember 13, 2014
Don't Frack My Mother...
Health concerns about oil field fracking have been focused on the mixed brew of chemicals injected into wells. But it is another innocuous-sounding substance -- sand -- that poses a more serious danger to workers.Government overseers of workplace safety first highlighted the problem three years ago and issued a hazard alert a year later warning that high levels of fine quartz sand around fracking operations could lead to silicosis and other lung illnesses.
Congressman Polis -- call your office!
And just in the nick of time too, since "Fracking Fluid No More Toxic Than Common Household Products." But that's only if you believe the big-oil shills at CU Boulder.
Posted by: johngalt at November 13, 2014 12:18 PMOctober 15, 2014
Fusion
Any of our gifted engineering staff ready to call "shenanigans" on Lockheed Martin?
Lockheed's Skunk Works promises fusion power in four years
Back in the '80s, The Refugee subscribed to a futuristic technology magazine of which he cannot recall the name. But he does recall the certainty with which a commercial passenger plane capable of Mach 6, making Denver-Tokyo in under two hours, was predicted by the mid-1990's. Supposedly, the hybrid jet/fan blade engines were in prototype testing. Still waitin'.
He has also seen predictions of these fusion devices small enough to power individual houses. Xcel gone forever! Yay! The Refugee is not optimistic that any commercial fusion device will be available in 2017, 2022 or at any point in his lifetime. It would be exciting, though, if it happened.
Posted by: Boulder Refugee at October 16, 2014 12:41 AMOmni magazine? That was fun stuff. Perhaps those aircraft developments were channeled into better fuel economy than higher speed?
There's still a sizable gorilla in the room, however, even if the Skunk Works really is on to something. Who believes government won't ruin it?
Posted by: johngalt at October 16, 2014 2:32 AMAnd my flying car seems absent as well.
This was not a call to bet the farm on this, but I have long been intrigued by the Brussard fusion concept. Like that, I think this is the right size, offering Hayekian distribution.
They call it a moon shot and it is my favorite thing, At work I always quote General Eisenhower: "Enlarge the problem!" We are spending boogerloads of time and money on solutions that are not even sustainable, much less groundbreaking. I love the gamechanger, and this be one. Put a 50% beta on its happening at even twice the timescale and it is gamechanging. Surely, advances in lasers and materials will facilitate development.
I'll even offer balm on government intrusion. Many of the most interesting applications are probably bringing China, India, and Africa to OECD energy accessibility.
We could use ours for starships and keep burning that sweet, fracked Weld County natural gas.
Posted by: jk at October 16, 2014 9:25 AMI hope you don't misunderestimate me. If they do achieve reliable, economical fusion power, even if only in 100mW chunks, I will welcome it. Just so long as it doesn't:
Create more single-occupant SUVs,
Encourage the building of larger homes,
Promote the Eating of Tasty Animals,
Ever get used to provide power to a church,
(Mosques are okay),
Undercut any market for alternative energy methods,
Make Republicans smile,
Or create even a single molecule of man-made pollution that would therefore poison every river, lake, ocean and breath of air on the entire Gaia, instantly and forever.
Then I'm fine with it.
Posted by: johngalt at October 16, 2014 12:44 PMI have no idea how they plan to extract the 120-150 MW of heat energy needed to get 100 MW of useful power from that small container, but I've been proven wrong before.
I'm not buying stocks, in skunks or werks.
Posted by: nanobrewer at October 16, 2014 2:32 PMUmm, e-mc2 I think...
How hard is Deuterium and Tritium to harvest? Is there enough? I saw 0.15% of the oceans. That sounds like a lot. Is it renewable?
Posted by: jk at October 16, 2014 4:19 PMOctober 10, 2014
Keystone XL QOTD
The U.S. and Canada are in the midst of an historic boom of energy discovery and production. Mexico is on the cusp of exploiting its own vast energy resources. Unless the laws of economics have been repealed, the benefits of deepening the integration of these three neighboring economies in new jobs and per-capita wealth would be enormous. What's missing is the political leadership necessary to start assembling one of the world's most powerful economic regions.That's not entirely fair. There is indeed active political leadership--in Canada. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has decided he can't wait for an American President who is still giving speeches about building his new economy around solar panels and windmill farms. -- Holman Jenkins
THAT'S gonna leave a mark.
Posted by: Keith Arnold at October 10, 2014 5:20 PMOctober 9, 2014
Latte-Sippin', Loft Dwellin' LoDo Dwellers!
Surprising data about the distribution of energy revenue and employment in the Denver Post:
About 9,800 people are working for the industry in Denver -- 60 percent more than in Weld County, according University of Colorado Boulder Leeds School of Business study released Thursday."While oil and gas production is concentrated in a few counties we saw impacts across the state, but the benefits in Denver were really surprising," said Brian Lewandowski, a study co-author.
The study, commissioned by the American Petroleum Institute, calculated that 31,900 people work in the industry, which had pumped $126.5 billion in the state's economy between 2008 and 2012.
Rep. Jared Polis (Don't Frack my Mother - CO2) was not reached for comment.
Speaking of Jared Polis, had you seen that the Fort Collins daily newspaper 'The Coloradoan' has endorsed his opponent? They said that Leing seemed genuinely interested in Northern Colorado issues, while Polis was detached.
Posted by: johngalt at October 9, 2014 3:18 PMSeptember 25, 2014
Prepare the Shocked Face...
Germany's, top down, dirigiste, energy policies actually hurt the environment. I know! I was surprised as well!
Berlin's "energy revolution" is going great--if you own a coal mine. The German shift to renewable power sources that started in 2000 has brought the green share of German electricity up to around 25%. But the rest of the energy mix has become more heavily concentrated on coal, which now accounts for some 45% of power generation and growing. Embarrassingly for such an eco-conscious country, Germany is on track to miss its carbon emissions reduction goal by 2020.Greens profess horror at this result, but no one who knows anything about economics will be surprised. It's the result of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Energiewende, or energy revolution, a drive to thwart market forces and especially price signals, that might otherwise allocate energy resources. Now the market is striking back.
On the other hand, it did drive up energy costs, so it is not a total failure.
Ordinary Germans foot the bill for these market distortions, having ponied up an estimated €100 billion ($129 billion) extra on their electricity bills since 2000 to fund the renewable drive. The government estimates this revolution could cost a total of €1 trillion by 2040.Berlin is scaling back some taxpayer subsidies for green power. But Germans still also pay for the energy revolution when job-creating investment goes to countries with lower power costs, as happened earlier this year when chemical company BASF said it would cut its investments in Germany to one-quarter of its global total from one-third, and when bad incentives skew generation toward dirtier coal instead of cleaner natural gas.
No fracking, decommissioning nukes... I feel much better about being American today -- ausgetzeichnet!
Begun in 2000, yes, but the real damage started in 2011 when Chancellor Merkel outlawed nuke plants.
None of this is what environmentalists promise voters when they plug the virtues of a low-carbon future. Germany's coal renaissance is a cautionary tale in what happens when you try to substitute green dreams for economic realities.
But remember, you heard it here first.
Posted by: johngalt at September 25, 2014 2:05 PMAugust 27, 2014
Well this sucks.
Cheap headline, but you get what you pay for.
I read a few good articles on Obama's backdoor, sidestep, pen-and-a-phone treaty to fight global warming. Last time advise and consent was sought, the Senate voted 95-0.
Yet without switching 62 of those nays and driving the other five in for a vote, how will we join the enlightened Europeans?
Consumers are only now noticing Regulation 666/2013, adopted by the European Commission last year and taking effect next month, which bans the manufacture or importing of vacuum motors whose power output exceeds 1,600 watts, with the limit dropping to 900 watts after Sept. 1, 2017. Thank the climate-change lobby for your dirty floor: The measure is intended to help the EU meet its energy savings target for 2020. Consumers are snapping up more powerful vacuums while they still can.The regulation is classic Brussels. The 11-page, jargon-ridden text of the directive contains barely any cost-benefit analysis and fails to consider that consumers will simply use weaker vacuums for longer to achieve the same cleaning result.
Meanwhile, as consumer groups complain about less choice for no discernible benefit, the European Commission has persuaded itself that its regulation will be good for European vacuum manufacturers. "EU industry adapts quickly to higher requirements, which is often less the case of companies outside the EU," a spokeswoman wrote on an EU website recently.
Those plucky ee-you-vians! Bless their grit, spunk, and perseverance!
666? You made this up, right? Onion?
Posted by: johngalt at August 27, 2014 7:00 PMZe Honion as you say is powerless against Brussels!
Posted by: jk at August 27, 2014 7:54 PMAugust 20, 2014
Renewable Energy Idea
IVANPAH DRY LAKE, Calif. (AP) -- Workers at a state-of-the-art solar plant in the Mojave Desert have a name for birds that fly through the plant's concentrated sun rays -- "streamers," for the smoke plume that comes from birds that ignite in midair.Federal wildlife investigators who visited the BrightSource Energy plant last year and watched as birds burned and fell, reporting an average of one "streamer" every two minutes, are urging California officials to halt the operator's application to build a still-bigger version.
I put on my engineer's hat and have come up with some improvements. (Granted, it is a software guy's hat, so I'll ask my hardware brothers to chime in.)
Solar plants torch birds and wind plants julienne them. Wouldn't it be better to cut out the middleman and just build large incinerators which burn birds for fuel? You could put bird seed and carrion around the edge, then have a fan that sucks them in: finches, hawks, eagles, condors, herons -- a clean and renewable fuel source.
First, I'm gonna need a government grant...
It's a feature, not a bug. Birds emit CO2 when they breathe. Killing a few hundred thousand of them a year will help to lower the Earth's greenhouse gas load.
Posted by: johngalt at August 20, 2014 5:53 PMAugust 14, 2014
Don't Frack My Mother...
In an annual report of the top 10 oil states put together by the financial website 24/7 Wall St., New Mexico supplanted Oklahoma with 965 million barrels of proven oil reserves.Oklahoma actually saw its oil reserves increase by 55 million barrels in 2012, but it couldnt keep up with the increase New Mexico made.
Heres a look at the top 10:
1.Texas
2.North Dakota
3.Alaska
4.California
5.New Mexico
6.Oklahoma
7.Wyoming
8.Colorado
9.Utah
10.Louisiana
July 29, 2014
"Windy" the Wind Imaging Laser System
This amazing device was developed by some friends of mine. Check it out and please share it widely.
July 18, 2014
Gotch'r Green Energy Policy Right Here...
I didn't get a lot of love for my support of algae (to recap, I want to breed organisms that eat dog poop and excrete diesel. I don't think it that far fetched and my Condo/subdivision stands at the ready to supply our country's energy needs). Look forward to a Review Corner of Wetware: A Computer in Every Living Cell by Dennis Bray. But I am ready to move on to my next transformative idea.
A Facebook link suggests Toyota is going to release fuel-cell cars in hopes it can build on its hybrid share. As long as I am not subsidizing it with taxes, I think it's a marvelous idea.
Where's the Hydrogen coming from? That's where I'm stepping in. And I'll even spend government money. How about a $10 Million X-Prize-ish award to develop a container-sized device to separate H2 and O2 from Fracking fluid or waste water using power from waste gas flares?
I'm not a knee-jerk environmentalist but I am a very frugal person. Perhaps canine feces is waste-able and lacks the KCals/Kg to be worthwhile. But how many wells and cracking towers are burning tons of waste gas, thus contributing CO2 without any net gain? Capturing something from that has attracted me for years but I suspect some sharp minds with good budgets have looked at it more deeply.
But a simple turbine could generate mounds of electricity. The Hydrogen would be a good storage mechanism, and the general infrastructure around wells and refinery would seem to facilitate storage and distribution.
July 16, 2014
Randall O'Toole, Call Your Office!
They do love to push mass transit. Get rid of that unplanned, individualistic automobile driving and we'll both save the planet and inure the citizenry to further control. But, the plebes complain -- even in Canada! Canadians don't complain about anything!
A geyser of unrest from streetcar riders erupted Tuesday after the National Post published a columnist's account of his "horror show" streetcar commute. Readers from all over Ontario sent more than 50 emails and posted 500 comments online; our hashtag #streetcarnage trended Tuesday on Twitter. Travellers detailed their own streetcar nightmares and offered suggestions for improvement."I used to be a big supporter of the streetcar until I started riding it every day," said Steve Tartaglia, who regularly rides the streetcar from Liberty Village to King and Adelaide.
He called his commute an "absolute circus."
During one notable trip, the streetcar he was riding hit a garbage truck. During another, a man smoked in the back of the car, arguing he was allowed to because he held his cigarette out the window. The worst trip ended in injury when the driver of an over-capacity car slammed on the brakes, leaving our reader arriving at work with scratches on his face, and a woman screaming after a man dumped hot coffee on her.
#streetcarnage -- gotta love that! Hat-tip: Insty.
I've ridden jeepneys in Batangas and tricycles in Lipa. You want #streetcarnage? I can guarantee you Canada has nothing on this. At least Canadians will politely tell you they're sorry.
Posted by: Keith Arnold at July 16, 2014 8:16 PMNo doubt! But I suggest that if Canada cannot pull it off, it cannot be done.
I joke about mass transit as a blow to freedom, but there is a permanent bureaucratic wing of government devoted to keeping people in high-density housing and using mass transit. Randall O'Toole has written extensively and eloquently about it for CATO.
The great takeaway is "I used to be a big supporter of the streetcar until I started riding it every day."
Posted by: jk at July 17, 2014 10:00 AM"I used to be a big supporter of gun control until I got mugged."
"I used to be a big supporter of public health initiatives until I tried to buy a Big Gulp."
"I used to be a big supporter of single payer health care until I tried to see my doctor."
"I used to be a big supporter of government solutions until I tried them."
"I used to think snake oil actually worked."
"I used to believe in The Wizard."
Posted by: johngalt at July 17, 2014 12:09 PMPollution Research Reportage
In a cringe worthy article, KDVR Fox31's Shaul Turner informs readers that NCAR air pollution study is largest in Colorado.
Dr. Gabriele Pfister of the NCAR said pollution can affect more than the air."It also can damage plants (and) it can damage crop yields," Pfister said.
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment spokesman Garry Kaufman said the project will also track pollution from wildfires.
"We see emissions from across the ocean coming to impact Colorado's air," Kaufman said.
Experts say this is just the beginning, results will be useful for decades to come.
Your intrepid blogger, however, first read the scientific description of the study, complete with a cool graphic, on a NASA webpage.
Two NASA aircraft are participating in field campaigns beginning this month in Colorado that will probe the factors leading to unhealthy air quality conditions and improve the ability to diagnose air quality conditions from space.The NASA aircraft will be joined by a research aircraft from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for flights July 16 to Aug. 16 from the Research Aviation Facility maintained by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado.
The main study area extends along the Northern Front Range from the Denver metropolitan area in the south to Fort Collins in the north extending eastward from the mountains as far as Greeley. This area contains a diverse mixture of air pollution sources that include transportation, power generation, oil and gas extraction, agriculture, natural vegetation and episodic wildfires.
The region being studied often experiences ozone levels in summer that exceed national health standards. Ground-level ozone is chemically produced from the combination of nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbon emissions in sunlight.
Did we mention oil and gas extraction?
I'm all for scientific research but please forgive me if I'm overly sensitive to the political application of such research results. Quite honestly, I looked into the story out of curiosity whether NASA's King Air and P-3b Orion or NSF's C-130 Hercules aircraft happen to comply with new EPA emission regulations for FAA-controlled aircraft. Since the planes are not new my guess is, not so much.
It was a bonus to discover a prime example of Word Crimes in the big-time media. Sorry Shaul but you gotta try harder wit da English.
July 9, 2014
Quote of the Day
Gotta sting a bit.
A true revolution would be a new breed of climate activist who admitted what they didn't know and toned down their absurd pretense that they're going to ban or seriously curb fossil fuel by fiat. If they were smart, they would put all their effort into winning government funding for battery research. But there are reasons, quite apart from lack of imagination, which is the nicest explanation of Mr. Steyer's shrill imposture, that this doesn't happen.Our political system is adept at making use of people like Mr. Steyer. Democrats will gladly spend his $100 million, then go back to their real environmental business, which is green cronyism. Happily Mr. Steyer's fate won't be that of the Hemingway character [in "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber"] --who finally got to prove his merit while accidentally being shot in the head by his wife. But like Al Gore before him, Mr. Steyer will be able to say of his impact on the climate debate: I softened up the public to be milked for green handouts that did nothing for climate change. -- Homan Jenkins
I'm going to have a hard time taking a guy seriously if he thinks that Francis Macomber was shot accidentally.
Posted by: AndyN at July 9, 2014 4:37 PM"But how is one to know about an American?"
Posted by: jk at July 9, 2014 5:00 PMJuly 2, 2014
Jared Polis in Two Minuites
The entire show -- as usual -- is worth a watch.
But first. And then after. And then another time. Watch from 20:49 - 22:49. Colorado Springs Gazette editorial page editor Wayne Laugesen and Jon Caldara destroy rich-kid Rep. Jared Polis ($$$ - CO) who wants to run the state because he has dough.
And, watch it again.
Littwin's a frequent guest and I like him well enough. But I really have to say he gets his clock cleaned on both fracking and climate change, which he brings up as a "gotcha" laugh line.
I'm not so naïve (stop laughing!) that I think property rights is a big sell to the low-info voter, but I think it can be positioned.
Laugesen makes a great start with the retired folks and middle-class investors; I have wanted to push the Willie Nelson Farm Aid angle. A lot of family farms can now continue to operate because of mineral revenue. A lot of families make $7,000 a year farming and get a $90,000 check from EnCana (peace be upon their holy name...) That lets them continue a tradition and lifestyle that is important to themselves and the community.
Posted by: jk at July 3, 2014 12:27 PMYou're out in the Weld hinterlands . . . am I wrong?
Posted by: jk at July 3, 2014 12:29 PMMy dirt-farming neighbor recently bricked over the exterior of his old farmhouse. He sure didn't get the money for such "extravagance" from selling hay, corn and barley. On a recent visit they seemed the happiest folks in the world. Not the kind of "we can't make ends meet" depression that is all to common in rural communities.
But that angle will have zero impact on the highly fertile Birth Control Voter. She might respond better to Laugesen's "billionaire on vacation wants to make blue collar guys stop working" angle. MIGHT.
I was thinking more low-info, not hopelessly-wrong-and-proud-of-it info.
For out-of-staters and in-state intellectuals: things are getting good on Colorado TV. Poor Ken Buck got slaughtered in 2010 by constant #WarOnWomen ads with little response. Those are starting against Cory Gardner (Too Extreme for Colorado, would you believe it?), but there are some very good outside ads in his favor. In my favorite, a Millennial-aged female looks into the camera and says her generation cannot get jobs because of Sen. Udall's spending. Boom: engaging, understandable and -- !!! -- factual!
The pro-fracking forces are also defining the issues well beyond "we're really not poisoning your kids too much."
Homey may not be playing that this year, I'm reluctantly optimistic.
Independence Institute has done the editing for you. Here is Wayne's 47 seconds on Polis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nuRE_DR66OM
"Out of touch." That's what comes to mind when I watch this.
Posted by: johngalt at July 3, 2014 5:19 PMSWEET! (Though I don't know that 50 seconds is enough). I posted it on the George Leing FB Page.
Thanks.
Posted by: jk at July 3, 2014 5:40 PMJune 29, 2014
The new Eco-Incandescent light bulbs are here!
Just when you thought you'd never again see a good-old light bulb because that mean nasty government made them illegal, geniuses at GE and Philips have found a way to make them all over again. [Thomas Edison - call your office.] They're called "eco-incandescent."
This is news, because they just hit the market, but it isn't a surprise as I explained it in a January 2011 blog post comment after carefully reading the 2007 federal law that "banned the light bulb." Bulbs could only be sold if they were more efficient than standard bulbs by, if I remember correctly, at least 20 percent. The new eco-incandescents are (magically) 28% more efficient.
They are also (less magically) several hundred percent more expensive. Thanks mean, nasty government!
Back in 2011 I accused lamp makers of manipulating the market via regulation, so that "Competitors can no longer undercut each other's cheapest products and saturate the market with them." But Hank Rearden, or is it the Chinese, is not deterred. "Eco-Smart" brand bulbs undercut more expensive models by GE and Philips. Depending on wattage, they are one to two bucks each.
What a country!
I hate to criticize my blog brothers on something as picayune as category choice, but. I think you left out We're from the government and we're here to help.
Who but gub'mint could bring us a 60 Watt bulb that uses only 43 Watts (and costs a buck and a quarter). The stupid! It hurts!
Posted by: jk at July 1, 2014 9:31 AMFair cop. I should have reflexively added "WFTGAWHTH" after typing the words "what a country!"
Posted by: johngalt at July 1, 2014 11:37 AMJune 18, 2014
David Harsanyi, Call Your Office
And Ben Franklin, and everybody who has even pointed out the evils of Democracy.
It seems their property rights can be stolen from under their feet by ballots while they are abroad defending ours by bullets. The Colorado Observer: Military Voters Won't Get Ballots in Loveland Fracking Fight
June 9, 2014
GOP Policy on Energy and Climate
"We will address our energy needs and any externalities with science and innovation; they will use politics."Maybe it is too late, or the media narrative too established, but I think Republicans could expose the lefties' anti-science predilection and possibly turn the tables.
I know Solyndra was about 11 scandals ago. But the Democrats (read The Mark Udall for Senate Campaign) have designs on playing up "denialism." How can you consider voting for a troglodyte, flat-earther who doesn't even believe in Climate Change?
To combat this, I offer, free of charge (excepting my normal Koch Brothers stipend), a GOP Energy and Climate Plan for 2014 & 2016:
Addressing Energy Needs and Climate Concerns with Science
1. Research
Offer a series of sizable "prizes" for substantive progress in raw R&D. Forgive me libertarians and strict Constitutionalists, but compared to the alternative, $10 Million for each of these is a bargain (and a prize is far less distortionary than subsidies or mandates):
- Dime-a-watt Photovoltaics
- CO2 Sequestration/Recovery for coal combustion
- Flare capture/recovery
- Direct algae production of usable fuel
- Kudzu-diesel
- Some wind metric...
The non-distortionary nature of a prize makes it harmless. The cost for any of these producing significant advancements would be good value. And you're supporting research institutions and American can-do-ism.
2. Defined metrics for regulation.
Why do we have Ethanol mandates, and Solyndra, and not the Keystone XL Pipleline? Some very large campaign contributors have more than a bit to do with it. EPA regs, LNG Exports, Pipelines, Hydraulic Fracturing, and the Designated Hitter will be evaluated -- in a ThreeSources' Administration -- on actual impact and cost/benefit projections: not campaign contributions.
3. Funding for Climate Science
Again, I apologize to Mister Madison, but continued grants to study not only "Global Warming" but ocean acidification, possible mitigation strategies, &c. are small compared to the current, devastating regulations.
We're not denying anything -- except that our opponents schemes have been more about science than rewarding political constituencies.
UPDATE: So, if I include a link, it is not "a Rant?"
The proposed EPA rules would cost approximately $51 billion a year and destroy 224,000 jobs each year through 2030. The poor and people on fixed incomes will be hurt the most. And all this pain will be for absolutely no gain: It will have no impact at all on the global climate, according to reports published by the libertarian Heartland Institute--based on peer-reviewed climate science.
Chuckle. Yer still good if your rant has a link to the Koch-Brothers (TM) Heartland Institute.
One question: Is there any room for safe, carbonless, nuclear power under the big energy tent?
Okay, two questions: How does this new spending on research prevent further and greater spending on subsidizing bad ideas - you know, the ones that can't sustainably survive in the market without subsidies?
Posted by: johngalt at June 9, 2014 2:38 PMSIDENOTE: As you can imagine, Robert Bryce's Book was pretty keen on noocyuler power from a density perspective -- hard to beat mc2
I'm in a trading mood. Applying rational, methodic, quantitative evaluation likely gets rid of all ethanol mandates and subsidy. Boom, baby! I just paid for my x-prizes ten times over.
The straight grants will fund some nonsense, no doubt. But if we are performing cost-benefit analysis before promoting bad ideas to policy, I'm in.
People lose their minds over "$3 million to give monkey's cocaine!" or "$600,000 to study parakeet flatulence!!" -- or whatever the outrage of the week is. You can bash science grants from a libertarian or Constitutional perspective, but you cannot tell me that's what is breaking us. I shrug pretty vocally at those.
I didn't say it well enough - by "subsidizing bad ideas" I meant, handing out much greater grants, or mandates, or rules, or loans (you can pay us back when you are profitable, wink wink) for cronies to start businesses based on one or more of those bad ideas. Perhaps its unfair to expect you to fix everything, but I think those ventures must be off limits with gub'mint dough.
Posted by: johngalt at June 11, 2014 11:46 AMJune 4, 2014
Family Guy Does Colorato Politics
Can't say I'm a fan of "Family Guy," but that may have to change:
"Don't bring me down, bro'!"
Posted by: johngalt at June 4, 2014 4:34 PMMay 20, 2014
Falsus Libertario Delenda Est!
Having recently escaped Colorado's Second Congressional District, I consider myself well-informed about Rep. Jared Polis (Libertarian? - CO).
He is currently the darling of the big-L Libertarians who are certain to have discovered the elusive "Libertarian Democrat:" cryptozoology's greatest prize! Rep. Polis is a regular on "The Independents" on FOX Business Channel. He received positive coverage in Reason:
A conventional Democrat in some respects, he also supports many causes that matter to libertarians: legalizing marijuana and hemp, restraining NSA surveillance, reforming copyright and patent laws, and making space for the virtual currency Bitcoin.
"A conventional Democrat in some respects." Yes, the obligatory disclaimer for interviewer Scott Shackford. Let me help you, Scott. He is a conventional Democrat EVERY FREAKIN' PLACE AND EVERY GORRAM TIME THAT IT COUNTS. Minority Leader Pelosi does not have to worry about his vote (including yea on ObamaCare on March 21, 2010).
When he's on his own, he pens a Libertarian Editorial in the WSJ. And he accepts campaign contributions in Bitcoin! He's like Mises reincarnate!
If they looked a little deeper, they'd see not only "A conventional Democrat in some respects," but a wellspring of dirigisme. The Blueprint [Review Corner] chronicles Polis as one of four überfunders of statehouse races providing the Democratic legislative majorities in Colorado which brought us draconian gun laws and insane regulations on energy -- especially to rural Coloradans. Thanks, Jared! Or shall I call you Murray Rothbard?
Today, he is in the press for using his considerable funding to force his energy views on the entire state. (Remember when Hayek did that?)
DENVER -- Democratic Rep. Jared Polis reminded Coloradans Monday why it's tough to tangle with a rich guy, outraising his pro-business foes in the latest campaign-finance reporting period on his proposed statewide anti-fracking initiatives.One Polis group, Coloradans for Local Control, donated $1.45 million to another Polis group, Coloradans for Clean and Safe Energy, which is running the campaign to place a slew of anti-fracking measures on the Nov. 4 ballot.
That one donation--the only contribution so far to the Polis-sponsored issue committee--exceeded the combined $900,000 raised by two energy-backed coalitions during the two-week reporting period ending May 14, although their overall fundraising tops the Polis campaign's at $3.77 million.
Those damned oil companies and the nefarious Koch Brothers outspent in one day! By a statist who is feted as a "Libertarian."
If that's what they're like, I definitely want out! Libertario Delenda Est!
Snap! This is a kick-ass takedown of Jared NIMBY-King Polis and his Reason puff piece. This should be tagged in the Rant category. I'm going to come back and read it regularly whenever I'm feeling down.
Posted by: johngalt at May 20, 2014 5:07 PMAs I did lapse into all caps, it does indeed belong under "Rant" (added). I had self-visualized better self control when I started :) As the great philosopher Peter Green said, "Oh, well."
Thanks for the kind words.
Posted by: jk at May 20, 2014 5:11 PMApril 21, 2014
Duh!
Talmey-Drake Research and Strategy Inc. said in a written report to the county [Boulder, CO] that focus groups have shown that "support for alternative transportation efforts is driven not by what would get a person out of their own car, but by the hope those programs get others out of their cars so the roads are less congested for them as they continue to drive."
Wow, who saw that coming? Certainly not the people who wrote this:
By investing in such programs as those that support cycling, walking, car pooling and public transportation, "Boulder County strives to make it easier for people to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and dependence on fossil fuels, while conserving natural resources and living an active, healthy lifestyle," the county said in a report detailing its sustainability programs.
But what if people don't want those things?
Here's my prediction: Boulder County residents will get the least popular "alternative-transportation program:" Making personal transportation advisers available to advise residents and businesses on how to shorten commutes and reduce car use. That'll get their heads right.
March 25, 2014
In Boulder???
There's hope! I hate to share company stuff on ThreeSources -- trust me, my opinions do not represent those of the corporation with Boulder's 80301 zip code.
But, I gotta. Even the Tofu Crowd has better things:
Let's be precise: You're talking about the private sector Tofu Crowd. Government tofu munchers would show up, rain or shine, interest or non. After all, they do NOT have better things.
Posted by: johngalt at March 25, 2014 2:27 PMWhat leads them to believe that interest will be greater later in the year?
Posted by: Boulder Refugee at March 25, 2014 6:17 PMThey're also offering discounted Denver Nuggets tickets, br; their optimism knows no bounds.
A better incentive this year would be, "If you participate, we won't make you go to a Nuggets game."
Posted by: Boulder Refugee at March 26, 2014 4:29 PMMarch 21, 2014
Otequay of the Ayday
"A lot of people who were out of work during the recession are now working because of oil and gas, and energy in general," Hale said.
From Loveland (CO) Reporter-Herald - 'Oil and Gas Impact Loveland's Economy'
Last year, Hale counted up the number of jobs in Loveland directly tied to oil and gas in 2012.She said 52 companies in Loveland employed 497 people who worked directly in the industry. The companies paid $37.4 million in gross wages, with an average salary of $75,232, according to Hale.
All this despite no drilling in city limits. All of this business is to support drilling in nearby Weld County.
March 20, 2014
Other than that, not much
Hey there, who's for some progress? Maybe an 11-fold increase in average incomes, doubling global life expectancy, stuff like that? This IBD Editorial explains how Progressives ignore the real benefits when calculating government required cost-benefit analyses.
Hydrocarbons provide 81% of world energy. Most important, the positive relationship between fossil fuel, economic growth and CO2 emissions is strong supporting $70 trillion per year in gross domestic product.Under accepted benefit-cost analyses, proposed regulations would pass muster if the rules' benefits exceed their cost by a 2:1 or 3:1 ratio. But employing the government's own carbon "cost" figures demonstrates that the ratios are dramatically reversed.
The benefits of using carbon-based fuel outweigh hypothesized "social carbon costs" by orders of magnitude: from 50-to-1 (using the inflated 2013 costs of carbon of $36/ton of CO2) to 500-to-1 (using the arbitrary 2010 $22/ton estimate). Any cost estimate is lost in the "statistical noise" of carbon and CO2 benefits.
If the world is serious about economic growth, living standards and affordable energy, fossil fuel is essential. Restrictions on hydrocarbon energy and faulty carbon cost analyses will only undermine progress in these areas.
Otequay of the Ayday
"This issue is one of common sense and fairness - if a community decides to ignore all the science and all the facts and ban responsible energy development, those communities shouldnt be able to line up at the trough and benefit from responsible oil and gas development occurring in other parts of the State. It is the height of hypocrisy for the Boulders and Ft. Collins of the world to benefit from oil and gas taxes so long as they have an oil and gas ban in place." [the Peak emphasis]
FRAC YEAH! Where do I sign?
From Colorado Peak Politics - No Fracking Dollars for No Frack Communities Headed to Voters
March 13, 2014
Colorado Democrats' Anti-Frac Front is, well, Fracturing
Valerie Richardson in The Colorado Observer:
"You look at the kind of Democrats who have been elected in the last few election cycles, and they are to the left, way to the left of center in Colorado, and they'll support this fracking ban," said Wadhams.
The Democratic Party's ability to keep its far left in line and avoid fractious battles on issues has helped it win the support of the business community, which values political stability. That could change if business leaders suspect Democrats are aligned with the anti-fracking forces.
"So you're watching the fracturing of the base, but also as important, theyre going to alienate the business community and [even] the progressive business community," said Ciruli. "I don't think those people won't give to Hickenlooper, but they might not give to these Democratic Senate campaigns."
So Hick might still get donations but his base will not be behind him.
Our Sad Addiction to Fossil Fuels
Don't tell blog friend JC, but SUVs for paramecia are on their way
Boffins demo FIVE MICRON internal combustion engineGetting an engine that small isn't easy. As the researchers, led by the Netherlands' University of Twente's Vitaly Svetovoy, explain in their Nature paper, even the mechanism by which they've managed to get combustion happening is debatable.
"It is not obvious that the reaction in nanobubbles and performance of the microscopic actuator are related. Nevertheless, we speculate that the gas combustion in the chamber happens via combustion in transitional nanobubbles," they write.
The search for a Liliputian V8 might sound silly, but the researchers say "a fast and strong actuator ... can be applied in microfluidics, micro/nano positioning, or in compact sound/ultrasound emitters".
March 11, 2014
Post to Polis: Frack Off
Pinch me!
Still, the more gas is available worldwide, the less leverage Putin will have in bullying neighbors and in talks with European powers such as Germany, which also depends on Russian gas.
That's the Denver Post Editorial Board speaking. And if that doesn't sound enough like the words of Republicans Cory Gardner and Rand Paul [starting at 5:00], among many others, the Post continues:
Not everyone agrees, of course. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., was among 20 House Democrats last fall who wrote to the energy secretary expressing concern LNG exports "would lead to greater hydraulic fracturing activity," which is probably true. But we would hope most members of Congress appreciate that fracking can be done safely, and that America's new energy bounty offers a huge opportunity to assist pro-Western governments abroad.
Read more: Liquefied natural gas as a geopolitical tool - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/editorials/ci_25314888/liquefied-natural-gas-geopolitical-tool
Read The Denver Post's Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse
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Take that, Democrat.
What do you expect from a party that would nominate an "anti-civil rights, anti-choice, anti-marriage equality" troglodyte to the Federal Bench?
Polis was on "The Independants" last night (Libertario Delenda Est has its own TV show and it is Purdy good). The topic was Bitcoin and he gets a sympathetic audience on the show. He can point to great libertarian bona fides.
Yet he gets a pass on his reliable votes for dirigisme because he pens the occasional liberty-friendly OpEd.
Posted by: jk at March 11, 2014 11:56 AMMarch 3, 2014
The real reason Putin wants Ukraine
Much has been made of the Russian naval base in the Crimea region of Ukraine, which Russia has a long-term lease upon. Why send troops to protect other troops? So the cover story is "to protect ethnic Russians" an excuse at least as old as the start of World War II. Sudetenland, anyone?
But what hasn't been reported, until this morning, is the vast network of natural gas pipelines in Ukraine, where about 80% of her neighbors get their natural gas, sourced from Russia. But the stakes are even higher for Ukraine herself, as she gets 65% of her own natural gas from Russia, who has not been shy in reminding them who's boss. Consequently, Ukraine has been working toward construction of compressed natural gas (CNG) terminals in Odessa, Ukraine, for the purpose of free trade consumption on world markets. Perhaps this taste of freedom is something Putin can not stomach.
Commander Victor Vescovo, USN retired, writes in Real Clear Defense:
The key to Ukraines energy independence from Russia and, therefore, its ability to determine its own political future lies in Odessa -- the city, its port area and energy infrastructure, and the access to Black Sea it provides. Crimea is likely lost. But if Ukraine is to survive, all of its current focus should be on Odessa and preventing any Russian movements against this vital region from Crimea, Transnistria, or Russian territory.
Cdr. Vescovo outlines a fairly simple strategy to protect Odessa but also explains, with the help of a map, that Odessa, like Crimea and eastern Ukraine, is majority native Russian speaking.
UPDATE: From Investor's - Seven Energy Policies to Make Putin Pay Over Ukraine, Crimea
1. Start fracking in Europe
2. Expand fracking in the US
3. Promote LNG exports
4. Allow U.S. petroleum exports
5. OK Keystone XL
6. Expand, not contract, nuclear power in Ukraine
7. Unify Cypress and build a new pipeline
"Finally, smart energy policies also would undermine other energy autocrats around the world, including Venezuela." And Iran.
March 1, 2014
Something of worth from the DAWG Crusade?
A hybrid aircraft, this goofy looking vehicle is capable of heavy lifting and long flight times thanks to the buoyancy of helium gas. The UK Telegraph article that describes it touts its "low carbon" and "green" attributes. I call it a possibly cost-effective vehicle for heavy transport and other specialized uses - provided it is economical in its use of the non-renewable commodity, helium gas.
Mmmmmkay, but am I alone in thinking all the "Green" accomplishments always harken back to centuries-old technology repurposed?
All the things we gave up are suddenly brand new. My buddy, JC, gets angry every time I bring up Karl Poppers "back to the caves," but green tech always seems more "Downton Abbey" than Star Trek TNG.
Posted by: jk at March 2, 2014 1:56 PMIf the whole heavy-haul thing doesn't pan out, they can always use it to drop promo coupons over arenas.
Posted by: Boulder Refugee at March 3, 2014 10:22 AMYou have a point, JK, but it's also true that there are perfectly good uses for old technology that were set aside in favor of something more flashy but no more effective.
When I saw someone trying to push renewed use of lighter than air craft it reminded me that at least as recently as the mid-80s the British Army was teaching young paratroopers to fall out of the sky by putting them in a balloon tethered to a winch, unwinding a few hundred feet of cable, and ushering them out the door. At the same point in the training cycle, the US Army was fueling up a C-130 and flying new paratroopers from Georgia to Alabama, then loading them in deuce and a halfs and driving them back.
I don't think markets necessarily have the patience to wait for that new hybrid aircraft to make deliveries, but I'd be surprised if there weren't commercial uses for something that just needs to go more-or-less straight up and come straight back down. Does a local traffic reporter really need to burn helicopter fuel, or would sitting in a balloon with a big lens work? How close together would the border patrol have to put balloons to monitor the entire US/Mexico border (assuming an alternate universe where the US border patrol actually wanted to monitor the border)?
And of course, let's not forget that while they're pushing all sorts of centuries-old technology that doesn't really work all that well, but from which political contributions can be wrung, they're banning the centuries-old use of wood, coal and tungsten to effectively create heat, electricity and light.
Posted by: AndyN at March 3, 2014 11:03 AMGood commentary all around. I liked it mostly as an engineering achievement. The application of hauling goods into Canada's Northern Territories and taking away some Ice Road Trucker business, I thought was a good one.
As long as its development is privately funded it is likely to meet market needs. To the extent it is government funded, it is doomed to be an expensive failure.
Posted by: johngalt at March 3, 2014 2:56 PMFebruary 28, 2014
Government CEO: "What's in it [Keystone XL] for us?"
That's my new favorite term for 'politician' - Government CEO - because each and every decision seems to be based on how much the government, and consequently he, can profit by it. Take FL9 Representative Alan Grayson who wrote,
Well, the Chinese have figured it out. They're going to get their energy from Canada, a stable country, and pass it through the United States, another stable country. They will pay the Canadians the world price for oil. They will pay us nothing, or next to nothing. So Uncle Sam is Uncle Sucker.
And there at last is the real issue. Since the oil originates outside the country, state and federal governments can't charge confiscatory excise taxes. And whatever is sold outside the country escapes any consumer fuel taxes. Grayson offers a possible solution, however:
All of the oil that passes through the Trans-Alaska Pipeline has to be sold in the United States. Why not the same rule for the Keystone XL Pipeline? But instead, we allow a tax-free zone, to facilitate Chinese energy independence at the expense of our own. Why does Uncle Sam have to be Uncle Sucker?
Because increasing supply will drive down costs, Uncle Douchebag. No, you won't get any revenue to buy votes with but American consumers, whose transportation costs represent 17% of the average household budget, will get some pocketbook relief. Then again, you wouldn't want any of your constituents thinking they could be happy and prosperous without your beneficience, would you?
UPDATE:
AP columnist and financial planner Richard Larsen writes in this week's column, 'America's Beleaguered Middle Class:'
Domestic energy prices have likewise increased dramatically. Over the past 10 years, energy prices have more than doubled as government energy policy has become increasingly ideological and counterintuitive. Increasing energy costs adversely affect the middle class disproportionately.
And this informative chart from the "17 percent" link above.
February 7, 2014
Quote of the Day
Look, Obama administration, if you don't want to build the Keystone Pipeline, just come out and say so. Take the political lumps and get it over with. Enough of this perpetual "well, we just need to review it a few more months" limbo. To put the length of time of this review in perspective, when they first sought approval to build the pipeline, the fossils that make up the fossil fuel of the oil were still walking around. -- Jim Geraghty(Pointing out even my-former-Senator-your-former-SecInterior Ken Salazar is for it.)
And, what, make these guys mad?
Posted by: johngalt at February 7, 2014 1:13 PMFebruary 6, 2014
Drill Baby Drill, Drill
I really need to visit Minnesotans for Global Warming more often. This is from 2011 but still as relevant as ever.
January 15, 2014
Quote of the Day
California's project is one of several lingering on drawing boards since being promoted by President Obama's first-term stimulus bacchanal. To call these projects "high-speed rail" is to stretch a concept. They involve dollops of federal money dangled in return for states agreeing to talk about high-speed rail, draw up plans for high-speed rail, conduct studies of high-speed rail, pour concrete and move earth around in ways vaguely suggestive of high-speed rail at some point in the future. -- Holman Jenkins, Jr.
Heck, they may as well post a sign.
"Whistle, Piss and Argue." Learn somethin' new ev'ry day.
Posted by: johngalt at January 15, 2014 2:52 PMJanuary 3, 2014
Another "dirty little secret" of renewable energy
I wonder if readers will be as surprised as I to learn that the energy required to produce a 1,000 watt solar panel is on the order of 20,000,000 watt hours? That is the gist of this 1997 Australian whitepaper - Can Solar Cells Ever Recapture the Energy Invested in their Manufacture?
It depends on the particular type of panel of course, and efficiencies may have improved but still, I wonder how many solar PV evangelists know that the energy produced in the first 2-10 years of their system's operation all goes to pay back the energy consumed to create the things in the first place? "Woo hoo, halfway through my solar PV warranty period I'm finally net energy positive! Feel the clean power baby!"
I heard this topic discussed on a local liberty-oriented radio show last night, where the claim was that the energy of manufacture exceeds the energy produced over a lifetime. While that may be true at extreme latitudes it's a credibility-destroying exaggeration.
And the batteries in that plug-in Prius already have 40,000 miles of equivalent impact on them.
Talking with a friendly on FB (yeah, there's one -- I met him at LOTR-Flatirons), I'm concerned about something else photovoltaic: From Dr. Gray's Global Warming speech, the solar energy hitting earth is ~4W/m2 -- is that not a maximum? 5 x 5 m to light a 100W bulb? Good thing they're illegal.
Me missing something?
Posted by: jk at January 3, 2014 5:43 PMYeah, 4 watts is way low. Click the Atlantis Farm Weather widget on the sidebar any time to find a graph of real-time solar radiation in watts per square meter. In winter the peak is about 500 and in summer about 1000. Even averaged over a 24-hour period it is about 80 watts in winter and 160 in summer.
Which means, now that I think about it, a 1kW peak power panel can't produce that much year-round, which means the years to break even is higher than advertised.
Posted by: johngalt at January 3, 2014 6:04 PMVery cool, thanks. Me need to read Dr. Gray again.
Posted by: jk at January 3, 2014 6:13 PMDecember 16, 2013
If I Drove a $100,000 Car, I'd wear Armani
Like some others on this blog, I am torn. The Tesla is a cool car and an engineering marvel. But this freedom lover is pretty tired of seeing it hailed as a "success story" of government involvement. If they sold a couple hundred to some rich Hollywood guys and had hopes of expansion I'd be a big booster. But the company exists only because of subsidies, and I have seen many a weasely exec or supporter dance around any such question.
Ergo, I have to withdraw support -- and giggle uncontrollably at the difficulties facing folks whose six-digit playthings do not have sufficient range in cold weather.
For now, drivers are looking for creative ways to cope with less heat, especially on long trips. On the Tesla forum, one Model S owner recommends buying heated jackets and gloves designed for wearing on motorcycles. Dahn says the solution is "snowmobile suits."
Hat-tip: Insty, who also has a link about global cooling. Better get a Thinsulate™ Snowmobile suit, Teslans! The link contains this embed; Weld County is Home Sweet Home to a few ThreeSourcers.
May I respectfully suggest, a higher energy heater?
Posted by: johngalt at December 16, 2013 4:50 PMOh yeah! Musk should build one of those into the dash. My buddy had a Corvair with a catalytic heater. You could cook a roast on the front seat and not wait one second for anything to "heat up."
Posted by: jk at December 16, 2013 5:05 PMDecember 12, 2013
Save the Eagles!
Blog Brother jg is on a campaign to protect our majestic national bird. He may have an ally in the do-nothing 113th Congress, if they can only dig deep and live up to the sobriquet:
The media are saying that the 113th Congress is on track to be "the least productive" on record--as if that's bad for the country. Let's hope gridlock lasts long enough to kill the crony capitalist special known as the wind production tax credit.This subsidy that was supposed to be temporary is now 20 years old, providing a taxpayer gift to wind companies of 2.3 cents per kilowatt hour. The handout would cost $18 billion over the next five years. The good news is that it is due to expire on December 31 unless Congress acts to extend it, so House Republicans can accomplish something for taxpayers by doing nothing.
The subsidy covers much of the cost of production, allowing the bird murderers to pay utilities to put their blood-soaked product on the grid. It's time we spoke up and did nothing!
Refrain from clicking Like to show your support!
December 11, 2013
"Rewards?"
A better word would be subsidy.
To summarize the CBS Denver 4 report:
Electric company establishes surcharge to customers to subsidize boutique power.
Initial kickback set at about 50 percent of installation cost.
Chinese "predatory pricing" and old fashioned competition drive costs down.
Electric company reduces surcharge.
Non-competitive boutique power installers whine that they "can't afford to pay employees."
Rilly? You were able to pay them when you paid half the cost to start with. What gives?
Oh, it's harder to sell your product to customers. I see.
Shadenfreude,
Shadenfreude,
Every morning you greet me.
T-Shirt Meme of the Day
SAVE THE WHALES!SAVE THE OWLS!
SAVE THE EAGLES!
End the insanity - ban wind power!
It's telling that my first reaction was "They're playing the 3-9-1 Vikings this week, and Petersen is doubtful. How much more saving do they need?"
I wonder whether eagle paté tastes like chicken.
Posted by: Keith Arnold at December 11, 2013 4:09 PM[WARNING: NERD REFERENCE}
The eagle failed to make its saving throw versus Wind Farm.
Posted by: Keith Arnold at December 11, 2013 4:15 PMI haven't read the O-admin's jackass rule yet but it is entirely possible that they've made it legal, under federal law, to kill eagles but not to possess their feathers. Although if they did have enough forsight to exempt employees, the only persons in North America legally authorized to possess eagle feathers would be Native Americans and wind farm workers.
Posted by: johngalt at December 11, 2013 6:05 PMI stand corrected on my initial comment - the Vikings are now 4-9-1. The Eagles failed to make their saving throw versus Minnesota.
Posted by: Keith Arnold at December 16, 2013 1:22 AMThe Eagles made their saving throw, it just came in an odd form called the Green Bay Packers. Just as the Broncos saving throw came from some guys in orange and blue with Dolphins on their shirts. :-)
Posted by: dagny at December 16, 2013 12:19 PMYaaaaay Dolphins!!!
Posted by: jk at December 16, 2013 1:26 PMOctober 30, 2013
Meanwhile, in the Private Sector...
I hate to take my eye off the unfolding ObamaCare® debacle (really, I do, it is too much fun!) But we must wonder sometimes what magic might happen in areas where government left a modicum of opportunity for freedom and innovation.
Three stores in the Internet Segue Machine:
1. Energy fact of the day: Within months, the US will have three oil fields producing more than 1 million barrels per dayRecent U.S. production growth has centered largely in a few key regions and has been driven by advances in the application of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing technologies. Given the importance of drilling productivity trends as a driver for future domestic production, EIA has been developing new approaches to assess the productivity of drilling operations.
2, Natural Decarbonation U.S. carbon emissions fell in 2012, thanks to the oil and gas industry..The federal Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported last week, to too little media fanfare, that U.S. energy-related carbon-dioxide emissions declined 3.8% in 2012, bringing C02 emissions to their lowest level since 1994. The only year since 1990 with a steeper decline was 2009 amid an economic recession. The 2012 decline occurred even as the economy grew 2.8%
3. -- let me know if you'd like a copy mailed over the paywall -- The Coming Carbon Asset Bubble Fossil-fuel investments are destined to lose their economic value. Investors need to adjust now by Al Gore and David BloodBut when investors mislabel risk as uncertainty, they become vulnerable to the assumption that since it cannot be measured, they might as well ignore it.
That is exactly what is happening with the subprime carbon asset bubble: It is still growing because most market participants are mistakenly treating carbon risk as an uncertainty, and are thus failing to incorporate it in investment analyses. By overlooking a known material-risk factor, investors are exposing their portfolios to an externality that should be integrated into the capital allocation process.
Don't everybody get on E-Trade at once to dump their XOM! It's not ObamaCare, it was not designed to handle this kind of volume!
October 8, 2013
Why not tax those who don't buy ethanol?
The WSJ Ed Page brings word of an disturbing escalation.
In its zeal to impose the ethanol boondoggle, Congress has mandated it, subsidized it, and protected it from competitors. Now some Senators are siccing prosecutors on those who still won't get on their ethanol cornwagon.That's the gist of a recent letter from Iowa Republican Charles Grassley and Minnesota Democrat Amy Klobuchar, demanding the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission investigate the oil industry for "anticompetitive practices aimed at blocking market access for renewable fuels." That's Senatorial Cornspeak for saying oil companies should have to put their gas stations in the service of Big Ethanol.
It seems a Phillips 66 service station in Kansas (you think you can make this stuff up) converted pumps to sell E85 and E15. Then The Man intervened:
According to the Renewable Fuels Association, Phillips 66 insisted that the franchisee use at least one of its tanks to sell Phillips' premium gasoline. Phillips 66 refused to comment on a private customer arrangement, though it "strenuously" denies it is trying to frustrate ethanol use.
They will not quit. "Access to Ethanol!" is the newest human right.
Rentseekers.
In that single word is summed up the entire situation and a multitude of wrongs committed.
Posted by: Keith Arnold at October 8, 2013 2:23 PM& underpinning the unholy "Bootleggers and Baptists" coalition of ADM and Greenpeace.
This Reagan guy is pretty tired of hearing about the great old days of The Gipper & Tip O'Neill's bonhomie. That was then and I take nothing away from either.
But the nation cries out for compromise (I am told constantly) and our political class is letting them down. And Burger King has some new fries with less fat.
But compromise got us where we are. Republicans and Democrats can always find common ground to grow government: "I'll vote for your ethanol if you vote for my windmills and light rail." Senators Paul and Cruz do not have a natural partner in discussion to stop growth or (gasp!) pare back the Leviathan.
Compromise? "There can be no compromise on basic principles. There can be no compromise on moral issues. There can be no compromise on matters of knowledge, of truth, of rational conviction."
And Leviathan ought to check into those healthy fries; I hear tell the beast grows fat and its arteries clogged. If it doesn't cut back on the cholesterol of its own accord, it may come to its own end of natural causes, without the tree of liberty needing to be watered.
Posted by: Keith Arnold at October 8, 2013 4:59 PMWith the High-LDL blood of tyrants as Mister Jefferson told us...
Posted by: jk at October 8, 2013 5:58 PMYes, yes and yes. Great analysis of the perils of Sens. Paul and Cruz but I must insinuate you meant to say they have no natural partner in the government in discussion to (...) pare back the Leviathan. For they do have a natural partner in the governed.
One proposed strategy for destroying Obamacare is to just step back and let it collapse of its own gargantuan ineptitude. Curiously, this is the same strategy we are forced to follow for destroying Leviathan. I prefer a more proactive strategy against the ACA.
1) "Obamacare is a disaster. It will make most health insurance more expensive. It should be repealed."
2) Consumers find their healthcare costs skyrocketing.
3) "That's what we were trying to tell you."
4) Repeal Obamacare or you're fired!
Posted by: johngalt at October 9, 2013 2:45 PMI've got your proactive strategy right here:
Or, as Misha puts it more colorfully (language warning for the faint of heart):
Wanna stop the motor of the world?
Posted by: Keith Arnold at October 9, 2013 4:25 PMOctober 2, 2013
So that's how the Obama campaign raised so much cash "on the internet"
This could be an "Otequay of the Ayday" post:
Were all familiar with the J-curve in private equity, said Joseph Dear chief investment officer at the California Public Employee Retirement System in March. Well, for CalPERS, clean-tech investing has got an L-curve for lose.Our experience is this has been a noble way to lose money, Dear added.
From an article at thefederalist.com -- The Venture Corporatists - "Saving the planet" has made lot of investors richer. Taxpayers? Not so much, which concludes:
As long as green technology remains not simply an economic venture but a moral one, taxpayers will continue to nobly lose money as politically connected social entrepreneurs reap a windfall.
Who Says There's No Good News?
It takes a great man to admit he was wrong. And, as Captain Mal would say, "I'm allright." On July 30, I wrote:
Odds of Binz's not being confirmed? Zero? One in 100? Over-and-under anybody? Of course he we will be confirmed and the War on Coal will be escalated to Natural Gas.
Ahem:
Last evening I asked the President that my name be withdrawn from further consideration as his nominee to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). It appears that my nomination will not be reported favorably by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. I am withdrawing so that the President can move forward with another nominee, allowing the FERC to continue its important work with a full complement of commissioners.
I cannot remember the last time it felt this good to be wrong! Hallelujah!
Yesssss! #EnvironmentalismBacklash
Posted by: johngalt at October 2, 2013 12:24 PMHugh Hewitt noticed today (or was it Rosen? I drove to H.Ranch today...) that M.Landreaux - from an oil state - and the senator from W.Wa (Shhh, coallll) were not swayed by his out'n out lies about his part in building up Ritter's renewable energy 'portfolio' but all-but demonizing coal & gas.
Yes, Colorado, there IS a Santa Claus !
Posted by: nanobrewer at October 2, 2013 11:34 PMSeptember 26, 2013
Energiewende
Energiewende means "energy revolution or transformation."
According to IBD, Energiewende has transformed electricity from a commodity to a "Third World Luxury."
Talk about turning back the clock.Der Spiegel reports that German Environment Minister Peter Altmaier is asking his countrymen to live as if they are trapped in a backward Third World economy that can't keep the lights on. He has put together a list of energy-saving tips that surely makes the average German think he's living in Uganda rather than Europe.
Sounding a lot like Jimmy Carter, Altmaier suggests consumers avoid preheating ovens, fuzz their television pictures (because poor picture quality requires less energy), cook with lids on the pots and live with refrigerators that don't keep perishable items quite so cool. Sounds like East Germany all over again.
But this is what the Germans wanted -- in fact, it's what they almost rioted for.
Coming here soon! Matt Ridley, call your office.
German energy retrograde presaged by Three Sources in 2011.
Posted by: johngalt at September 27, 2013 3:35 PMSeptember 20, 2013
Tweet of the 13th and 21st Centiries
Champion of an expensive 13thC technology accuses champions of a cheap 21stC technology of living in the stone age! http://t.co/z4oQF8TQgZ
— Matt Ridley (@mattwridley) September 16, 2013
Hat-tip: Jonah Goldberg. [Matt Ridley Review Corner]
September 18, 2013
Yes, Still Whining
American Automobile Association observes that Gas Prices Surpass $3.00 per Gallon for 1,000 Consecutive Days in Longest Streak Ever.
"Motorists took notice when gas prices crept past $3 per gallon," continued Darbelnet. "Spending more on gas concerns consumers because it reduces savings and spending for everything else we need. Our leaders can help alleviate this economic burden by encouraging a national policy that stimulates production, limits price volatility, ensures greater efficiency and promotes alternative energy."
I have argued that Stealthflation contributes to higher fuel costs, but regulation is probably the larger culprit. Mandates and limitations on production, refining, blending and distributing all make fuel more expensive and less plentiful. The author previously concluded "the reality is that expensive gas is here to stay, which is tough on millions of people who need a car to live their lives" but if "our leaders" were to alleviate this economic burden, as he later suggested, then the 62% of people who believe gas is too high when it reaches $3.50 per gallon wouldn't have to "stop their whining." After all, the average household pays only about 4 percent of pre-tax income on gasoline. That's less than the portion it spends on food prepared at home.
Some guys cannot declare victory and move on.
Fuel is the best example of my contention: even though oil is denominated in dollars, the monetary inflation component of gasoline prices is minimal.
I get your "sucks to pay $60 to fill the minivan" point, really I do. But as we select whether Janet Yellen, Matt Damon, or Maya Angelou is to be the next FOMC Chair, I suggest there is value in bifurcating monetary inflation versus the costs of regulation (and everything else).
If one separates the monetary component, one sees that monetary inflation is not a big problem at this time. Buying Gold and demanding immediate unwinding of the Fed's prodigious balance sheet will not ease gas process. Building the Keystone Pipeline, fracking in update New York, removing biofuels mandates and eliminating boutique fuels requirements, conversely, will have a huge impact.
Call things by their right name, attribute effects to their proper cause and we can all get along.
Posted by: jk at September 18, 2013 3:42 PMYour buddy, Prof. Mark J. Perry, has an interesting piece today comparing what a young person could buy with a summer's minimum wage wages.
Just interesting...
Posted by: jk at September 18, 2013 4:33 PMYes, yep and yeah. I agree. Maybe I wasn't dismissive enough of the Stealthflation component of fuel prices but I couldn't pass on tying in with Perfessor Perry's "quit your whining" dismissal.
(Still, the Stealthflation component IS non-zero.) Moving on is overrated. ;)
Posted by: johngalt at September 18, 2013 5:30 PM> 0 on purpose. I am "old school" enough that I accept a 1-2% inflation target because the risk of deflation is so much worse. Some people I respect say that fear is overrated, but when it happens it always seems to be bad -- I'll keep my caution.
It is hard on mattress-savers, but if it is predictable and stays < 2 an investor can plan around it. Plus, like the just-linked Perry piece, disinflationary pressure from trade, productivity and innovation should easily eclipse it.
Posted by: jk at September 19, 2013 10:32 AMA true Prosertarian wouldn't be so willing to let government absorb the lions share (okay, would you admit "a healthy portion?") of productivity and innovation gains, for any reason. Isn't a fear of deflation akin to buggy whip price supports? Wouldn't it be better to let the market creatively destruct some businesses and deliver greater prosperity to one and all in the process? The whole inflation targeting thing just seems so 1974 to me.
Posted by: johngalt at September 20, 2013 3:36 PMSeptember 10, 2013
$1,200 in your pocket from Fracking
Given the unambiguous atmospheric benefits of fracking -- it produces far fewer greenhouse gases than coal or traditional petroleum products -- and the big savings it's producing across the economy, expect the attacks on it to become more heated and vitriolic. Because the only thing many environmentalists hate more than a cheaper, cleaner potential energy source is an actualized one.So says Nick Gillespie on a study of the positive effects of hydraulic fracturing. It adds $1200 to the average household. So: more protests!
August 6, 2013
EV Price War
Following Nissan's lead, manufacturers of electric or hybrid electric vehicles are slashing prices by the thousands as they all chase a wafer-thin 0.5% share of the new car and truck market. And one of them, Honda, has added a new sweetener - unlimited mileage leases! Which sounds good until you think about how far an EV can go on a charge, and how many hours it takes to recharge, and how many hours there are in a day.
"Double your IQ or NO money back!" "I dunno, it sounds pretty good to me...." -- Gary Larson
Posted by: jk at August 6, 2013 3:20 PMJuly 30, 2013
Today Colorado, Tomorrow the World!
Get ready for Ron Binz, America. His efficacy in raising our utility rates and regulating beyond the bounds of law has been recognized in high places and he is in line for a big promotion. The WSJ Ed Page does not seem to be a fan:
Yet that will seem minor if the next FERC chairman is Ron Binz--the most important and radical Obama nominee you've never heard of. An electric regulator in Colorado from 2007 to 2011, Mr. Binz is the latest Presidential nominee who doesn't understand the difference between making laws and enforcing them.No, that's unfair. Mr. Binz doesn't care about the difference. In a recent interview with the Association for the Demand Response and Smart Grid trade group, reflecting on the lessons of his Colorado job, he nodded at the "judicial role" of regulators. But then he mused about their "legislative role" too: "I saw the commission not simply as an umpire calling balls and strikes, but also as a leader on policy implementation."
Oh boy. Binz will now be bringing those umpiring skills to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which used to be a quiet overseer of electric transmission and interstate pipelines
FERC was a sleepy regulator until the Obama Presidency, but it has statutory powers that could be turned into anticarbon weapons, such as the authority to impose fines of up $1 million per day for what it claims are violations. They also include the power to block energy mergers and the construction of terminals, pipelines and transmission.You can bet that Mr. Binz will be creative and political, and don't be so sure his only target is coal. At an Edison Foundation panel this March, he called natural gas a "dead end" technology because "on the carbon basis, you hit the wall in 2035 or so." He added that "We have to do better on carbon than even natural gas will allow us to do." This is unusual in that the greens usually pretend to support gas to make outlawing coal seem more reasonable. Mr. Binz let the mask slip.
Mr. Binz is part of the White House's damn-the-voters strategy of imposing through regulation what Congress won't pass, and now he wants to glide into FERC without protest. But the Senate's advice-and-consent role is especially important because a FERC chairman has broad powers, much like a CEO's, even if other commissioners dissent--and the chairman is not supposed to carry Mr. Obama's banner. Mr. Binz's record and methods deserve far more scrutiny than they have received.
Odds of Binz's not being confirmed? Zero? One in 100? Over-and-under anybody? Of course he we will be confirmed and the War on Coal will be escalated to Natural Gas.
The gas industry is enjoying a "first they came for the coal and I said nothing" moment at present.
Posted by: johngalt at July 30, 2013 11:57 AMJuly 13, 2013
The "Producer's Pledge"
"I am proud of my company's product and the profit we make by selling it to others - freely, and to our mutual benefit. Since certain government entities have materially restricted my ability to produce and profit it is no longer beneficial for me to sell my product in the jurisdictions of those government entities. I therefore pledge that I will no longer sell my product through distribution channels that serve the state, county, or local governments that restrict or prohibit my ability to produce my product."
The idea here is that when the voters of, say, Boulder County, Colorado, find their gasoline prices spiking and supplies becoming scarce they will finally make the connection between their voting habits and the supply of daily conveniences that they have come to take for granted.
If you are interested in the supporting "rant" for this idea, read on below.
Ayn Rand said,
"Productive work is the central purpose of a rational mans life, the central value that integrates and determines the hierarchy of all his other values. Reason is the source, the precondition of his productive workpride is the result."
Anyone who has ever felt the gratifying sense of an accomplishment after making or building something has a hint that this is true. But the central purpose? The central value? To answer those questions ask this one: What else, other than productiveness, gives man pride?
Just as the passage of the 2009 "Stimulus" Bill precipitated a civil uprising known as the TEA Party, the partisan overreach of Colorado's 2013 legislative session produced a movement advocating that many rural Colorado counties secede from the rest of the state. Practical problems with that idea spawned a call to rearrange Colorado's legislature such that every county is represented by its own state senator, regardless of population, as is the case regarding the several states in the United States Senate. But this too has a practical problem. The same problem that led to both the 2013 Colorado legislature and the 2009 United States legislature being controlled by a single political party. The problem is something Americans have long been taught to hold as a virtue. The problem is democracy.
Democracy is not the same thing as freedom. Democracy is the idea, not that people decide how to live their own lives, but that a large enough group of people can decide how everyone is to live his life. To understand if an idea is virtuous or not imagine its extreme. The extreme of democracy is ochlocracy. (Look it up.) The extreme of freedom is, liberty. And to understand just how mixed up and turned around political philosophy has become, consider the fact that those who once advocated for extreme freedom, whether from a monarch or from a religion, were called "liberals" but those known as liberals today are advocates of "social equality" and/or "environmental protection" via democracy - a decidedly anti-liberty prescription.
The men and women of rural Colorado have many reasons to seek separation from their neighbors in the urban counties but as one county commissioner said, "The mandate that tells us what kind of energy sources we may use was the last straw." And understandably so. In addition to producing food that feeds the urban county populations, many of the rural counties produce another valuable export product that results in billions of dollars in wealth creation and millions of dollars in tax revenues to state and local governments. That product, actually many products, is known as oil and natural gas.
For economic reasons the fastest growing process used today to extract oil and gas in the United States is hydraulic fracturing, or fracing. (Also spelled "fracking.") The only real difference between fracking and conventional drilling is that a water-based solution is pumped into the well after drilling and before pumping to create pathways through which the oil may escape to the well bore. That's it. It's not polluting and it's not sinister, although its detractors do everything possible to convince us, the people who vote, that it is both of those things. And many people are convinced. One such person is Washington County resident Steve Frey who said, "I don't want be [sic] in a 51st state. I don't want any part of their fracking that they're doing in Weld County."
I could not possibly agree more with Mr. Frey's contention that he has a right to be free from every aspect of the oil extraction process called "fracking" that he disagrees with, for whatever reason he chooses to do so. Industry must begin taking immediate steps, doing everything in its power, so that those who oppose its practices must not be forced to accept the severance tax revenues accorded to their local government by fracking. Unfortunately, government holds the reins on virtually every aspect of this unfair treatment of Mr. Frey and others similarly situated. Industry has but one thing it may control. Namely, to whom and to where it chooses to sell its product.
Well said and well thought. But it strikes me as a very tough sale.
Trying to think of a producer who would eschew a sale, it would probably have to be more direct. Maybe I wouldn't sell to the Taliban, but withholding gas from a poor stupid Boulder guy's Subaru? It doesn't take many cycles to rationalize away that.
My employer sells bucketloads to gub'mint. I read your pledge first, as you presented and thought "we're not going to leave that money on the table" while he rest of your post loaded.
NED bless Magpul (though principled stands might be a plus in that industry) but while government seems pretty close to Atlas, I think business is light years away. And for every principled Galt, there are a dozen James Taggarts to patch things over. In fact, we probably make the Progressives' favorite error of conflating business-folk with Capitalists.
Posted by: jk at July 13, 2013 12:18 PMYes. Your very last point is key. And it is the only way we can convince producers to do this, as a moral issue.
"Do not conflate winning special favors from government with achievement. Cronyism and achievement are each other's mortal enemies."
(I quote because I just said it on Facebook.)
Just as peaceful Muslims lose credibility when they fail to denounce the crimes of Islamofascists perpetrated in the name of their faith, capitalists lose credibility when they fail to denounce and distinguish themselves from crony-capitalists.
I'm not thinking we would encourage individual gas stations to refuse fueling Subarus (while still selling to SUV owners) but for oil producers or refiners to stop selling to retailers who don't agree to temporarily padlock their pumps in those cities and counties. The producers will still have a world market to sell into. The retailers will be under public pressure to make a decision. If one agrees he will be the only one in the region to receive fuel shipments. This applies to all counties, even the ones that allow fracking.
There are details to be worked out, for sure, but to any extent such a plan is executed, especially just before an election, it will bring an important question into the public square: Do producers need consumers, or do consumers (and government) need producers?
Posted by: johngalt at July 13, 2013 1:04 PM"We will rebuild America's system on the moral premise which had been its foundation, but which you treated as a guilty underground, in your frantic evasion of the conflict between that premise and your mystic morality: the premise that man is an end in himself, not the means to the ends of others, that man's life, his freedom, his happiness are his by inalienable right." | Atlas ShruggedPosted by: johngalt at July 14, 2013 11:01 AM
July 11, 2013
Some Rational Optimism for Thursday
Very much in the spirit of his "The Rational Optimist" [Review Corner]. Sadly very much not in the style of "saucily exhibiting Kelly Slater's package".
How much would we have to pay Kelly to recite this speech for a promo video?
Posted by: johngalt at July 11, 2013 6:36 PMSTOP NET REFORESTATION NOW!
Posted by: johngalt at July 11, 2013 6:44 PMLies! All lies! Ridley is obviously a shill for Big Prosperity.
Posted by: johngalt at July 11, 2013 6:54 PMJuly 10, 2013
Pipelines vs. Choo-choos
Railways suffer spills 2.7 times more often than pipelines. The State Department said trains spill 33 times more oil than pipelines. "The evidence is so overwhelming that railroads are far less safe than pipelines," says Charles Ebinger, director of the Brookings Institution's energy security initiative.
Hat-tip: @Mark_J_Perry
I love trains. I also love oil. In this case though, I gotta go with "pipeline."
Posted by: johngalt at July 10, 2013 10:10 PMJuly 2, 2013
What are you smokin'?
I have been a big Willie Nelson fan for a long time. I have recently upgraded him from "great songwriter and troubadour" to "guitar hero." Do yourself a favor and buy his most recent "Let's Face the Music and Dance." He does the great American songbook -- which is awesome -- but most notably, he seems to say "I'm Willie Nelson -- and I'm doing a guitar album."
Buy the album, get a T-Shirt, celebrate a great American legend by all means. But DO NOT buy his economics. Here he is on Facebook:
We like to root for safe technology and the little guys. Tesla Motors has a mission to use technology in electric cars that will make them affordable and help lesson global dependence on petroleum-based transportation. State legislators are trying to unfairly protect automobile dealers in their states from competition. Sign this petition to help Tesla Motors defend their right to sell directly to consumers:
I went around this topic with my pal JC, and I agree that the dealers are rent-seeking. I'm not going to lose a lot of sleep on either side of this issue. But my new favorite guitarist -- like my most honest progressive buddy -- sees Tesla as this great victim. I see them as a great leech. They would not sell 11 of their $100000 'lectric cars with no accompanying government bribes.
Willie likes to "root for the little guys." Please, we are shoveling money at Tesla and its customers as fast as we can so they can provide $100000 sports cars to the 1%.
Note that this is not the first time Nelsonomics has been discussed. Bob McTeer had some suggestions:
Economics majors understand the nonintuitive reality that real progress comes from job destruction. It once took 90 percent of our population to grow our food. Now it takes less than 3 percent. Pardon me, Willie, but are we worse off because of the job losses in agriculture? The would-have-been farmers are now college professors and computer gurus or singing the country blues on Sixth Street.
June 25, 2013
Quote of the Day
May 21, 2013
FrackNation
For alls of y'alls that missed it at Liberty on the Rocks -- looks like there's another chance. Stealing this from LOTR-F doyenne, Allison:
Have you heard conflicting stories about fracking? Have you heard rumors about how devastating it can be and are worried about the impact it will have on the earth? It can be super confusing, and knowing even the most basic facts can seem cumbersome. It can't just be me that feels this way.
Will you come with me to a free event tomorrow night at 6:30pm, at the Boulder Marriott (2660 Canyon Blvd, Boulder)? The creator of "Fracknation" will be screening his 1 hour documentary and answering questions about fracking. Did I mention it's free?
April 12, 2013
Get your regulations off my wallet!
As the Colorado legislature considers SB 252, a Progressive's wet-dream of wind and solar energy company subsidies and payola - a bill that even the windmill lovin', Pigouvian tax endorsin', make people buy things they don't want advocatin' Denver Post says is "unnecessary and very likely unwise" - I've been over at the Keep Electricity Affordable FB page, picking fights.
I had plenty to say on plenty of threads but I just couldn't resist sharing this little gem here. A joke, that I made up all by myself.
Q: What did the windmill and the solar panel say to the hydroelectric dam? A: Nothing. It was a calm night.
April 3, 2013
Hooray for Governor Hickenlooper!
Defender of our rights and freedom!
At least where fracking is concerned... Co Springs Gazette:
Thank you, Gov. John Hickenlooper, for standing up to the bullies who aim to control oil and gas deposits they do not own. By standing his ground, and defending private property rights, the governor protects the interests of a majority from a small community of extreme activists who use the environment as their cause.
Just don't frack with a 11-round magazine!
Yay. Colorado's governor is not COMPLETELY feckless. I really did give him serious credit for this. Then he signed the gun restriction bills, and tried to convince voters they are "reasonable." I will never forgive him.
Posted by: johngalt at April 4, 2013 1:30 AMAgreed. The problem is that party matters -- and his party has Evie Hudak and Joe Salazar. I suspect Jon Caldera is right and that he was a happier Guv with a GOP legislature that wouldn't send him crazy crap like this one will.
If the geologist truly holds on fracking, that will be a win. That is hated worse than guns by his left flank, I will be interested to see if he holds up.
Posted by: jk at April 4, 2013 9:40 AMMukesh Ambani, India's richest man, predicts [about a minute in] that America will be energy independent "in the next five to seven years." Why? "Nonconventional energy in shale oil and gas" that is produced by ... fracking.
Oh, by the way, this energy independence will precipitate economic recovery, "particularly in the U.S."
Posted by: johngalt at April 4, 2013 11:31 AMNot if my Facebook friends have a say.
This is Mommy against Big Oil. Mommy versus guns has the benefit of the 2nd Amendment and a hugely successful lobby. I'm actually quite concerned that this will not be developed.
Thanks for the video. Though I am pessimistic that we will take advantage of energy technology, India makes me bullish for long term economic prospects and human innovation and progress. See the growth and prosperity that China facilitated last decade and imagine it repeating in a country with a strong foundation of British Rule of Law.
This guy will save us from the Stockman Scenario. His message is very tailored to the Indian palette. I don't think you'll sell many copies of Ayn Rand books on the sub-continent, but you might move a lot of Hayek and Milton Friedman.
March 5, 2013
NOT YOKO!! NO!! WE'LL STOP!!
Celebrity "fractivists" Conflicted:
NEW YORK (AP) -- The scene: a Manhattan art-house theater. The cause: a campaign against the gas drilling process known as fracking that's being led by more than 100 celebrities, including Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon, Robert Redford, Mark Ruffalo and Mario Batali.
You guys can keep at it, but if Yoko is going to sing, I'm ready to quit fracking. And heat. And electricity.
February 28, 2013
"Renewable" Electricity - Even More Expensive than we Thought
Being more expensive sources for electrical generation than just about every alternative, wind and solar generated electricity never became a sizable player in the electrical market until goverment made it illegal to not use them. Now that government's "Renewable Energy Mandates" have nearly achieved their goal of 33% of all domestic generation the irregularity of their supply (at night or on calm days) has become the gorilla in the room. IBD Editorial:
One is that people pay for power on the assumption that it's there when they need it, not when the weather pleases. Another is that unreliable sources have to be backed up by reliable ones.And here's the most expensive truth: The more you spend to subsidize unreliable renewables, the more you need to spend on backup power as well.
Either that, or you learn to live with routine brownouts.
Given the premise that Americans will not settle for the same availability of electric power seen in postwar Iraq, this means that the "replaced" natural gas generating plants will have to be maintained, in service and on-line, as backup to the fickle and failure prone generators preferred by the Church of Human Sacrifice. But since those plants aren't selling power on a daily basis, their existence must be ... class, class, anyone, Buehler? Subsidized.
So one big subsidy for renewable energy may end up begetting another for backup energy made necessary by the over-reliance on renewables.And both will come out of consumers' pockets, through either higher power bills, higher taxes or higher prices for goods and services charged by businesses saddled with higher rates and taxes of their own.
February 27, 2013
Pollution-Free Coal Power
Detractors like to say "Clean Coal doesn't exist" but Dr. Liang-Shih Fan is one of many scientists laboring, and succeeding, in accomplishing it.
Liang-Shih Fan, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, and director of the Clean Coal Lab, has just completed a 203 hour test of a radical new way of obtaining energy from coal. Typical coal-fired power plants burn coal to boil water, and run the resultant steam through turbines to produce electricity. Fan's process, a new technology called "coal-direct chemical looping," does not burn the coal. Instead, it chemically converts coal to heat in a sealed reactor chamber. Tiny iron oxide beads help to deliver oxygen to the coal particles, which are then cycled through an airflow chamber for re-oxygenation, then run back through the reaction chamber. This is the "looping" in the technology's name. The process gives off no air pollution, and the captured carbon dioxide is ninety-nine percent pure, enough to make it a valuable commodity.The test, which was run on a lab-sized reactor, produced a continuous twenty-five kilowatts of power.
25 KW! That could power a house! Or a car! Oh wait - carbon dioxide? Hasn't the EPA decided that carbon dioxide, necessary for plant growth, is a pollutant? Never mind. Back to windmills and bicycles.
I was pleased to see that there is a NASCAR stock car sponsored by "Clean Coal"
This is good news.
Posted by: Alexc at February 28, 2013 2:56 PMI thought so too brother, but when I saw it wrecked last weekend I couldn't help wondering what kind of smear ad the Church of Human Sacrifice might make from it.
Posted by: johngalt at March 1, 2013 11:59 AMFebruary 21, 2013
No Peak Oil, but who will refine it?
Vaclav Smil in the American wonders "Is it too much to hope that even some catastrophists and peak-oil cultists will find it impossible to ignore the latest numbers?"
Yes. But the numbers do look good:
The reversal has been impressive: from 2008 to 2011, extraction rose by nearly 50 Mt to just over 352 Mt, a level last seen in the year 2000; the increase over those three years was more than the total 2011 output of such oil powers as Indonesia or Azerbaijan. North Dakota (Bakken shale) has been the principal locus of this production renaissance. At the beginning of the year 2000 there were fewer than 200 oil wells producing from the Bakken deposits, averaging about 10 barrels a day per well; by October 2012, there were nearly 4,800 wells with average daily flow of about 140 barrels of oil per well. North Dakota's oil output was 37 percent ahead of Alaskas North Slope extraction and behind only Texas and the offshore production in the Gulf of Mexico.
A forecast by the U.S. Department of Energy sees a possible production increase of as much as 140 Mt/year by 2025, and the most recent review by the International Energy Agency (IEA) even sees the United States as the world's largest crude oil producer as early as 2017. That may be too much to expect but, in any case, U.S. oil output disproves any preordained and immutable validity of Hubbert's curves (which attempt to infallibly predict U.S. and world oil output for decades to come! No wonder that Leonardo Maugeri, the former senior executive vice president of strategies and development for Italy's largest oil and gas company, ENI, speaks about a genuine oil revolution).
So that's why gas is so cheap!
Kudlow and his panel have the answer. A million bbls. of refined capacity has been taken off the market over the last year.
Thirty years since we built a refinery, but we shut them down regularly (~2:00). What are the odds of building one -- can you imagine that's happening?
I'm going to come out in favor of government funded research into car and truck engines that can run on a new "alternative" fuel: crude oil.
Posted by: johngalt at February 21, 2013 4:20 PMStatist! What's the matter with Brother JohnGalt's Home Cracking Tower? $299.95! Order before midninght and we'll include a barrel of WTI.
Posted by: jk at February 21, 2013 4:30 PMJust seein' if you are paying attention. :)
Posted by: johngalt at February 22, 2013 10:09 PMFebruary 6, 2013
Global Warming Solved!
By ThreeSources favorite, Jeremy Clarkson's innovative P-45
Hat-tip: Insty
Just days ago I witnessed an above average girthed gentleman piloting a "Smart" Car. He appeared to be painted to the inside of the glass. Dear Jeremy would now probably give the clothes off his back for the spacious cabin of a "Smart."
Any word yet from UK enviro-police about the gratutitous spill of 0.3 litres of petrol?
Posted by: johngalt at February 6, 2013 2:44 PMYou would not expect it from an MR2 guy, but I loathe the smart car. It's more ostentatious than economical and lacks small car handling -- get a real one like a Mini Cooper or a Mister or a Beetle.
Posted by: jk at February 6, 2013 4:47 PM"Innovative"? Puh-leeeeze. The Japanese had it twenty years ago - and called it Mobile Suit Gundam. Except they had more horsepower. And they flew. And had weapons.
My first glance at the license plate, I misread it as "R2D2."
Of course it's British. It's a Dalek, with a coat of white paint.
And for the record, the placement of the filler cap is mildly suggestive. Along the lines of "is that unleaded, or are you just happy to see me?"
Posted by: Keith Arnold at February 6, 2013 5:06 PMShades of Mr. Bean sans the Rowan Atkinson's hilarious facial expressions.
Who thinks up this stuff?
Posted by: Mrs. Keith Arnold at February 7, 2013 6:48 PMThe English, dear MKA, the English. They are right looney, the lot of them.
Posted by: johngalt at February 7, 2013 7:48 PMJanuary 29, 2013
QOTD II
Except six years later, little has changed. The cellulosic ethanol industry produced zero gallons in 2011 and zero in 2012. But the EPA still required oil companies and refiners to buy 6.6 million gallons in 2011 and 8.7 million in 2012--and then to purchase millions of dollars of "waiver credits" for failing to comply with a mandate to buy a product that did not exist. This is the sort of thing that led to the Protestant Reformation. -- WSJ Ed Board
January 20, 2013
Boulder's Respect for Differing Opinions
Weld County MILF (umm, that's Mothers In Love with Fracking) Amy Oliver talks to Jon Caldera. I embed because I have referenced this clip a couple times. The whole thing is worth a watch, but be sure to see how the sweet peaceful hippies of Boulder behave (7:00 - 10:00) when encountering a discussion of science.
Thank you for posting. This story can't be over exposed. I spent my college days in Boulder and it was similar to this when the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center organized traffic-blocking street demonstrations against nuclear weapons, nuclear power, pesticides, or any number of other things that have never produced the "child poisoning" these, ahem, 'science awareness advocates' then foretold. But this is worse. Perhaps they are emboldened by the growing acceptance of the tactics of al Qaeda, or the Weather Underground.
Posted by: johngalt at January 21, 2013 3:11 PMYes, I was wondering when Caldera's fond remembrance of Kumbaya peaceful discussion days occurred. I did not show up until 1988 -- the civility was long gone by then.
Posted by: jk at January 22, 2013 10:36 AMNovember 28, 2012
A little shopping for myself on "75 Watt Wednesday"
Next-year's verboten lighting device:
"SYLVANIA 12510 75-Watt 130-Volt A19 Household Bulb, 24 Pack 75A CVP 24PK"
Tools & Home Improvement; $15.27
In Stock
Sold by: Amazon.com LLC
Contraband warm light and a possible currency in Second Term President Obama America.
Buy it through Insty.
Whoa, they're down to $11.19 per 24 pack now! (from "Life and Home")
Posted by: johngalt at November 28, 2012 3:27 PMYeahr but -- no Prime® It's a racket I tell you.
Posted by: jk at November 28, 2012 3:46 PMNovember 26, 2012
'Lectric Cars! The Wave of the Future!
...for over 100 years now!
A pessimistic assessment by Vaclav Smil in the American is full of schadenfruedeny-goodness. But I was struck by the news that Toyota has elected not to dive into the briny deep:
Perhaps most tellingly, in September, just a few days before Toyota's mini-electric eQ city car was to make its debut at the Paris Motor Show, the company announced that it was cancelling its plans to mass produce the vehicle. According to Takeshi Uchiyamada, the company's vice-chairman, "The current capabilities of electric vehicles do not meet society's needs, whether it may be the distance the cars can run, or the costs, or how it takes a long time to charge." If a company that has been in the forefront of innovative design, high-quality production, and consumer satisfaction and that in 2012 reclaimed its title as the world's largest carmaker (lost in the wake of the March 2011 Tohoku earthquake) comes to such a conclusion, I do not see how other major competitors can succeed where Toyota refuses to even tread.
Surely there are some subsidies we could offer...
Obama dogma make bad Karma.
Posted by: Ellis Wyatt at November 26, 2012 8:42 PMNovember 14, 2012
Ellis Wyatt, Call Your Office!
If I read this right, did the world's "proven oil reserves" just double?
Drillers in Utah and Colorado are poking into a massive shale deposit trying to find a way to unlock oil reserves that are so vast they would swamp OPEC.
A recent report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office estimated that if half of the oil bound up in the rock of the Green River Formation could be recovered it would be "equal to the entire world's proven oil reserves."
Both the GAO and private industry estimate the amount of oil recoverable to be 3 trillion barrels.
How are we going to stop this?
"The amount of oil recoverable is estimated to be 3 trillion barrels -- three times more that the whole world has consumed in the past 100 years."
Drill, baby, drill.
Posted by: Keith Arnold at November 14, 2012 2:56 PM"The technology for assessing oil reserves is pretty good," Rusco said. "I don't say there isn't a wide margin of error, but you can have great confidence that there is a very, very large amount of oil trapped down there that could be recovered. It's just that, so far, it can't be recovered at a profit."
That's not a problem. In this country the "new energy economy" is based on using taxpayer dollars to "stimulate" not-yet profitable technologies so they can then grow large enough to support themselves. Paging Dr. Steven Chu.
Posted by: johngalt at November 14, 2012 3:40 PM"You have reached the voice mail of Ellis Wyatt. I'm sorry I can't take your call right now, but after the results of November 6, 2012 I will be vacationing in an undisclosed location until approximately the time your power goes off...for a couple of years. Feel free to leave a message. And if you think the Obama Administration will allow enough oil production to get you inexpensive gas, good luck."
Posted by: Ellis Wyatt at November 14, 2012 4:10 PMOctober 31, 2012
Obama's Solar Panel Cronyism: Move On, Nothing to See Here
"You better let him know that the WH wants to move Abound forward."
- Executive Director DOE Loan Programs, June 25, 2010
Composite video below from RevealingPolitics. Story based on DOE emails obtained by CompleteColorado.
Nice -- and further supported:
The new emails contradict claims by Obama and others in his administration that all decisions on the $20 billion DOE clean energy loans were made by career executives in the department.Posted by: jk at October 31, 2012 5:35 PM
Most recently, Obama told a Denver television news interviewer on Oct. 26, 2012, that the loan decisions are "decisions, by the way, that are made by the Department of Energy, they have nothing to do with politics."
October 11, 2012
or "Schadenfreude"
It's not like I didn't warn them. Germany's misguided effort to replace all nuclear power plants with "green" energy sources is already leading to higher costs, more taxes and frequent blackouts. Predictibly, the poor are the first to suffer as an estimated 200,000 households on government assistance had their power shut off due to unpaid bills.
Far from a well-conceived plan, and how could it be when reliable power sources are eschewed for wishful ones, the effort has led to chaos.
Merkel's Blackout - Energy Plan Plagued by Lack of Progress
Meanwhile, Germany's 16 federal states are developing their own concepts, some of which are at odds with each other. Bavarian Governor Horst Seehofer says that his state plans to develop a self-sufficient energy supply. But David McAllister, the governor of the northern state of Lower Saxony, has a plan based on supplying Bavaria with large amounts of electricity from wind farms off the North Sea coast.What some grid operators, power plant owners and scientists are doing today is nothing short of flabbergasting. There are power plants that are not connected to the grid, power masts without lines, and power lines leading to nowhere.
"There is still quite a lot to do here," Rösler said when he emerged from the boiler room in Hönow. Petra Röfke, the owner, nodded. Rösler added that he couldn't have imagined so much waste. "It's crazy, isn't it?"
Crazy indeed. The last of the 3-part series German Energy Revolution, of which the linked article is part 1, ends thus:
Despite all the criticism, the experts still believe that the energy turnaround is the right thing to do. It just has to be done correctly, says Löschel.When Environment Minister Altmaier was traveling this summer, he was often asked about the nuclear phase-out. In these conversations, his English-speaking counterparts matter-of-factly used Energiewende, the German word for the energy turnaround. The term has apparently become established worldwide.
Altmaier was pleased. But it remains to be seen whether talk of Germany's Energiewende will be taken as a compliment in the future, just as kindergarten and autobahn have entered the English language as largely positive terms, or whether Energiewende will become more of a derisive term, like "German angst."
... or "Schadenfreude."
Sie haben keine Einhörner?
As a lover of the German language...remarkably applicable to power grids: Eine Kette ist nur so stark wie ihr schwächstes Glied!
Posted by: Ellis Wyatt at October 11, 2012 4:10 PMOf course the poor suffer. That's the whole point of the exercise.
Posted by: Steve D at October 11, 2012 7:11 PMOctober 4, 2012
America: Frack Yeah!
How many times have we heard the left make baseless claims that Big Oil uses its money and influence to stamp out competition wherever it can, and thereby maximize their own profits? Investors Business Daily printed an editorial yesterday that now, finally, substantiates that claim. But it's not what you might think. In this case "Big Oil" equals Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Russia's state-owned oil monopolies.
Venezuela's state Foundation National Cinematheque has been financially linked to "Gasland," a 2011 anti-fracking documentary whose aim was to paint fracking in the U.S. as dangerous.(...)
This week, the Heritage Foundation's Lachlan Markey found that United Arab Emirates-owned "Image Media Abu Dhabi" financed "Promised Land," a Matt Damon film that shows U.S. oil and gas companies as greedy behemoths out to poison America's small towns.
(...)
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has been accused of financing radical environmentalist groups through foundations to undercut oil sands production in Canada, which is America's top supplier.
If you have to ask why they oppose American energy production, here is the answer:
All this signals something big is at stake in global power politics: fracking, which threatens petrotyrants as no nuclear weapon ever has. The Gulf states, Venezuela and Russia derive their power solely from their dominance in energy production, not by their economies.If fracking and the combination of investment, high tech, expertise and geography enable the U.S. to produce natural gas at $3 a unit, while Russia can only do it at $10, the threat is obvious.
Yes, yes, YES. American inexpensive energy explosion coming even if Obama gets reelected...he'll try to stop it, of course, but I don't think he can. Private land still exists!
Posted by: Ellis Wyatt at October 4, 2012 3:21 PMAh, the idealism of private property. Don't bet that he can't stop it. Private property owners don't own the air, don't own the underground water, don't own the snail darters and wooley amoebas.
Good NED man, have you not read the book? (He asks, knowingly.)
Posted by: johngalt at October 4, 2012 3:36 PMI will revise and expand my remarks...I don't think Obama in his second term will have the political capital to kill the American energy revolution. Congress won't let him and a lot of union folks are counting on it. His theoretical Gaiaean Marxism will clash too much with reality. Objective reality!
Thankfully, I think we have a good chance of a different President who will be pushing the car DOWN the track instead of putting on the brakes as hard as possible. But as in "the book," there is the possibility that Wesley Mouch will be appointed "Czar" with the power to screw things up. I don't totally discount that.
Posted by: Ellis Wyatt at October 4, 2012 3:51 PMSeptember 24, 2012
Quote of the Day
I know that someone is thinking that gas prices are going up, and when they do, electric cars will prove to be a smart thing. I'm not so sure. The CBO provided a breakeven on this line of thinking. If gas prices go north of $6, electric starts to make sense. When gas goes to $10, all of the vehicles break even to conventional autos. The problem I have with this line of reasoning is that if gas were to go to $8, the US economy (and the rest of the world) would come to an economic halt. In that environment a fellow would be grinning if he had an electric car, but he would probably be out of work, and most of the stores he would want to drive to would be closed. What good does the electric car create for him if things go very bad? Not much. -- Bruce Krasting Business InsiderHat-tip: Insty imposter Ed Driscoll
September 19, 2012
One for Brother JG
I enjoyed this article, but I was disappointed because I knew I was not enjoying it as much as Johngalt would. I could be wrong, but there's a taste:
When it comes to energy, most discussions focus on narrow specifics: Should we use less oil? Should we use less coal? More nuclear? Wind power? Solar power? Should we use less power altogether? All of these questions are important, of course, but they are too often discussed in the complete absence of context. The bigger picture is that biology and anthropology tell us something very interesting about human beings: We are not simply beings that use energy, we are beings that exist only because we harnessed energy, and our use of energy has shaped our bodies and culture for millions of years.
Kenneth P. Green asks "Homo Sapiens or Homo Igniferens?" He answers that our use of energy drove our evolution, instead of some lucky break when these hairless large animals with the small teeth discovered fire.
It is easy for an engineer or economist to wax about our relationship with energy -- the biology and anthropology is interesting as well.
Yes, we did build that fire. Us and our opposable thumbs.
Posted by: Keith Arnold at September 19, 2012 11:30 PMOh, YES!
Politicians like to talk about how Americans are "addicted to oil" or "addicted to cheap energy." It would be more accurate to say that humans are biologically and culturally adapted to reliance on energy. Are we addicted or adapted? It makes a big difference in how one perceives the role of energy in our civilization.
After reading that article, and this excerpt from near the end, I need a cigarette.
Lemmie see, where was that comment again?
And finally, I can't help but credit cheap and abundant energy, together with means to use that energy to do work, for the standard of living that modern man has become not only accustomed to, but takes as a natural and automatic condition - one that will "always be that way." Let Hollywood live on the beach and make movies without electricity or fossil fuels for a few years and we'll likely see a shift Eastwood in their philsophy and politics.
Man produced enough to subsist on with the energy he liberated from burning wood, and later coal, and even began creating heavy machinery that used those fuels, but th date when petroleum was discovered marks the dawn of humanity's metoric advance in prosperity.
Thank you for linking this brother. I see it is part of a larger series.
Posted by: johngalt at September 20, 2012 2:48 PM"After reading that article, and this excerpt from near the end, I need a cigarette."
Yer killin' me, man!!
Posted by: Boulder Refugee at September 20, 2012 4:54 PMSeptember 4, 2012
Idiot Quote of the Day
"The reason the economics fail in the US is not a failure of Wind, its a failure of greedy corporations to allocate costs in a manner that is for the common good. Energy is like air - it comes from God and should not be for-profit. COOPs are the most cost efficient way to deliver electricity. Remove the corporate overhead with multi-million dollar salaries for CEO's and the economics of wind are obvious."
Posted 3 hours ago as a comment on a blog post at one of my engineering trade magazines. The post itself is noteworthy, for it represents the first I can remember where the realities of alternative energy sources are given as much weight as the pollyanna political correctness.
And then there is the cost of wind per MW hr with the subsidy included. Without the subsidy - fuggedaboutit. And it looks like the forgetting will be happening soon. The tax credits for "alternative" (read unreliable) energy have not been renewed. What was that again? Renewables have not been renewed? Isn't that a contradiction in terms? There is a simple explanation.Wind power does not succeed by capturing wind. It succeeds by capturing government.
"... the economics of wind are obvious..."
I've got your "obvious" right here...
Posted by: Keith Arnold at September 4, 2012 3:43 PMAugust 30, 2012
What Government Program Again?
Smith Dairy paid for the facility and trucks from its own corporate funds, executives said.I don't normally open a post with an excerpt, but Dammit Jim, I'm a pundit, not a grammarian!
The quote is pulled from a story on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) as a motor fuel. Smith Dairy uses this in its [What has a horn and gives milk?"] delivery vehicles. They opened a station to both service their trucks and sell the fuel to the public.
The station currently sells CNG at the equivalent gasoline price of $1.95 per gallon. The station is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and takes credit cards. The natural gas comes in via a normal gas pipeline buried under the street and is compressed on site using two made-in-Ohio Ariel Corp. gas compressors.
I hear every day that we need government to provide the infrastructure for a conversion (T. Boone Pickens and blog brother Silence Dogood) or that it must mandate fuel types to automakers (Bob Zubrin) to provide demand.
But here's a dairy company (ice cream cones at the grand opening) fueling its vehicles and others with $2 gas. It is clear from the article that it is done purely to save the planet. But I wonder if somebody might be able to somehow make a buck at that.
Hat-tip: @Mark_J_Perry
Doesn't UPS do the same thing? Seems like a bunch of the UPS trucks I see say they are Natural Gas Fueled vehicles.
Posted by: dagny at August 30, 2012 2:44 PMFleets are using CNG -- the hook here is making refueling available to others and the public.
Posted by: jk at August 30, 2012 4:19 PMJuly 29, 2012
Quote of the Day
Capitalism is not, Monbiot is forced to admit, a fragile system that will easily be replaced. Bolstered by huge supplies of oil, it is here to stay. Industrial civilization is, as far as he can now see, unstoppable. Gaia, that treacherous slut, has made so much oil and gas that her faithful acolytes today cannot protect her from the consequences of her own folly. -- Walter Russell Mead
July 26, 2012
Everything You Wanted to Know about Fracking
And then a dozen more pages!
Kidding (sortof).
Independence Institute's Frack Attack: Cracking the Case Against Hydraulic Fracturing by Donovan D. Schafer looks very good. At 33 pages, I sent it to my Kindle for later consumption.
July 24, 2012
CFLs Give You Cancer
http://www.aei-ideas.org/2012/07/another-reason-to-unban-the-bulb/
July 17, 2012
Better than Sand Millionaires!
Why oh why do leftists want to conscript poor children to poverty?
LORDI, India -- Sohan Singh's shoeless children have spent most of their lives hungry, dirty and hot. A farmer in a desert land, Mr. Singh could not afford anything better than a mud hut and a barely adequate diet for his family.But it just so happens that when the hard little bean that Mr. Singh grows is ground up, it becomes an essential ingredient for mining oil and natural gas in a process called hydraulic fracturing.
The increase in guar prices is helping to transform this part of the state of Rajasthan in northwestern India, one of the world's poorest places. Tractor sales are soaring, land prices are increasing and weddings have grown even more colorful.
Hat-tip: @adamsbaldwin
So enriching a few privileged children in rural India is important enough for you to risk a 0.000000001 percent chance of that guar contaminating the groundwater used by American children? That's why people like you and Mr. Romney should never be president. Unlike President Obama, you don't care enough. (/sarcasm)
Posted by: johngalt at July 18, 2012 6:19 PMJuly 16, 2012
Dozens of "Sand Millionaires"
Not a phrase one expects to encounter. But that good fracking sand has to come from somewhere, don't it? Why not "America's Sandbox?" Prof. Mark J,. Perry:
I spent the weekend along the Mississippi River in Buffalo City, Wisconsin, about 120 miles south of Minneapolis-St. Paul (across the river from Winona, Minnesota), where there is a growing controversy in sand-rich southeastern Minnesota and west-central Wisconsin ("America's Sandbox") about mining for frac sand (the silica sand used for hydraulic fracturing). While starting my drive this morning to the Minneapolis airport, I took pictures of the two signs above that help tell the story of the controversy
Free markets make millionaires out of sand farmers.
A challenge to the "fixed economic pie" crowd: Whom are the sand millionaires taking wealth away from in the process of their personal enrichment?
Posted by: johngalt at July 16, 2012 6:54 PMYou're just a shill for Big Sand!
Posted by: jk at July 16, 2012 7:35 PMHere's a little more esprit de l'esclaier:
Hydraulic fracturing (fracking) brings a whole new meaning to the phrase "go pound sand."
Posted by: johngalt at July 19, 2012 6:06 PMJuly 11, 2012
Under the President's Bold Leadership!
The Peace Garden State's oil production has surged.
All of this in spite of vigorous Republican opposition and obstructionism!
Another Obama "accomplishment." "See what can happen when we get those $#*&?#! Republicans out of the White House?"
July 9, 2012
W. R. Mead on the Energy Revolution (Part I, the Losers)
We all seem to be WRM admirers here, more or less, so it was probably only a matter of time before one of the blog brothers posted this but...is it wrong of me to be so happy about these losers?:
If the US, Canada and Israel are the likeliest big winners, the biggest losers in the coming shift will be the Gulf petro-states and Russia. Their Gulf losses arent going to be economic; the Gulf will still have the worlds cheapest oil to produce and so its oilfields will be the most profitable at any given price point.Russia, on the other hand, is going to have a harder time. Its oil and gas are more expensive to produce and so Russias profit margins are likely to fall.
But regardless of the simple economic impact, in different ways and different degrees the Gulf countries and Russia are going to lose a lot of the political advantages that their energy wealth now gives them. They will have less ability to restrict supply and to manipulate prices than they have had in the past. Oil and gas are going to be less special when supplies are more abundant and more broadly distributed.
The Whole Thing is here.
July 6, 2012
Oh No, Mr. Bill!!! Noooooo!!!
George Monbiot is realy, really bummed that "We were [really, totally] wrong on peak oil. There's enough to fry us all."
Some of us made vague predictions, others were more specific. In all cases we were wrong. In 1975 MK Hubbert, a geoscientist working for Shell who had correctly predicted the decline in US oil production, suggested that global supplies could peak in 1995. In 1997 the petroleum geologist Colin Campbell estimated that it would happen before 2010. In 2003 the geophysicist Kenneth Deffeyes said he was "99% confident" that peak oil would occur in 2004. In 2004, the Texas tycoon T Boone Pickens predicted that "never again will we pump more than 82m barrels" per day of liquid fuels. (Average daily supply in May 2012 was 91m.) In 2005 the investment banker Matthew Simmons maintained that "Saudi Arabia cannot materially grow its oil production". (Since then its output has risen from 9m barrels a day to 10m, and it has another 1.5m in spare capacity.)Peak oil hasn't happened, and it's unlikely to happen for a very long time.
The horror. The horror.
(Note, I am about to head out to the wilds for 24 hours or so, sorry but next 5 Best Song not quite ready...)
All Hail Harsanyi!
Herewith, this sixth day of July, Anno Domini 2012, I do coin Kranz's Law: "The token member of the opposition party in the cabinet will undoubtedly become the greatest embarrassment to both parties."
Videlicet: Secretary Ray LaHood:
It's not every day you hear a cabinet member praising authoritarians abroad. Then again, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood unleashes so many preposterous statements he makes Joe Biden look like a high priest of Vulcan.
July 3, 2012
JK Links Rush
Mister Limbaugh that is -- not the Canadian, Objectivist Rockers. These are the end times. But when the man is right...
If youre in the DC area, are you happy you don't have an electric car? Yeah, with the power outages, are you happy you don't have an electric car? Because two million, five million, three schmillion, whatever. Aren't you glad you don't have an electric car? By the way, how are those windmills working out for you? How are the windmills and solar panels working out? Are they running your air-conditioning for you? As you sit there and sweat away, how are things doing in the nation's capital? All those windmills are really working out, huh? Solar panels, yeah, man, that's the future. There you are, sitting there, sweating, stinking like a stuck pig for three days, and it's gonna be this way for another week..."
Cheap shale gas will save us! Thank you to all my friends in the industry.
The watermelons will no doubt do their best to kill it (well, they're already trying) but see here, not only is the gas cheap, carbon dioxide emissions are probably down to 1990 levels!
How anyone could be against this would be a conundrum, unless you've read that little book Atlas Shrugged. They're people who worship pain.
Posted by: Ellis Wyatt at July 3, 2012 2:54 PMJune 28, 2012
Ellis Wyatt, New at Three Sources
"Ellis Wyatt" is the nom-de-blog of a man who has spent the last 14 years in politics and government. A great admirer of the works of Ayn Rand and Robert A. Heinlein, his approach to life is perhaps best represented by the Neo-Victorian phyle in Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age.
He believes that his country, the United States of America, has been weakend spiritually, philosophically and educationally by Marxism and its branches: feminism, postmodernism and the quest for radical equality of outcome.
He has the desire and the Will to take action to return the culture to its former, higher level. However, he does not advocate government power as the means to this end. Instead, he advocates that leaders, and all citizens, speak and write and create art to convince individuals to perform the actions that lead to the Good, the True and the Beautiful.
He believes people should work for a living, take care with their appearance and possesions and contribute to their community through charity, volunteer work and mentoring, but knows damned well that the government can never force individuals to do these things. Neither can government save the irrational and the foolish from the consequences of their actions. Government is a powerful and dangerous tool, as the Founders of the United States well understood. It is suitable for a few big things: military defense of the nation, relations with other nations, protection of individual rights and the prevention and punishment of force and fraud.
Ellis is not nearly as much of an ultra-uptight, upright a****** as you might expect from the above blah-blah, and his activities and pursuits include firearms and hunting, archery, chess, history and biography, and the moderate but hearty consumption of martinis, good scotch and Sam Admas lager. He has a liberal arts degree from a modest but high-quality university, and truly loves producing oil and gas but believes that if things don't change, at some time in the futre he may set his wells on fire and move to Colorado.
Well "Ellis," you sound like a pretty fine fellow but have you actually read Aristotle? And for someone with such high standards, what's with all the typos?
Posted by: Robert at June 28, 2012 8:09 PMHa ha ha! Hey Robert, Down boy! :) As Heinlein would surely say in this situation, "Moving parts in rubbing contact require lubrication to avoid excessive wear. Honorifics and formal politeness provide lubrication where people rub together. Often the very young, the untraveled, the naïve, the unsophisticated deplore these formalities as "empty," "meaningless," or "dishonest," and scorn to use them. No matter how "pure" their motives, they thereby throw sand into machinery that does not work too well at best." Not that I think you are any of young, naïve, or unsophisticated.
Welcome to the blog, brother ew. (Better than brother eeew.) If you have anything at all to do with oil production, even in spirit, you're already a friend of mine. We'll quibble about all of those capitalized words later but for now, a fine starting point.
And I couldn't tell - are you still in government? If so you are one brave sonofa-
Didn't mean to sound too harsh. Ellis seems like a fellow traveler, and if he likes RAH then he's already on my good side...and I've read only about half of Aristotle myself so humility might be in order.
Posted by: Robert at June 28, 2012 10:54 PMDid I miss the original Aristotle reference? I've looked and looked and haven't found it.
Posted by: johngalt at June 28, 2012 11:42 PMI was taking the capitalized Good, True and Beautiful for Aristotle's Transcendentals.
Posted by: Robert at June 29, 2012 12:09 AMMy public school education fails me again. Look out brothers. The bar has been raised 'round here!
Posted by: johngalt at June 29, 2012 12:45 AMJune 27, 2012
Headline of the Day
Economists Without Calculators
Be wary of op-eds in the New York Times that tout an "environmental revolution."
June 24, 2012
Innovation vs. Government Direction
Tempted to start a Facebook fight with this. It's been a while, and this speaks well to my point. Yet this is our third day of triple digit heat, I fear there are two new fires (le Condo d'Amour is covered in dense smoke), and it is unlikely that anybody is in the mood. Of course, that has not slowed down my reason-deficient interlocutors.
But Walter Russell Meade points out -- and Insty links -- that free market innovation is doing more for the environment than (don't laugh) the UN and top-down controls:
As activists in Rio and around the world mourned the failure of yet another useless summit to do anything about climate change, good news on the CO2 front was coming from the country greens love to hate: the US.
While Europe has adopted a plethora of expensive laws without any significant effect on CO2 emissions, the US is substantially reducing its emissions even as air pollution levels drop. As a CNN report puts it:
[SPOILER ALERT!] IT'S FRACKING!
Right now, fracking is doing more to control carbon emissions than all the efforts of all the greens in the world. And by promoting American (and Chinese!) domestic energy production, it is doing more to lay the foundations of world peace than all the peace activists and disarmament campaigners in the world. And by creating more well paid blue collar jobs both in gas and oil extraction and in the manufacturing industries that will grow to exploit the new cheap energy sources, fracking strengthens the American economy and the tax base, providing revenues for both federal and state governments.
UPDATE: Well, I did put it on Facebook. Hang on...
Schumpeter/Hayek/Bastiat- 1
Pigou/Keynes/Gore- 0
June 10, 2012
Denver Post Scolds Sierra Club
Last week I noted that Sierra Club is preparing a "Beyond Natural Gas" advocacy effort as part of its "none of the above" energy strategy. Today the reactionary big-oil shills at the Denver Post editorial board joined my disapprobation.
The executive director of the influential environmental group recently wrote: "It's time to stop thinking of natural gas as a 'kinder, gentler' energy source."To be blunt, no, it is not time.
We are dismayed that this group is repositioning itself as an anti-gas group, going as far as to proclaim that it will lobby to stop all new gas-fueled power plants.
It seems to us that as market conditions and technological advances have led to a boom in availibility of cheap natural gas, the backtracking is born of fear fear that this nation will come to rely on this "transitional fuel" as a long-term solution.
Disapprobation of environmental extremism deserves approbation. I don't say this every day but ... bravo, Denver Post, bravo.
Bravo, indeed!
Posted by: jk at June 10, 2012 1:38 PMJune 7, 2012
Beyond Magical Unicorn Farts
That is where the American environmental extremist group Sierra Club must intend to take American energy consumers.
On Monday I wrote about the use of natural gas as a political alternative to more prevalent and less costly coal as a source of electric power. That effort is supported by Sierra Club in their "Beyond Coal" campaign. But they aren't waiting for Phase I of Operation Nineteenth Century to be completed before launching Phase II: "Beyond Natural Gas." (Not "natural" enough?) Sierra's strategic coordination leaves much room for improvement.
Natural gas drillers exploit government loopholes, ignore decades-old environmental protections, and disregard the health of entire communities. "Fracking," a violent process that dislodges gas deposits from shale rock formations is known to contaminate drinking water, pollute the air, and cause earthquakes. If drillers cant extract natural gas without destroying landscapes and endangering the health of families, then we should not drill for natural gas. [Emphasis mine.]
After the requisite "what do you mean 'we' Kemosabe" the next thing I notice is how this message is designed to appeal to the feeler-perceiver contingent of the public but offers no evidence for the thinker-judgers among us. Fear, uncertainty and doubt anyone? Showing a glass of drinking water doctored with contaminants so expertly as to make Don Draper proud, the campaign against the hydraulic fracturing process seems to revolve mostly around the shorthand name for the method containing letters "F" and "K".
Blogger Jay F. Marks explains that Sierra Club took millions in donations from natural gas corporations for the purpose of bashing coal, but new Sierra Club director Michael Brune opened a new chapter in the war on reliable and affordable energy.
The Sierra Club once had a cozy relationship with the natural gas industry, taking more than $25 million in contributions from Chesapeake Energy Corp. and its subsidiaries to fund the fight against coal.Brune ended that relationship when he took over as the environmental groups director in March 2010. He said the club originally worked with Chesapeake because staff and volunteers concluded natural gas might be a viable alternative to coal in electricity generation, but some local chapters developed increasing concerns about gas production.
Let's fast forward, shall we?
Incoming Sierra Club executive director Barnaby Owleton said today that building and maintaining thousands of acres of monstrously large industrial machines to convert wind to electricity is a thorougly discredited process and a clear danger to migratory birds across the nation. "Extinction of multiple species is not just a possibility, but a certainty, if we don't act immediately to move Beyond Wind."One or two election cycles later...
Woody Weederstein, in his first official statement as new Sierra Club director, slammed the solar electric energy industry for the consequences imposed upon the areas of our planet that are permanently and unavoidably shaded by solar power conversion panels. "In the name of all that is green" he said, "we as Americans have no moral choice but to move Beyond Solar."
And after they succeed in eliminating energy produced by magical unicorn farts the only remaining strategy to "save the planet" will be energy efficiency, which is just another name for rationing. I have a better idea: Hey Sierra Club - Frack off.
June 4, 2012
President Obama's War on Heat and Light
Last week I wrote about the Denver Post's utter bewilderment that presidential candidate Mitt Romney would give a stump speech in rural Craig, Colorado (after all, there haven't been any layoffs there ... yet) and countered with the news coverage of the event by Routt County's Steamboat Today.
Today that much more objective publication runs an editorial by Rob Douglas that delves deeper into the contrast that Governor Romney is offering.
Agree or disagree with Obamas goal, one fact is undeniable. When Obamas intent became public, every man and woman working in coal-related jobs realized that Obama had placed a bulls-eye on their livelihood. Many of those men and women call the Yampa Valley home.So when Romney sought the perfect venue to confront Obamas claim of an all-of-the-above energy policy, Northwest Colorado was a natural choice. Romney is calculating that he can increase his odds in November by siding with folks employed in fossil fuel industries in states like Colorado, Ohio and Pennsylvania all battleground states this year.
After all, Romney has a point when he argues that Obama has continued his war against coal.
This spring, having watched his cap-and-trade legislation die in the U.S. Senate when Democrats abandoned the bill in 2010, Obama bypassed Congress and used the Environmental Protection Agency to start implementing mercury emission, cross-state pollution and greenhouse gas regulations that will kill the coal industry.
But Douglas articulates a much more important message - one I have recognized but as yet not really written about: Coal is not the target. Pragmatic politicians cannot merely "sacrifice" the coal industry conifident in the fact that lost jobs will be replaced by growth in the natural gas industry. If coal is ever defeated the next environmental villain will be natural gas.
Coincidentally, on the same day Romney was speaking to the crowd gathered at Alice Pleasant Park in Craig, the Wall Street Journal reported that, according to the International Energy Agency, global exploitation of shale gas reserves could transform the worlds energy supply by lowering prices, improving security and curbing carbon dioxide emissions, but the industry might be stopped in its tracks if it doesnt work harder to resolve environmental concerns.Of course, everything after the but in that last sentence is where the battle lies. Because as can be witnessed even here in the Yampa Valley, there are some who will never accept fossil fuels as part of Americas energy policy. And just as coal is under attack, these individuals and organizations are mounting battles to prohibit the use of fracking to extract oil and gas the same oil and gas that Americans have been led to believe could replace coal as an energy source.
And hydraulic fracturing is only the first battlefront in the coming War on Natural Gas. That little "feature" of natural gas called "curbing carbon dioxide emissions" will be its undoing for natural gas is not without CO2 emissions, and once its use has been predicated on reducing that "pollutant" it can hardly remain a viable energy source since it can also be shown to be a "dirty" fuel.
"First they came for the coal, and I said nothing."
Not me. I *heart* coal.
June 1, 2012
Green Energy
In January, the Spanish government ended absurdly lavish subsidies for its renewable-energy industry, and the renewable-energy industry all but imploded. You could say it was never a renewable-energy industry at all. It was a government-subsidy industry where in exchange for creating conscience-soothing but otherwise inefficient windmills and solar panels, the government gave the makers piles of cash consumers never would have. -- Jonah GoldbergBloody spaniards! I'm glad we are so much more sophisticated over here.
May 31, 2012
Move along, nothing to see here
Mitt Romney made a whistlestop visit to Craig, Colorado on Tuesday after seeing this video, which was sent to him by Frank and Kerrie Moe, the hotel-owning couple who star in it. The event was covered by the Denver Post and Steamboat Today, and one is left wondering if the Post's Sara Burnett was at the same rally as was Steamboat Today's Scott Franz.
In 'Routt County Republicans meet Mitt Romney' Franz opens, "Nancy Buchner said the sour economy motivated her to drive to Craig on Tuesday morning to see Mitt Romney." But in 'Mitt Romney in Colorado calls for government as "ally of business" Ms. Burnett implies that everything's just peachy.
Unemployment in Moffat County was about 8.3 percent in April higher than the state average, which increased slightly to 7.8 percent last month. But local miners and the mayor of Craig said the local coal industry has been stable, with no layoffs or reduced hours at the local mines or the power plant.
According to Franz, however, local resident Buchner sees life differently in the remote coal-mining and power generating town:
"We really believe Romney has the tools and the knowledge to get the economy going," Buchner said, adding that she only recently became politically active because of the economy. "When I talked to different people (at the rally), they were worried about money. People cannot get jobs. This is not an election to sit out." She said she doesnt think President Barack Obama can turn the economy around.
Not to worry though, Burnett says:
The Obama campaign counters that the president's "all of the above" energy approach includes clean coal, as well as wind, solar, natural gas and other sources renewable energy sources. They also note the president made one of the most significant investments in development of clean coal technologies with $3.4 billion in stimulus funding.
Now, one has to wonder if Burnett and "the Obama campaign" agree with Al Gore who says "clean" coal "doesn't exist." Clearly this administration will spend billions of taxpayer dollars on something while at the very same time regulating it out of legal existence.
Merciful freaking Zeus! FOX31 did this story -- together with the "Amercia" typo -- as a "The Wheels are coming off the Romney Campaign" story. It seems production is up and unemployment is less than surrounding areas. Ergo, yes, everything is fine and Governor Romney is insane to suggest there are any problems. They were astonished that the campaign would not retract this obvious "lie."
I weep.
May 22, 2012
Otequay of the Ayday
While Boulder County and the city of Boulder are developing a Climate Change Preparedness Plan, "we would never waste our money on something like that.""We respect property rights in Weld County. I wouldn't say the same for the Boulder County commissioners." - Weld County Commissioner Barbara Kirkmeyer
Excellent. If things get too warm here, I can drive right over the line.
Posted by: jk at May 22, 2012 4:40 PMHardly worth commenting on but I couldn't resist! ;-)
Denial of the facts (burying your head in the ground) does not justify inaction or mockery. How the human race reacts and responds to change is the crucial element here. We may not agree with any of the actions or responses of Boulder or Weld county in this matter. However, we better get our collective butts in gear and start thinking outside the box if we intend to add another millennium to the clock of human history on planet earth.
Posted by: jc at May 25, 2012 9:51 AMYour comments are always welcome around here.
But it is neither denial nor dismissal. To live long and prosper on this planet will require ingenuity and innovation. Weld sees a future of discovery, Boulder fearfully seeks to preserve an idea of a lost past.
Posted by: jk at May 25, 2012 11:38 AM"We?" What do you mean, we, Kemosabe?
Posted by: johngalt at May 27, 2012 12:08 PMMay 9, 2012
Governor Romney visits Atlantis Farm
Sort of. Yesterday afternoon my dad emailed that "Mitt is speaking in Ft. Lupton tomorrow." I pressed him for more and he sent me a Denver Post press mention that sent me into search mode for an invitation. Having just exchanged emails with Colorado GOP Chairman Ryan Call the day before, I decided I'd try to ask him for an entree. Waiting nervously for his reply I also called my county commissioner with the same request. Both of them came through and before I knew it I was on the list. "We would love it if you could attend. Thanks for your support!" Turns out, it was set to happen in an oil field just a few miles away.
The setting was idyllic, considering it was one of those "environment destroying, wildlife maiming" oil wells. Governor Romney used the occasion to criticize President Obama's "all of the above" energy policy. "I've been trying to figure out what he means by that," Mitt said. "I've concluded that he supports any form of energy that is above the ground. He doesn't like those that happen to be under ground."
He also cited the President's statistic that America has just 2 percent of the world's oil reserves. "But this is old thinking" Romney said. "Recent discoveries and new technologies like horizontal drilling and fracking have created a new reality where the United States could become the world's leading producer of oil based energy." He extended this future vision to "an explosion in American industry and manufacturing, leading to greater prosperity for everyone." Of course, "Energy isn't the only factor in this equation, but it is a big factor."
Belated apologies to any local blog brothers who missed out on the opportunity. I would have posted the news and offered to share the RSVP info but had two other appointments that kept me busy.
I also captured the entire speech on video and might post some excerpts down the road.
It's a composite photo from the "panorama" function of my Windows phone. After putting it in that mode you push the button once then pan sideways along a guide line on the screen until a guide dot meets a reference circle and it automatically snaps another frame. Repeat once more in the same direction then it automatically stitches the three frames together. It works better with landscapes or when the people are further away.
I was trying to capture the spectacularly clear view of the front range. The weather was perfect!
Posted by: johngalt at May 10, 2012 2:43 PMThe panorama function is very cool but not quite perfected yet. I believe it's still evolving.
Posted by: johngalt at May 10, 2012 2:45 PMUpdate on the Shameless Self Promotion part: I have now had 2 acquaintances ask, "did you go to the Mitt Romney rally?" Apparently the TV news clips [0:21] included very recognizable shots of our oldest daughter and her electric red hair watching from Daddy's shoulders. In case there was any doubt, jg family political leanings have now been broadcast statewide to anyone watching network news.
Posted by: dagny at May 11, 2012 12:08 PMCouldn't have been there in any case, JG. Been locked in 15 hour days with a client in Newark, NJ. Whomever dubbed it the Garden State certainly has a sense of humor. Make that a sick sense of humor.
Posted by: Boulder Refugee at May 11, 2012 5:05 PMDid nobody see me at the Obama rally in Boulder last month?
Posted by: johngalt at May 11, 2012 5:15 PMEvolving.
Posted by: jk at May 11, 2012 6:11 PMApril 25, 2012
If I wanted America to Fail
Here we see that Francisco d'Anconia now has a contemporary counterpart with his own YouTube channel.
The 110,000 Million-Dollar Plan
A favorite TV show growing up was Lee Majors starring as the "Six-Million Dollar Man." After crashing the test flight of an experimental aircraft, Steve Austin was fitted with "bionics" that made him "better, stronger, faster." President Obama has been trying the same thing in America's energy market, with less success. Investors Ed Page says Obama Fought Oil and Lost; Now it's Back to Reality.
In other words, even a fast-forward to 23 years from now doesn't reveal an energy economy substantially different from today's. Obama has run up quite a price tag trying to deny this reality.By one recent estimate from analysts sympathetic to the green-economy agenda, the government spent $110.3 billion in tax credits, loans and grants to promote the green economy from 2009 to 2011.
The Obama administration also has leaned against oil and toward the environmental lobby whenever the two were in conflict -- most notably in his decision to block the Keystone XL pipeline. What do we have as a result? High gasoline prices, a bigger federal deficit and not-ready-for-prime-time electric cars.
Energy is bound to be one of the key issues in this year's presidential election, and for once the question won't be about managing scarcity. It will be about how to take advantage of the abundant resources under our feet. Barack Obama fought oil and lost, and the next president can learn from his mistake.
"So I'm supposed to be more upset by what Romney does with his own money than with what Obama is doing with mine."
That comment was one of two shared with me this morning in the aftermath of the GOP primary results from last night. It's a comment that probably ought to resonate with all of us here...
Posted by: Keith Arnold at April 25, 2012 5:03 PMQuote of the Day
Come on. Sure, gas prices are high in Greece, but that's a country with enormous public debt, slow economic growth, excessive bureaucracy, no fiscal discipline in its lawmakers, an electorate of spoiled and entitled citizens who expect generous social-welfare programs and other people to pay for them, increasing economic activity on the black market, a ludicrously complicated tax code . . . they're nothing like us! -- Jim Geraghty [subscribe]
April 23, 2012
Defending those eeevil speculators!
All the cool kids are doing it!
Here I have a modest suggestion. If Representative [Joseph P. II] Kennedy knows a way to go out and produce another barrel of oil somewhere in the world for $11 a barrel, he would do a world of good if he would actually go out and do it himself, as opposed to simply asserting confidently in the pages of the New York Times that it can be done. People with far more modest fortunes than Kennedy inherited are out there using their resources to try to bring more of the physical product out of the ground.And many, many more would be attempting the feat if it were remotely possible to produce a new barrel of oil for anywhere close to $11.
If you want to prove me wrong, Mr. Kennedy, then don't talk about how easy it is to produce more oil -- just go do it.
The whole piece is great. He asks the Kudlow question, viz., Whyizzit that speculation drives crude prices up but natgas prices down? Only one side is evil?
Some sense and clarity for your Monday -- Hat-tip: Mankiw.
April 18, 2012
JK Agrees with Senator Murkowski
"Dogs and cats living together..."
But the good Senator (Pork -- AK) makes an excellent point in a guest editorial today. It is now ten years after we were told it would take ten years to get product from ANWR:
But the most blatant excuse is one that officially expires this week. Because oil might take up to 10 years to reach market, we were told that the nonwilderness portion of ANWR could not be part of the solution to our energy challenges. Nearly every senator who spoke against the amendment in 2002 listed this as a factor in his or her decision.Now, 10 years later, it is plain to see that the argument was not just wrong, but backward. Instead of being a reason to oppose development in ANWR, the time it takes to develop the resource should be treated as a reason to approve it as quickly as possible.
Consider what would be different today had the Senate agreed to open those 2,000 acres a decade ago. If production were coming online right now as expected, it would be providing our nation with a number of much-needed benefits--including a lot more oil.
I'm wondering about sending that mortgage payment in this month. Man, it'll be 15 years before it is paid off...
More like, "Stopped clock right twice-a-day."
Posted by: johngalt at April 19, 2012 4:21 PMApril 11, 2012
'Lectric Car Battery Explodes in Lab
Government General Motors researches new battery technology at its Alternative Energy Center in Warren, Michigan. They had a bit of an accident there last Wednesday.
Warren Mayor James Fouts described the injury to the hospitalized worker as being serious. Fouts was in his office when he received a call about the explosion."I just want to say how very fortunate we are that only one person was seriously injured," said Fouts, who toured the site after the fire was extinguished. "There were 80 people in that building, but only one person received a possible concussion and some chemical burns, from what I've been told."
According to Fouts, the building housing the research lab received considerable damage.
"It was significant structural damage. Three very large windows were blown out and thick, fortified doors were forced open by the blast," Fouts said. "Our fire commissioner said the blast went straight up in the area where they test lithium batteries. The building was stuffed with personnel and equipment, but it was designed very well."
Fouts said he noticed a chemical taste in his mouth when he was at the blast site.
Meanwhile...
Clearly, this shows the effectiveness of the powerful Oil and Gas lobby using its leverage to expunge bad press. Cinch up the foil a little above the ears -- you'll get it.
Posted by: jk at April 11, 2012 3:26 PMApril 6, 2012
Look for the Union Label
Maybe the President has more problems with Unions over the Coal issue than I suggested:
April 5, 2012
Anti-Obama Union Boss!
It was only a matter of time...
While the United Mine Workers of America likely wont actively oppose President Obamas reelection bid, Roberts said the new EPA regulation could prevent the union from endorsing the president.Thats something that we have not done yet and may not do because of this very reason. Our peoples jobs are on the line, Roberts said, adding that Obama has done a lot of great things for the country.
Roberts's [sic] comments underscore the vehement opposition to the new EPA regulations in coal states whose economies rely heavily on the fossil fuel.
I also really enjoyed this quote:
Roberts, in Tuesdays interview with host Hoppy Kercheval, took aim at the Sierra Club, arguing the environmental groups campaign to shut down coal plants is killing jobs.This is a broader problem for me than it is for the Sierra Club or the EPA, Roberts said. And Im convinced, Hoppy, that if you give the Sierra Club enough money, they could shut your job down. I dont know how theyd do it, but theyd figure out a way.
Yet they will line up to reelect him. The rank and file might wander behind the closed curtain (Taranto Metaphor Alert!) but the leadership will do all they can to give him another term.
Posted by: jk at April 5, 2012 4:38 PMApril 2, 2012
Great Volt News!
Thanks to record sales, GM may cancel the extra week's hiatus they added to "control inventory."
Spokeswoman Michelle Malcho said GM may cancel the additional summer shutdown week at the factory if sales continue to be strong as expected. "We're going to see what market demands are between now and then," she said today.They shut down production for lack of sales. Then they extended the shutdown a week. Now, they might cancel the extra week's shutdown. I just wish I owned GM stock. Oh, wait a minute...
Orwell weeps.
I have two questions that come to mind. The first is, who's doing all this new buying of Volts - private buyers, or might it happen to be government agencies and Red China?
The second is, if it is private citizens doing the buying, then how many of them are buying them as a result of being motivated by the spiralling price of gasoline (primarily the result of Federal policies driving up the price of petrol), and how many of them would not choose the highly-priced Volt if it were not for the fact that taxpayers are picking up the tab for twenty percent of the sticker price?
Posted by: Keith Arnold at April 2, 2012 2:34 PMGeneral Electric has pledged to buy 12,000 of them, amounting to 20% of the initial sales forecast and over a quarter of the revised target.
Not sure though which GE is closer to: private buyer or government agency?
Posted by: johngalt at April 3, 2012 3:09 PMJG: given how friendly Jeff Immelt has been with this administration, I'd that the boundary between the two is somewhat porous.
Posted by: Keith Arnold at April 3, 2012 5:08 PMTrue enough, but Immelt's promise to buy Volts from Obama was clearly made during happier times.
Posted by: johngalt at April 3, 2012 5:53 PMHere's a scary thought. What if the incentives have done nothing?
The purchases are made by people who have a special need, or don't completely care about the price. Maybe the 10-grand giveaways are not doing it.
Plus GE stands to benefit from wide acceptance by supplying charing stations. So the cronyism goes beyond politics.
Posted by: jk at April 3, 2012 6:10 PMQuote of the Day
Obamas "green" preferences have already done GM immense damage by politicizing the Volt--a genuine engineering achievement that was supposed to cast a "halo" over Chevrolet's entire car line, but whose failure to achieve sales goals has instead become a widely publicized embarrassment. It's now a reverse-halo car. ... If the President really wanted to boost GM sales to the sort of red-blooded Heartland types who still buy American carspeople who are probably not O.F.A. members--he should have said he plans to drive a Camry when he leaves office. -- Mickey Kaus
April 1, 2012
A Rare Win?
My least favorite act of lefty nonsense passed with little fanfare this year.
In fact, the only reason I know that the "North Korea Hour of No Power" happened at all was that I saw several posts in opposition. Not even one of my beloved moonbat Facebook friends was talking it up this year.
On March 31, some people will be sitting in the dark to express their "vote" for action on global climate change. Instead, you can join CEI and the thousands of people around the world who will be celebrating Human Achievement Hour (HAH). Leave your lights on to express your appreciation for the inventions and innovations that make today the best time to be alive and the recognition that future solutions require individual freedom not government coercion.
Of course, there was one FB post about "not buying gas on April 15 this year." XOM trembles...
Jeeburz, anti-prosperity nonsense isn't quite as sustainable as the neo-statists had hoped, is it? They'll get another chance to try again, in about three weeks, on "Earth" Day.
(A special treat: Click through at the link for an old-timey Rick Santorum nugget.)
Posted by: johngalt at April 1, 2012 2:46 PMMarch 29, 2012
Otequay of the Ayday
There are lies, damned lies, and then there are Obama's charts. -- Investors Business Daily editorial
Like squared.
Posted by: jk at March 29, 2012 3:04 PMMarch 13, 2012
It's the price of gas, stupid
Keep it up Mister President. IBD's Andrew Malcolm:
Showing his keen grasp of free market forces, Obama has ordered Justice officials to investigate oil speculation. Of course, there's oil speculation. It's called the futures market. And watching Obama's policies instead of his words, those experts see higher prices coming ahead, as do most Americans in the poll.When taking office, Energy Secy. Stephen Chu expressed a desire to drive U.S. gas prices to the European levels of $8-$9 a gallon, much like taxation on cigarettes to discourage their use. This administration has achieved more than half that European goal already.
And voters are taking note:
A new Washington Post-ABC News Poll this week finds about two-out-of-three Americans now disapprove of the Chicago Democrat's job on gas prices, whatever that's been.
Maybe if he started reminding them he "killed bin Laden..."
The official Democratic talking point on this is "No Silver Bullet." The President said it in his speech and I heard two DNC representatives echo it.
Perhaps there's no single thing that would easily and immediately bring fuel prices down, but I can't help but feel if the administration stopped shooting them at every person or company that tries to produce energy, it would be a start.
And never underestimate the timeless electoral appeal of "The Republicans are coming for your ladyparts!"
Posted by: jk at March 13, 2012 4:25 PMMarch 9, 2012
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
James Taranto has forcefully and eloquently taken on the ridiculous "fact checker" sections of media. All any of them are is an extra opportunity to add bias. Piling on is probably not worth the ones and zeros, but...I am almost in tears over today's WaPo "Fact Check."
Obama's $8,000 in gas savings a year -- oops, over a car's life
It's a misstatement, so it gets the lightest sentence of "One Pinocchio." Fair enough, we all make mistakes. Asserting, in front of a cheering crowd, that the 20-26 year savings "over the life of the car" is annual savings seems like a large one, but I am all smiles and compassion today. The crowd was assured that there would be no math, but $8000 a year is $21.92 a day. What will you buy with your savings? If you bought five big SUVs, you could save $100 every day!
Okay, so I am more smiles than compassion. But assuming that is still a mono-pinocchial offense, the fact check goes on to show additional perfidy.
When Obama does say this talking point correctly, note the careful wording -- "$8,000 at the pump over time." He's talking about the savings on gasoline, the happy part of the story. But he has left out part of the total picture -- the costs of compliance with the new rules.The standards are coming in two phases. The first, which affects cars in model years 2012-2016, will increase the average cost of model 2016 car about $950, while saving $4,000 in fuel, according to government estimates. So the net savings is about $3,000. The second set of standards, which affects cars in model years 2017-2025, will add $2,200 to the cost of a model 2025 car, while reducing fuel costs by $6,600, for a net lifetime savings of $4,400. (Gasoline is presumed to cost about $3.42 before taxes.)
There's "a complicated method" to get to $8,000 fuel savings:
- If you disregard the cost
- On a rule that kicks in in five years
- That Kessler does not even document
Is anybody else's b******t detector going off? Glenn Kessler -- who does this for a living -- is prepared to forgive every sin except multiplying by 26?
Read the article six times, and you'll encounter no suggestion that the President nor his policies are not saving a gorram dime for nobody. You choose to buy the car you buy (unless he gets a second term) and factor in the mileage as part of your decision.
How many will put off buying a new, more efficient vehicle because of the $6600 addition to the sticker price? (Hey, if he can use 2017-2025 figures, so can I!) That's a side of CAFE that gets way too little attention.
MAD Magazine had a "What's wrong with this picture?" spoof where there were obviously many things amiss. The answer was "The headline: This was supposed to be the 'What 1,000 things are wrong with this picture?' picture." In reverse, there are a thousand things wrong with the President's claim to be saving his unquestioning minions eight grand a year. Kessler finds one.
March 8, 2012
Condor Cuisinarts™
Piling on wind power...
The renewed focus on bird kills is coming at a bad time for the wind industry, which is being hammered by low natural-gas prices and a Congress unwilling to extend the 2.2 cents per-kilowatt-hour production tax credit that has fueled the industry's growth in recent years.Last June, the Los Angeles Times reported that about 70 golden eagles are being killed per year by the wind turbines at Altamont Pass, about 20 miles east of Oakland, Calif. A 2008 study funded by the Alameda County Community Development Agency estimated that about 2,400 raptors, including burrowing owls, American kestrels, and red-tailed hawks--as well as about 7,500 other birds, nearly all of which are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act--are being killed every year by the turbines at Altamont.
A pernicious double standard is at work here. And it riles Eric Glitzenstein, a Washington, D.C.-based lawyer who wrote the petition to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. He told me, "It's absolutely clear that there's been a mandate from the top" echelons of the federal government not to prosecute the wind industry for violating wildlife laws.
I enjoy tormenting my Facebook friends with this. Their response? "More birds are killed by cats." I guess that is the new standard -- if your technology kills fewer wild animals than natural predators do, everything is copacetic.
How many cats are killed by leaks from oil pipelines?
Posted by: johngalt at March 8, 2012 5:54 PMMarch 7, 2012
A Bad Wind Blows this Way
Hope Brother nb is on the road this week, as we've been harshing on the mellow of wind power.
But the WSJ Ed Page reports that a 20 year old subsidy, designed to give the nascent industry some funding so that it could compete in the free market is up for renewal (I mean, really, what can you accomplish with technology in a mere twenty years?)
The most dishonest claim is that wind and solar deserve to be wards of the state because the oil and gas industry has also received federal support. That's the $4 billion a year in tax breaks for oil and gas (which all manufacturers receive), but the oil and gas industry still pays tens of billions in federal taxes every year.Wind and solar companies are net tax beneficiaries. Taxpayers would save billions of dollars if wind and solar produced no energy at all. A July 2011 Energy Department study found that oil, natural gas and coal received an average of 64 cents of subsidy per megawatt hour in 2010. Wind power received nearly 100 times more, or $56.29 per megawatt hour.
Pigs at the government trough. Glad none of my brave Republicans are particip -- umm, wait a second.
Most Congressional Democrats will back anything with the green label. But Republican support for big wind is a pure corporate welfare play that violates free-market principles. Last week six Republican Senators--John Boozman of Arkansas, Scott Brown of Massachusetts, Charles Grassley of Iowa, John Hoeven of North Dakota, Jerry Moran of Kansas and John Thune of South Dakota--signed a letter urging their colleagues to extend the production tax credit."It is clear that the wind industry currently requires tax incentives" and that continuing that federal aid can help the industry "move towards a market-based system," said the letter. What's the "market-based" timetable--100 years? In the House 18 Republicans have joined the 70-Member wind pork caucus. Someone should remind them that in 2008 and 2010 the wind lobby gave 71% of its PAC money to Democrats.
Senator Chuck Grassley for an energy boondoggle? Mai Non! I refuse to believe it!
I love these opportunities to bad-mouth Republicans. What if?
Posted by: johngalt at March 7, 2012 2:39 PMThat's it! I'm never saying "you were right" again.
No. Totally different. Admitting Chuck Grassley is a putz, and decrying the bad positions of others is -- repeat after me, kids -- "holding your party accountable."
Saying there is no difference between Ds and Rs in 2011, and that Governor Romney would be no better friend to liberty than President Obama is counter-productive. And false.
Agreed. I don't endorse the Napolitano rant entirely, just the underlying theme.
Wasn't trying to "gotcha." Just integrating post themes.
Posted by: johngalt at March 7, 2012 4:44 PMI'm here and I can take it. Been some personal drama lately... barely even back to lurking. Shewt, I had a good study from somewhere's about subsidies... but the DOE study is more clean: $/MWhr is the way to look at it.
Off to ID on Monday to climb 90 meters up into one of those spendy white boondoggles.
Posted by: nanobrewer at March 8, 2012 1:25 AMHeh. Hope you also saw the Volt thread where technology was appreciated in spite of subsidies. We've all got a streak. I'm an algae man even after the President used it as an excuse to not issue drilling permits or pipe oil from Saudi Oh Canada.
Posted by: jk at March 8, 2012 10:52 AMMarch 6, 2012
Quote of the Day
To the nearest whole number, the percentage of the world's energy that comes from wind turbines today is: zero. Despite the regressive subsidy (pushing pensioners into fuel poverty while improving the wine cellars of grand estates), despite tearing rural communities apart, killing jobs, despoiling views, erecting pylons, felling forests, killing bats and eagles, causing industrial accidents, clogging motorways, polluting lakes in Inner Mongolia with the toxic and radioactive tailings from refining neodymium, a ton of which is in the average turbine -- despite all this, the total energy generated each day by wind has yet to reach half a per cent worldwide. -- Matt Ridley, via Kenneth P Green.
Is this the Hope that President Obama promised us? I'll take it!
Excellent article on the double click-through:
The subsidising of useless wind turbines was born of a deep intellectual error, one incubated by failure to challenge conventional wisdom.It is precisely this consensus-worshipping, heretic-hunting environment where the greatest errors can be made.
And this was in the UK news magazine 'The Spectator' not Minnesotans for Global Warming.
Best Car of the Year!
Why, it's the Chevy Volt of course! It's won several prestigious awards. It's just that nobody wants to buy it... Joann Muller at Forbes, delivers the bad news. But she is painfully even-handed in her appraisal.
Critics quickly jumped on that news as evidence that the Volt is a wasteful folly and the federal government shouldn't be meddling in the auto industry. Never mind that the Volt was conceived long before GM's 2009 taxpayer-financed bankruptcy. As investors with a 32% stake in the world's largest carmaker, taxpayers ought to be pleased by GM's uncharacteristic discipline in matching its vehicle production to real demand. Instead of overproducing Volts, and then heavily discounting them to get people to buy, GM is protecting its investment.
Bursting with pride, Joann, I'm bursting with pride! But...
The Volt's hefty pricetag, $41,000, no doubt scared away some buyers. Even with a $7,500 federal tax credit, it's a lot to pay for a four-seat Chevrolet. The lease price isn't bad at all -- $350 a month, with $2,500 down -- but consumers have somehow missed that marketing pitch, and that's GM's fault. There have been other issues, too: a government investigation into post-crash test fires (much ado about nothing) and the challenge of making people understand the Volt's unique gas-and-electric technology.
You see, ThreeSourcers, you don't have to pony up 40K and wait for your tax refund -- you can lease a volt for $350 a month with $2500 down!
Those critics. What a bunch of losers, eh?
Her "painfully even-handed" sure sounds a lot like Mark Antony, coming not to praise the Volt, but to bury it. The noble Forbes has told us it is a worthy car, and it must be true, for the writers at Forbes are all honorable men.
After all, it's won several prestigious awards! Would you disparage the winner of a prestigious award? Does it not deserve the same respect that you would haved for the winners of other prestigious awards - such as Nobel Peace Prize winners Barack Obama, Yasser Arafat, Jimmy Carter, Kofi Annan, Al Gore, and the IPCC? Such as Rhodes scholars Richard Lugar, Paul Sarbanes, Kris Kristofferson, David Souter, Wesley Clark, Robert Reich, Bill Clinton, Michael Kingsley, EJ Dionne, Russ Feingold, and Rachel Madcow?
Perish the thought.
Posted by: Keith Arnold at March 6, 2012 12:00 PMAnd the best thing about buying the $41,000 (base) car, [$48,000 nicely equipped] is that you'll "save a crapload of money."
Speaking 100 percent objectively now, I love the technology in the Volt. It's not even half bad looking. And the apparent fact they can make it for less than $50K is something of a marvel in itself. As true bleeding-edge tech it's a slam dunk success.
But the subsidies and the mandates are what kills it, along with the crony capitalism that stole General Motors from its secured creditors and handed it over with a pretty bow to the UAW, at further taxpayer expense no less. It is a symbol for all that is wrong with 21st century American industry and commerce, and the government that bespoils them both. For this it must suffer the vicissitudes of the market. Consumers who can afford it are also the ones most likely to recoil at what it stands for.
Posted by: johngalt at March 6, 2012 1:03 PMBrother Keith: the twitter link I followed had me expecting a brutal takedown. Ms. Muller has more good things to say about the Volt than I am used to.
Brother jg: Much technically to like about the Volt, but -- and I'll admit to jaundice -- they missed on the promise of an all-electric drivetrain (likely a good idea, but how do you give twice the Federal Jack for it than a plug-in hybrid?) They missed as well on the date and the price point. Now they miss on sales.
If I wasn't a coerced 32% equity-stakeholder, I would not care, but if I may paraphrase Donne: "Everie abscense of Volt sales affekts me, for I am part of mankinde!"
A good and fair essay on the Volt -- with a nod to your points -- can be found here.
The basic problem with the Volt isn't that it's a bad car that nobody could ever want; it is, in fact, quite an engineering achievement and a rather impressive drive. And if GM had said all along that it would serve as an "anti-Corvette," selling in low volumes at a high price, nobody could now accuse it of failure. Instead, GM fueled totally unrealistic expectations for Volt, equating it with a symbol of its rebirth even before collapsing into bailout. The Obama administration simply took GM's hype at face value, and saw it as a way to protect against the (flawed) environmentalist argument that GM deserved to die because of "SUV addiction" alone.Posted by: jk at March 6, 2012 2:24 PM
March 2, 2012
Be Fearless!
"Even with sales up in February over January, we are still seeking to align our production with demand," said GM spokesman Chris Lee.Adding a shift? Doubling capacity? Oh, wait a minute, no...
Chevy Volt "Temporarily" Halts Production.
The late great Andrew Breitbart would not mince words and I will try my hand at courage: I hate that damn car! It is the symbol of crony capitalism and disrespect for property rights, the fifth amendment, and the capacity of capital markets to drive innovation. The President and captive cronies at GE cannot make up for the markets' disinterest. Good Good Good!
In California we call that "on hiatus." As in, "After airing thirteen episodes, the show went on hiatus."
In a perfect world, Firefly will resume production before the Volt.
Posted by: Keith Arnold at March 2, 2012 7:05 PMI Wonder What Robert Redford Thinks?
Thanks to Facebook frineds, and MoveOn.org. I know.
*sarcasm*Personally I think it's an outrage that Hollywood studios are free to just make new films whenever they believe a market demand exists for it!*/sarcasm*
Pipeline supporters use "Repeatedly and wildly exaggerated jobs numbers." You oughtta know.
"...voted down real jobs projects." Pedal-powered automobiles.
Keystone means enviros can no longer claim we must "reduce our 'dependence' on foreign oil." With North American oil bursting at the seams it's now all oil we must eschew.
"Energy security comes from reducing our dependence on oil." Classic static society theory.
"Pay close attention and search out the real facts." Good advice Bob.
And what's up with that CO2 and carcinogen spewing wood fire burning behind you? Is that still legal where you live? You and your boys cut and split all of that fuel wood by hand? Haul it around the woods by horse-drawn wagon?
*/rant*
Posted by: johngalt at March 2, 2012 3:22 PMFebruary 27, 2012
Where's my White Leisure Suit?
I'm on record as being extremely interested in fuel from algae. You needn't bother searching for approbative remarks. But I differ with the President in thinking that it will be part of our fuel mix in the near future or that its promise justifies impeding petroleum production.
Ergo, I am not the least bit inconsistent in sharing a second Jim Treacher joke. To the tune of the Rolling Stones' "Angie:"
Algae, algae
When will those cars you run appear?
Algae, algae
The process still ain't too clear
To Obama we give thanks
As we're fillin' up our tanks
You can say he patronized
Algae, algae
His excuses: agonized
Algae
You're plentiful, yeah
But your worth is undefined
Algae
I slipped on ya
On that boulder at low tide
People think youre kinda gross
As you squish between their toes
Scrub you off, you reappear
Algae, algae
With our drains you interfere
Oh, algae, how you creep
In the shallows and the deeps
Can we use ya when we drive?
Algae, algae
Barry's hopes will you revive?
To Obama we give thanks
As we're fillin' up our tanks
You can say he patronized
But algae, we still love ya, baby
Some use for you we will devise
There ain't a fuel source that comes close to you
At least that's what we theorize
But algae, algae
You're called nori when you're dried
Algae, algae
Hey, at least Obama tried
February 24, 2012
Tweet of the Day
Schadenfreude
Could this story possibly get any better?
[Soylendra] plans on paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to clean up its own property in Fremont, Calif., but a separate leased property in nearby Milpitas sits vacant with barrels of unknown chemicals and lead-contaminated equipment, attorneys for the landlord, iStarCTL I L.P., said in recent bankruptcy court filings.
Okay, maybe barrels of goo with a picture of the Vice President on each...that would be better.
February 21, 2012
There's Hope!
Heritage highlights a Rasmussen Poll. It seems Americans are not completely keen on paying ten grand for some rich ass****'s 'lectricar (and I'd love to see the results if they used my wording):
Just 29% of Likely U.S. Voters favor $10,000 government subsidies to encourage the purchase of electric cars, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Fifty-eight percent (58%) are opposed to such subsidies. Thirteen percent (13%) are undecided.
29% of likely voters are in need of a trip back to school - or we should at least require an explanation from them as to why they think we all need to pay for a piece of someone else's car.
Posted by: Keith Arnold at February 21, 2012 5:44 PMI caught a man-at-the-pump interview this morning wherein the subject, probably one of this 29 percent, said, "Gasoline is a precious resource but it is a dwindling resource and the only way to get us to use less of it is to make it more expensive." As though organic hydrocarbon molecular chains are some sort of "endangered specie" that must be preserved for posterity. If it is dwindling then we'll use less of it when we "run out."
If George W. Bush (or some other Republican) were in the White House the press would be screaming "Big Oil price gouging" and "profiteering." But while the same oil companies make the same higher profits on President Obama's watch the narrative is, "fossil fuels should cost more, in order to pay for their harm to society and nature." Note to "Big Oil:" Should Obama be granted a second term, prepare to be nationalized - either de-facto or "in"-facto.
Posted by: johngalt at February 21, 2012 6:50 PMYeah, but what about supply?
I'm pretty reluctant to argue with Richard Epstein. I might challenge Jeremy Lin to a game of one-on-one first. But, with all due respect, Professor Epstein...
Without question, the problem [high price of oil] can be traced back to a renegade Iran. For good and sufficient political reasons, the West has come to see that the Iranian nuclear threat is not just bluster. Indeed, it poses far greater risks to world peace and the political order than even a major disruption in oil supplies.
Hence an anxious West has now put into place a reasonably effective concerted effort to cut off Iran from the world's banking system, and to block the use of Iranian oil internationally, which has been made easier by the Saudis' willingness to expand their own shipments into the world markets. Nor have the Iranians sat back idly. They have cut off exports to the United Kingdom and France, a move that is largely symbolic. But the Iranian threat to close the Strait of Hormuz, through which about one-third the world's oil supplies travel, is not symbolic. Nor is the movement of the U.S. aircraft carrier, the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, into the Strait of Hormuz, merely symbolic.
You are dead right that markets should set oil and gas prices. I'll also concur that both parties and most of the presidential candidates are prepared to use the issue stupidly (in Speaker Gingrich's case, profoundly and stupidly) wrong to attract votes.
But I read a great tweet last night. Sorry I have forgotten attribution, but some 140 character genius celebrated the tenth anniversary of the enviros rejecting ANWR drilling because "it would take ten years for any of that oil to come on line." In a just world, this would get a little press.
Oil futures would respond positively to not only the Keystone pipeline but also liberal permitting in the gulf, and a strong defense of fracking in the States which permit it.
UPDATE: Brother Keith's cartoon deserves an embed:
The tweet you reference brings to mind a cartoon done a few years ago by the great Michael Ramirez:
http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/michaelramirez/2008/04/30/1468
According to Wikipedia (yeah, I know...) drilling in ANWR has been a political hot topic since 1977. Even someone who attended the California public education system could tell you that was 35 years ago. Think of what the price of a gallon of gas might be today if we were pumping that today. Think of what state our economy might be in. Think of how much less important certain Middle Eastern nations might be if that were online today.
Of course, speaking of California, we have all these rich oil fields right offshore. Good thing we have all those resources that we could be leasing out to oil companies, keeping this state from bankruptcy...
Posted by: Keith Arnold at February 21, 2012 1:39 PMVery good 'toon!
My understanding -- and know that I get all my info from FOX News or Koch Brothers-funded corporate shills -- is that the Santa Barbara oil of which you speak just leaches out into the sea and that drilling would likely relieve the pressure and clean things up. Am I listening to the wrong crowd on this?
"... the Saudis' willingness to expand their own shipments into the world markets."
Does Epstein mean to say that, in Saudi Arabia, "big oil" can just arbitrarily adjust output to fit market conditions in real-time, without any restriction or limitation? Gosh, what if every oil producer in the world had such ... freedom?
Posted by: johngalt at February 21, 2012 2:23 PMFebruary 17, 2012
Craig Colorado vs. Renewable Energy mandates
A five minute (Embedding disabled by request, sorry) video that is well worth a watch.
"An attack on the very energy sources that have powered our economy, that have made this engine run."
Also love the display of output (~2:05) of the Craig coal plants and the Unicorn farms.
Hat-tip: @ariarmstrong
Not Taxed Enough, Yet
dagny shares a financial "article of the day" via email. "The interesting thing about this is the comments" she writes. "The majority of commenters seem to think that reducing business taxes (i.e. letting business keep the money they made) is a, 'handout,' or, 'corporate welfare.' Betcha they don't think that about refundable tax credits like the EIC."
And why wouldn't commenters such as Chicago's own "gsdfhdgjhfdhjjjjjkgkjgjks" believe that accelerated depreciation and an R&D tax credit are handouts to corporations. President Obama and groups like Clean Energy Works are turning the entire English language upside down:
A memo circulating from Clean Energy Works, an alliance of about 60 groups, outlines a strategy of framing tax benefits the industry receives as corporate welfare. The memo calls the messaging plan a "line of attack" to counteract the description of climate legislation as a national energy tax.(...)
"What they don't want anyone to know is that the American people already have a national energy tax -- The Big Oil Welfare Tax -- in the form of billions of dollars in subsidies to the wildly profitable big oil companies," the memo adds.
So first, "subsidies" to specific corporations equate to a "tax" on individuals. Well, I can see the logic here if the effects of economic growth spurred by a larger (and cheaper) energy supply and continued government spending on unrelated programs are ignored. But this misses the real point that taxing something less than it might be taxed can not in any sense be considered a subsidy. The government is taking wealth from wealth-producing companies. In English this is known as "taxation."
But even if one believes, as I do, that "Big Oil" should be taxed just as much as any other industry it is erroneous to examine a few specific tax categories where rates may differ and proclaim preferential treatment.
According to the Energy Information Administration, the industry's effective federal income tax rate is more than two-thirds higher than the average for all manufacturing industries.
Furthermore, those throwing stones at the oil industry over corporate welfare would do well to first look in the mirror, for the vast majority of them are vocal proponents of so-called "renewable" energy.
Another EIA study shows renewable energy industries enjoy double the incentives of those for oil and natural gas."
But punitive taxation is nothing new in America or anywhere else where wealth is produced and standards of living have been raised. And despite taking one-quarter or more of the freely created wealth of for-profit corporations and individuals, they still manage to keep working and producing and, getting the shaft. Our commenter from Chicago put it succinctly in the comments to the original article. In reply to a previous sarcastic comment which read:
"Nice. kick businesses in the teeth--the ones who hire the most-- and increase gov spending and deficits. Now THAT'S the way to make jobs!"
gsdfhdgjhfdhjjjjjkgkjgjks wrote:
Still works so far
Well, as long as our government is kicking job-producing business in the teeth:
http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2012/02/not-from-atlas-shrugged.html
The text from the bill now in Congress (or is that, "incongruous"?) includes the following text. Where have I read something like this again?
"(4) REASONABLE PROFIT.—The term ‘reasonable profit’ means the amount determined by the Reasonable Profits Board to be a reasonable profit on the sale."
And people think Rand wrote fiction...
Posted by: Keith Arnold at February 17, 2012 4:34 PMKeep in mind, you'd be grouchy too if your parents had named you "gsdfhdgjhfdhjjjjjkgkjgjks"
Posted by: jk at February 17, 2012 5:32 PMFebruary 14, 2012
Thousand Words
Even Kenneth Green says so:
February 13, 2012
Internet Segue Machine™
UT Knoxville: UT Researchers Find China's Pollution Related to E-Cars May Be More Harmful than Gasoline Cars
KNOXVILLE--Electric cars have been heralded as environmentally friendly, but findings from University of Tennessee, Knoxville, researchers show that electric cars in China have an overall impact on pollution that could be more harmful to health than gasoline vehicles.
Chris Cherry, assistant professor in civil and environmental engineering, and graduate student Shuguang Ji, analyzed the emissions and environmental health impacts of five vehicle technologies in 34 major Chinese cities, focusing on dangerous fine particles. What Cherry and his team found defies conventional logic: electric cars cause much more overall harmful particulate matter pollution than gasoline cars.
Well, that's in a command-and-control top down economy. Here in the good old USA, surely the market will be able to sort this out. Right?
Daily Caller: Obama hikes subsidy to wealthy electric car buyers
The White House intends to boost government subsidies for wealthy buyers of the Chevy Volt and other new-technology vehicles -- to $10,000 per buyer.
That mammoth subsidy would cost taxpayers $100 million each year if it is approved by Congress, presuming only 10,000 new-technology autos are sold each year.
But the administration wants to get 1 million new-tech autos on the road by 2015. The subsidy cost of that goal could reach $10 billion.
The planned giveaway will likely prompt populist protests from GOP legislators, but it will likely also will be welcomed by auto-industry workers in the critical swing state of Michigan.
Stupid Chinese! Why don't they follow our example and adopt free-market principles?
January 24, 2012
Keystone XL Pipeline Economic Impact is "Settled"
As luck would have it, President Obama actually saved US and Canadian energy companies billions of wasted dollars by using the power of the regulatory state to stop construction of their "disastrous" tar sands pipeline. How do I know this? Al Gore says so.
"The analysis from the final EIS, noted above, indicates that denying the permit at this time is unlikely to have a substantial impact on U.S. employment, economic activity, trade, energy security, or foreign policy over the longer term." Source: Climate ProgressThis is an important win not only for the thousands of activists who risked arrestand for the hundreds who went to jail--but for all of us who want to try and role [sic] back the effects of the climate crisis, not magnify them.
And who could doubt the objective fiscal evaluations of Climate Progress?
January 12, 2012
I'm a Uniter -- Not a Divider!
We may support different candidates, but we'll all share revulsion with Cato's Patrick Michaels as he surveys the Gub'mint Motors Chevy Volt.
At the Detroit Auto Show this week, CEO Dan Akerson admitted that General Motors may have to cut back production of the Chevrolet Volt because the 4,600-plus Volts on the market now are about three times the monthly sales. Other figures put the GM hybrid cars inventory at an outrageous 120-plus days.
And, yet I read about their big month last month. It was great! They sold 1529! Man, things are really turning around. And all those naysaying bloggers are going to have to eat their... Umm, what?
More than a third of those were fleet sales to corporations. None of these were the traditional large-fleet purchasers, i.e. Hertz, Avis and the other big rental companies. They were more like Verizon and General Electric -- with GE having committed to buying 12,000 and having already purchased unspecified "hundreds," with continued "daily" deliveries, as The Wall Street Journal reported recently.Then there are the direct taxpayer buys. Fifty to New York City. The city of Deland, Fla., brags about buying five with an Energy Department grant. The federal General Services Administration has bought 101 so far, but President Obama has ordered it to procure only hybrid or high-mileage vehicles by 2015. (The taxpayers buy about 60,000 cars a year for GSA.)
So, in addition to our taxpayer subsidy of $11,467,500 (no, that's not a lot in government speak -- but it's for fifteen hundred cars) we're buying the damn cars?
CATO suggests "Kill the car now. It's not cost-effective, and it's irritating taxpayers in an election year." But some folks might lose their jobs. And Speaker Gingrich and Governor Perry wouldn't like that.
(Ooops, I said I was gonna be nice...)
January 11, 2012
Rainbows and Unicorn Sweat!
Starting with a more family-friendly -- if less poignant -- version of a favorite jg line, I give you Kenneth P. Green with a a classic of the genre. His short post encapsulates everything that is wrong with renewable fuels mandates. Nope, not gonna excerpt.
Awesome comment from the post:
Lew Schuerkamp says:
January 11, 2012 at 11:03 am
You left out the contradiction of requiring more ethanol in gasoline and at the same time imposing higher mpg requirements. Since all forms of Alcohol contain roughly 33% less energy per unit volume, immutable laws of physics dictate that mpg will drop at a rate commensurate with the portion on Alcohol in the gasoline.
Since when do immutable laws of physics apply to Democrat ideas?
Posted by: dagny at January 11, 2012 4:51 PMWhen conquering generals returned to Rome in triumph, they were followed in the parade by a person who constantly reminded the general, "Memento mori! Remember that you a but a man, and must die!"
Democrat officeholders need to have a similar functionary - a Chief Engineering Czar, to remind them "I canna change the laws of physics! I'm giving her all she's got!"
Posted by: Keith Arnold at January 11, 2012 5:07 PMPoliticians never really care if their policies work. All they care about is moving the money around under very large walnut shells, and sometimes some of it happens to fall out in fortuitous (for them) places.
Posted by: johngalt at January 11, 2012 6:01 PMJanuary 5, 2012
Big News!
IT'S NOT A "RECALL," IT'S A "CALL BACK:" GM to call back 8,000 Chevy Volts."General Motors will strengthen the structure around the batteries in its Volt electric cars to keep them safe during crashes, a person briefed on the matter said Thursday. GM will ask Volt owners to return the cars to dealers for structural modifications, said the person, who did not want to be identified because GM executives plan to announce the repairs later Thursday." -- Instapundit.They sold 8,000 ????
UPDATE: GM Recalling Volts, White House Headed to Detroit to Celebrate?
January 3, 2012
Short Bisquik®!
Chevy Volt "selling like hotcakes!" sez Democrat, Michigan, Superannuated Congressman.
Romney is the only fellow in the United States who appears to think that the Volt is an idea whose time has not come. Clearly it has not come to him. The Volt is selling like hotcakes. -- John Dingell (D - Dreamland)
Hat-tip: Insty
December 27, 2011
Magnitudes of Bull****
Oh man! Or, as they say on ESPN, "C'mon Man!" I'll be the first to concede that the figure of 250,000-in-federal-jack-per-Volt is a salacious, audacious figure. It's a headline grabber, it's link bait. It's a bit high.
But now that I have read the defense, it's standing up firmly. Insty links to Sebastian Blanco at AutoBlogGreen. Blanco disputes the $250,000 figure, with a flourish:
Oh, how easy it is to go viral on the Internet. All you have to do is be really, really bad at math. Or have an agenda.
The folks propagating 250K had an agenda. But were they bad at math? They divided subsidies by the current production. Likely that is not fair. Investments -- coerced from the taxpayers or not -- should be amortized over a longer run or perhaps all of production,
The Street.com goes looking for the denominator:
Here is the point: Why divide whatever amount -- $1.5 billion or otherwise -- by the number of Chevrolet Volts sold to date? If he had done this study one year from now, when we could be looking at 60,000 Volts made, as GM repeatedly has promised, the headline number would be $25,000 per car -- not $250,000.
[...]
Thus, if you divide this $1.5 billion "investment" over 60 million cars over the next 25+ years instead of the 6,000 made over the last year, or the 60,000 to be made next year, the alleged government subsidy comes to $25 per car, or what you will pay for two movie tickets in Manhattan, popcorn excluded. That's very different from the nasty $250,000 per Volt headline floating all over the Internet in the last couple of days.
Less than two Manhattan movie tickets, you cheapskate! When you realize the government is designing the next 60 million cars! That's nuthin'!
I suggest the Street.com's stirring defense actually provides a realistic figure of $25,000 -- which I consider completely and totally insane. Twenty five K of tax money to build a $40,000 car for a buyer who makes (avg) $170,000 per annum. I trust ThreeSourcers would be upset at $25 (enumerated powers, anybody?) but the whole nation should be upset at $25,000.
Of course if you divide by everyone born in the next million years...
The fallacy is in the presuppositions. They presume GM will build, and sell, 60,000 Volts in the next year. Based on recent sales figures, that would be wildly optimistic, unless you presume that the guv'mint will either buy them all themselves, or put a gun to our heads and force us to buy them.
Which they might.
Posted by: Keith Arnold at December 27, 2011 5:24 PMAgreed, ka. And that is to get to the only $25,000/car figure.
Full of Christmas generosity, call that a few years' production, which will be that most influenced by our [cough!] investment. That is what causes me to take the 25K figure as accurate.
That's about what I paid for my MR2 in 2004...
Fans of government "investment" will retort, "$1.5B is far less than was spent on the moon program, and look at all the benefits that accrued humanity from that." But the real difference is not in the dollars, it's in the technology. NASA had to oversee the invention of hundreds of new technologies to go to the moon. Electric cars were invented in the 19th century.
Posted by: johngalt at December 28, 2011 2:17 PMPlus, Tang®
Posted by: jk at December 28, 2011 2:30 PMDecember 22, 2011
Colorado's First 'Lectricar!
Oh joy, the future has come to the Centennial State:
Passarelli said the sticker price on his [Nissan Leaf] was about $38,000 -- OK, so it isn't exactly a gift -- but with federal and local tax credits and rebates, the final price was about $26,000.
The other $12,000 will be provided my magic wands and faerie dust...
... and Mary Katherine Ham, et. al.
Posted by: johngalt at December 22, 2011 5:19 PMDecember 5, 2011
Addicted to Oil?
Take this shiny new "The World According to DP" category out for a spin...
Amy Oliver responds to a guest editorial:
The Denver Post gave Greg Wockner of Clean Water Action prime newspaper real estate in Sunday's perspective section. Wockner's guest editorial "Is Colorado Addicted to Oil?" was nothing more than a list of typical anti-fossil fuel questions that he tried to associate to Colorado's and Weld County's economic struggles as a result of the Great Recession.
Oliver's response is the jewel. Are you "addicted" to civilization?
Are we addicted oil? Only if you enjoy and are "addicted" to a modern lifestyle made possible by the discovery of fossil fuels. I'll revisit this question at the end of this series of blog posts.
November 30, 2011
Tick....tick...
I usually use 60W bulbs and stocked up on those and 75s this summer.
But Instapundit's admonitions have sunk in, I don't want to be caught without access. And -- let's just say it's my way of sticking it to the man! I bought 24 100W incandescents.
Here's an insty-supporting link if you care to join me.
November 16, 2011
A Colorado Soylendra
Amy Oliver pens an interesting column on "A Stupid Energy Policy." I hope my Facebook friends don't see it, it uses logic, reason, physics, and economics.
Narrowly Avoiding a Colorado 'Solyndra'
In early 2009, then newly appointed U.S. Senator Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) touted the prospects of Ascent Solar, a Colorado solar panel manufacturer, and the plans for a new facility to add as many as 200 new jobs for the state's "New Energy Economy." Then-Governor Bill Ritter and U.S. Senator Mark Udall, joined their fellow Democrat in offering pleasant platitudes about the "green energy" panacea.
Ritter was effusive with his praise and optimistic about Ascent's future. "The New Energy Economy is leading Colorado forward and will be one of the keys to bringing us out of this recession. Colorado and Ascent Solar's success are a model for how America can and must re-tool our entire economy," declared Ritter. Even the local media couldn't help but promote such rosy projections.
Fast-forward less than two years. Ascent, perhaps recognizing the fragility of the market, or at the very least, an unprofitable business model, conducted a "market pivot" and a change in business strategy. That switch meant cutting staff--instead of growth of nearly 200 jobs Ascent pared its staff back by half, mostly in production.
November 15, 2011
Hook this Baby up to some Soylendra Panels!
Actually, the Soylendra investment makes a lot of sense, when compared to the Fisker Karma. Obligatory picture of really cool car here:
Warren Meyer at Forbes points out that under Clinton-era EPA comparisons for electric vehicles, this "electric car for the 1%" gets worse mileage than an average SUV -- either in electric or gas mode. And, had I not already conferred QOTD:
Given the marketing pitch here that relies on the unseen vs. the seen, maybe we should rename it the Fisker Bastiat.
But, like I said, hook this baby up to your Soylendra panels and it is all go all of the time!
October 27, 2011
Solar Panels Don't Work
That's not my headline. It was written by solar industry CEO Ray Burgess.
If you listen to the mostly-Chinese manufacturers, solar panels work great. They can be expected to degrade about 0.5% a year. So that is how we build the economic models to finance, insure and subsidize the larger solar systems.In the real world, we are just starting to find out how bogus many of those predictions are. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory says that panels can degrade as much as 4.5% a year. Or more. Put that in your pro forma and see what your banker and insurance agent -- or Congressman -- say about that.
The author sells PV monitoring equipment and doesn't cite an actual NREL study; he cites an AOL page that points back to his own article.
I think the jury is still out on this one....
Posted by: nanobrewer at November 2, 2011 12:29 AMOctober 26, 2011
It comes from where?
Somehow, inexplicably, nobody has called to ask that their connection to coal fired power plants NOT be restored.
DENVER -- The October snowstorm is being blamed for numerous power outages.More than 40,000 people from Fort Collins to Littleton were without power as of 5:30 a.m. By 9 a.m. that number had increased to more than 90,000 without power, according to Xcel's website.
Power outages forced the closure of the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley and the Boulder County Criminal Justice Center in Boulder.
In the Boulder area, Xcel is handling 157 outages affecting more than 13,000 people.
Boulder officials are treating the fast moving storm as a civil preparedness exercise, in the event that the Utility Municipalization ballot measure passes and city council takes over management of the power company. "The wind doesn't always blow and the sun doesn't always shine," said Boulder's Mayor.*
* Quote is *ahem* non-attributable.
October 5, 2011
Quote of the Day
In other words, this is just like Obamanomics in general. It provides a short-term gimmicky gain at incredible expense that is designed to do nothing except give politicians a headline and a photo op. It would be cheaper in the long run to buy politicians a camera and get them a blog. -- Ed Morrissey, Obama's green-jobs training program a flop
Most of you know I work with WindPower, although not as much as I used to. I don't believe in MMGW (and think the recent cooling has stopped), I just think Wind Power is cool. Damned geekiness apparently is still not out of my system.
I'm cognizant of the studies that show that 1 green job created = 1.6 (other) jobs lost. It's on my list to parse through them and issue a prognostication. But that's lagging behind real life and a post on energy subsidies.
Posted by: nanobrewer at October 8, 2011 12:04 PMI think wind power is cool too. I just want to see it compete. (Looking forward to your subsidies post.)
Posted by: jk at October 8, 2011 12:17 PMSeptember 22, 2011
Quote of the Day
As major Solyndra investor and Barack Obama donor George Kaiser told a crowd of his fellow Oklahomans not long after Obama's stimulus was announced in 2009, "There's never been more money shoved out of the government's door in world history and probably never will be again than in the last few months and the next 18 months. And our selfish, parochial goal is to get as much of it for Tulsa and Oklahoma as we possibly can." -- Matt Welch (a Reason guy, writing for CNN, is the space-time continuum safe?)
The linked article is "Why the $16 muffin matters." I must disagree a bit with my big-L Libertarian friend. Every word he says is true, but it propagates the lie that we can have all the government we want if we just elect candidate x who will clean things up. No need to stop developing programs for the poor and new middle class entitlements, we'll take it all out of pastry savings.
September 19, 2011
Can I like both?
The new Fiat 500 commercial has me checking to see if I can fit the whole family in it.
The new Prius commercial? Not so much.
Creepy.
Apparently the 2010 version wasn't ghastly enough. I just can't shake the whole "one world, one people" commune thingy.
And another one, if you're into that sort of thing.
Saw the Fiat spot a bunch of times yesterday. It is a very good commercial.
Insty had a post that Toyota expects hybrids to be 20% of the market in 2020. It's an interesting bet, but I can see it coming up short. If they miss, I think they'll have a tough time holding share. I'm still a fan but I don't want to be way long.
Posted by: jk at September 19, 2011 10:45 PMInsty also links to this commercial under the caption of "The Worst Car Commercial of All Time?"
http://pajamasmedia.com/instapundit/128337/
Just shows to go you that men of good will can agree to disagree...
Posted by: Keith Arnold at September 21, 2011 2:22 PMWow! The further you click, the more people hate it. I wouldn't buy JLo's music on a bet, but the whole thing seems very hip and fashionable.
A couple grizzled IT people once asked our HR manager why she had booked our bi-departmental Christmas Party in Downtown Denver. She said in her delightful Chilean accent "Eees Fashion!" And I added a phrase to my lexicon.
Why do I like this spot? Eees Fashion!
They clearly haven't seen the Prius ads.
Posted by: johngalt at September 23, 2011 12:00 AMSaw the Prius ad last night (at the GOP debate on FOXNews, no less). Creepy.
Posted by: jk at September 23, 2011 10:15 AMChavez-Obama and International Law
Venezuelan Dictator Hugo Chavez, having looted all the private wealth in his country, moves to protect his wealth.
ExxonMobils shareholders can join Chryslers bondholders on Obamas enemies list. If that seems a tad harsh, consider this: When made to choose between millions of American shareholders and one South American dictator, the Obama Administration chose Chavez.Why is the Obama Administration sitting in paralyzed silence while Chavez removes himself from international accountability? Is it perceived ideological comradeship, a loathing of investors, simple dereliction of duty or some other reason? Now that is a mystery.
Headline of the Day
Mr. President! Tear Down These Loans!
September 6, 2011
Whither Wind Power?
Unsightly bat-chomping eco-crucifixes rejected by environmentalists in the Green Mountain State.
Hat-tip: Insty
September 5, 2011
Wot Green Jobs?
Here I thought Insty's link would talk about California. Nope, it's James Delingpole at the Telegraph. Replete with Unicorn pictures, the article mentions green boondoggles in the UK and that "Obama's America" is just as bad.
There is one thing we share with the motherland:
Yep, it seems like theres one rule for the political class and its cronies -- and another one for the rest of us. If, say, you're Sir Reginald Sheffield Bt the father-in-law of the British prime minister you can make getting on for a £1000 a week from the wind farms on your estates; if youre the wife of the deputy prime minister Nick Clegg you can make hundreds of thousands of pounds as a legal adviser to the Spanish wind farm company whose unsightly bat-chomping eco-crucifixes are going to be wrecking the British countryside.
If on the other, hand you're an ordinary punter, youre expected to sit there and take it as the cost of your energy is doubled, your standard of living lowered, the countryside you love is ruined, and the destruction of your ailing economy is accelerated by the policies of a Government which no longer gives a damn what you think about anything.
"unsightly bat-chomping eco-crucifixes" I may have been born in the wrong country...
September 2, 2011
QOTD II
Solyndra -- Obama's Enron?
The showcase firm is now filing for Chapter 11 in an embarrassing blow to the premises of Obamanomics. At least the Obama administration can't be accused of practicing industrial policy the old-fashioned way and picking winners. It is evidently quite ready to pick losers, too. -- Rich Lowry
September 1, 2011
Epic Fail
It is almost enough to make a person disbelieve in government's paying people to make things that nobody wants to buy. Almost. WaPo:
A company that served as a showcase for the Obama administration's effort to create jobs in clean technology shut down Wednesday, leaving 1,100 people out of work and taxpayers obligated for $535 million in federal loans.Solyndra, a California solar panel maker, had long been an administration favorite. Over the past two years, President Obama and Energy Secretary Steven Chu each had made congratulatory visits to the company's Silicon Valley headquarters.
Ooops.
Although Wednesday's announcement came as a surprise, House Republicans and government auditors had questioned the wisdom of the administration's loan guarantees to the company, backed by capital from billionaire Democratic fundraiser George Kaiser. In July, a House subcommittee subpoenaed White House documents related to the guarantee, and after Wednesday's developments, Republican lawmakers vowed to continue investigating.
Lots more at Instapundit. Even the WaPo and NBC can't spin this as anything but an Administration failure. Can't wait for the "jobs speech."
John Hinderocker had a nice line:
It would be interesting to know what Harrison meant by “regulatory and policy uncertainties.” Was he complaining about the same regulatory disaster that countless non-green CEOs have fingered as the enemy of job creation? Is it possible that the Obama administration can’t even do crony capitalism right?
He refers to Solyndra CEO Brian Harrison's complaint that, "Regulatory and policy uncertainties in recent months created significant near-term excess supply and price erosion." What he's saying is 'Nobody will buy our crap, even when we slash the prices.' Why? Because government regulations and policies don't FORCE them to.
While I'm sure the O Admin. is so incompetent they can't even succeed at crony capitalism, even if the press doesn't make them do it in smoke filled rooms, what he's actually complaining about is a lack of regulation.
Posted by: johngalt at September 2, 2011 3:16 AMAugust 30, 2011
Bill Gates Jr. on Home Solar PV: "cool" and "cute"
It struck me as possible choir-preaching but since even my darling dagny, who's lived with my rantings for nearly a decade now, still needed to ask, "Do we want to put solar panels on our new house?"
To be fair her goal is self-sufficiency and not being "with it" or reducing the euphemistic "carbon footprint." That same morning (yesterday) the talk-radio segue machine came to my rescue with Mike Rosen reading from this interview with Bill Gates Jr.
Anderson: When you look at the big picture, where should we be focusing besides nuclear? On massive solar plants in the desert? On middle-size stuff for office roofs? Or is there a reinvention that could be done right in the home?Gates: If youre going for cuteness, the stuff in the home is the place to go. Its really kind of cool to have solar panels on your roof. But if youre really interested in the energy problem, its those big things in the desert.
(...)
Anderson: Imagine a world where we have made a transition to electric cars, and we have a smart grid, and storage is distributed on some level. Can you imagine that microgeneration would make more sense in a world where we have the ability to use, say, electric car batteries as local storage and have a microgrid model?
Gates: No. We should all grow our own food and do our own waste processing, we really should. But scale has some significant advantages in terms of reliability, and electricity is something you want to be reliable. Also, this is dangerous stuff: For solar to work well, you have to generate very high temperatures. Do we want everybody to have that on their roof? No. Its just not going to happen.
Anderson: So suffice to say we will find no solar cells on the roof of the Gates residence?
Gates: Oh, we like to be cute like everyone. For rich people, this is OK. Rich people can do whatever they want.
We're not rich. We're going to stick with a diesel generator.
Click continue reading to see what he has to say about batteries and subsidies. I don't always agree with this rich tech genius but in this case, he's right.
You have to think of two types of batteries. One is a battery for a car, and it has to be light and crash-proof, but the total amount of energy it has to store is not all that large. Now, that doesnt give you an environmental benefit unless your grid has somehow changed. But at least it gives you a security benefit, because youre sourcing your coal for your grid locally. The harder battery problem is the second typethe grid battery. If youre getting, say, 50 percent of your energy from solar, and the sun only shines during the day, then you have to be storing enough energy for the night. And that is a mind-blowing problem. I mean, thats more demanding by a factor of a hundred than any other battery challenge we have today.I think people deeply underestimate what a huge problem this day-night issue is if youre trying to design an energy system involving solar technology thats more than just a hobby. You know, the sun shines during the day, and people turn their air conditioners on during the day, so you can catch some of that peaking load, particularly if you get enough subsidies. Its cute, you know, its nice. But the economics are so, so far from making sense. And yet thats where subsidies are going now. Were putting 90 percent of the subsidies in deploymentthis is true in Europe and the United Statesnot in R&D. And so unfortunately you get technologies that, no matter how much of them you buy, theres no path to being economical. You need fundamental breakthroughs, which come more out of basic research.
The other entity on this planet with money confers:
Beijing appears to be rethinking its singular focus on electric vehicles as a way to reduce fuel consumption and seems ready to revise its alternative-energy vehicle estimates as it becomes increasingly evident that the city's electric vehicle targets were completely unrealistic.
Posted by: jk at August 30, 2011 4:09 PM
Grow our own food? Sure, for the same reason I write my own operating systems and build my own PC hardware.
Posted by: Perry Eidelbus at September 1, 2011 12:18 AMAugust 25, 2011
Quote of the Day
Make no mistake, many states are well positioned to realize the same energy production benefits as North Dakota and Texas. These include, at a minimum, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming -- each of which has ready access to abundant resources of the same shale oil and shale gas that is fueling economic growth in North Dakota and Texas. Energy production and economic strength in North Dakota and Texas are the results of wise and courageous policy decisions designed to encourage rather than stifle energy production (something that fellow Forbes columnist Joel Kotkin pointed out in his recent piece on Texas). Going forward, the question is which leaders in which states have the political courage to stand up to environmental activist groups and their media allies who routinely vilify energy production? -- James Taylor
August 22, 2011
Hank Reardon, Call Your Office
Ken Salazar's Interior Department moves to prevent Exxon from developing a billion-barrel oil field it discovered in deep water Gulf of Mexico in 2007. Because of feared oil spills? No. Because it might impair the mating habits of the Gorite-dwelling shoestring eel? No.
Employing an extreme technicality, these regulators claimed that Exxon's request in 2008 for a short suspension of activity to upgrade and make safer its drilling operation amounted to an abandonment of three of its five permits, simply because Exxon hadn't signed a contract with another partner, Chevron, by the time the suspension was completed.In the past, such glitches were no problem after all, it's obvious Exxon, which spent $300 million on exploratory wells, hasn't abandoned the operation.
But in the Obama era, which demonizes oil production in American waters by American companies, the bureaucrats came up with this permit technicality to effectively expropriate the entire operation.
I would say "unbelievable!!" but sadly nothing is anymore when it comes to this bullpucky.
Posted by: Terri at August 22, 2011 3:47 PMThis was a day in the WSJ Ed Page's Week in the life of the Obama Recovery
Consider the headlines only from last week, a slow week by Washington standards, with Congress out of session and President Obama campaigning for three days before going on vacation. Even in the dog days of August, your government was hard at work undermining economic confidence.
Holler if you would like it mailed over the pay wall, it is devastating. Posted by: jk at August 22, 2011 3:54 PM
Nope, I got it, and had read it first thinking you missed a ht to the WSJ, but then compared the quotes. Same song. Same, sad, sad, song.
Posted by: Terri at August 22, 2011 7:21 PMAugust 19, 2011
jk Agrees with Rep. Maxine Waters
Write down the date. Cache the page. I may never admit it. But the gentle lady from California is right about "Green Jobs:"
"Of course, we want to be a part of the new innovation and the green jobs," Rep. Maxine Waters said on MSNBC Thursday. "But you know, the green jobs have been about a lot of talk and not a lot has been happening on that." A few hours later, also on MSNBC, Waters said flatly: "All of this talk about the green jobs never materialized."
Waters is a senior member of the Congressional Black Caucus. Last month, the chairman of that group, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, told the Huffington Post that green jobs had little meaning for his constituents. "African-Americans out there were saying, 'What do we have in common with this new, green technology?'" Cleaver told the website.
Hat-tip: Instapundit
Well, anyone who believed in the "Green Jobs" blather in the first place gets points taken off. I thought the Gentlelady from CA was a fool, but I never supsected she believed BHO's campaign trail talk was anything more than BS. I suppose they're not entirely imaginary: All it takes to create a $50k/year Green Job is $1.5 million in Fed subsidies.
Posted by: Robert at August 19, 2011 5:59 PMHA! But if you think about it, that's a pretty efficient rate-of-return for government.
Welcome to the commentariat Alaska Robert.
Posted by: johngalt at August 19, 2011 8:13 PMLikewise, Robert! Remind me not to challenge him to a game of chess. (Y'all should click "Robert" to see his blog).
Posted by: jk at August 20, 2011 11:36 AMAugust 18, 2011
Ms. Bachmann's Turn
Earlier this week neophite presidential candidate Rick Perry garnered lots of pub by calling another round of quantitative easing by Ben Bernanke "almost treasonous." Today Michelle Bachmann rolled out her own red meat issue by promising,
"Under President Bachmann you will see gasoline come down below $2 a gallon again," Bachmann told a crowd Tuesday in South Carolina. "That will happen."
Naturally the press thinks it's impossible, ably demonstrated by Charles Riley who penned the CNN Money article linked above. I searched other reports looking for any that weren't dismissive but struck out. Apparently nobody within reach of a keyboard knows how easy it would be. "I will then, said the little red hen." From the Three Sources Oil and Energy archives:
Pique Oil - February, 2011
Within five years, analysts and executives predict, the newly unlocked fields are expected to produce 1 million to 2 million barrels of oil per day, enough to boost U.S. production 20 percent to 40 percent.
Tightly Controlled Oil Supply Slips Into Surplus - November 2008
The take away from this should be that adding as little as 1.9 million barrels per day (2.3%) to the world oil market at any time in the last 2.5 years would have put the market in surplus at the time. Remember that the next time someone says, "The small amount of oil we could produce domestically would not lower prices for 10 to 15 years."
Casey at Bat - July 2008
Every few months some Democrat decides that oil companies are to blame for high prices.Except they're not. It's Democrats who are at fault.
And I'm not even including the price hiking effect of regional fuel blends mandated by government, although I'm sure we have a piece on that somewhere.
So bringing prices way, way down is a relatively straightforward goal. But how far down they can go is affected more by the value of the dollar than by the supply/demand balance for oil and refined gasoline. We've been debating whether or not we're actually in an inflationary period but according to the divergence of the two lines here (computed from "CPI-All Urban Consumers for all items less energy") inflation has been gangbusters since about 2004. But with this huge caveat, what should be the market price for a gallon of gasoline without government "help?" About 60 cents.
A Market Price for Crude Oil - June 2008
But for nearly 20 years between the two "oil shock" periods noted the price was roughly half that - 60 cents per gallon in constant [1979] dollars.
Nicely done. I rolled my eyes when I first heard it. It concerned me because it plays into the narrative of how important government it. Blame it when things are bad and fete it when times are good.
I just hope that Rep. Bachmann can make the point as effectively as you. "Hey, we don't set gas prices but we can keep from driving them up." No, on second thought, the "Hey" is too Sarahpalainish...
Posted by: jk at August 18, 2011 5:23 PMAugust 3, 2011
Quote of the Day
You see, they claim that the reason the Volt isn't selling is that they can't keep enough cars on the lot. A GM spokeswoman recently claimed that they are "virtually sold out." Which is virtually true. Mark Modica called around his local Chevy dealers and found plenty of Volts waiting for an environmentally conscious driver to bring them home. -- Jonathan V. Last
August 2, 2011
The Refugee Apologizes
The Refugee has just learned that, in addition to fleecing his blog brothers, filling his truck with E85 has deprived a starving person of a year's worth of corn. From today's WSJ:
"The grain required to fill a 25-gallon SUV gas tank with ethanol will feed one person for a year." [renouned environmentalist Lester Brown] said.So there we have it: the enviros want us to burn someone's dinner in our cars. How many meals are burned every day?
The same article also noted that it would take an area three times the size of the continental US to replace one third of our oil requirements with biofuels. Guess the enviros never did the math.
Enviros. Math. Heh. That's a good one.
Posted by: jk at August 3, 2011 10:16 AMJuly 19, 2011
Green Jobs!
Quick Charge Trucks Will Save Your Stranded EV
Hat-tip: Instapundit
[Standard disclaimer: if people bought electric cars with no tax incentive, I would applaud the innovation of support infrastructure]
...and a short eight hours later, he's ready to roll.
Posted by: Boulder Refugee at July 19, 2011 10:49 PMBwaa ha haa. Bwaaaa haaaa haaa haaaaaa. BWAAAAA HAAAAA HAAAAAA HAAAAA HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
Hey buddy, can I give you a lift somewhere?
Posted by: johngalt at July 20, 2011 4:03 PMIt would be slightly more cost-effective if the truck simply used the charging cable to tow the copper-top home.
Posted by: Keith Arnold at July 20, 2011 7:19 PMProof of the level of comfort, security and prosperity we have reached in life on earth is the ability one has to spend his waking hours seeking a recharge for his overpriced car instead of having to toil every possible moment to secure his family's sustenance.
Posted by: johngalt at July 20, 2011 7:39 PMNYTimes Rebuked by ... NYTimes
Jon Entine at The American, gives props to the NYTimes ombudsman:
The New York Times' public editor, Arthur Brisbane, weighed in on the much-criticized reporting on natural gas by Ian Urbina, issuing a sharp rebuke of the staff's reporting and editing.
I agree that "Thankfully it has the integrity to wash its dirty laundry in public." But I fear that the retraction will not create the buzz that the original piece did. Entine describes:
The Urbina "the sky-is-falling" express went off the rails completely on June 25 and 26 with two front-page stories asserting that shale gas reserves are being hyped by the natural gas industry. Urbina and the sources he quoted suggested parallels to Ponzi schemes, Enron, and the housing bubble.
Scientists at MIT and elsewhere, who have confirmed massive shale gas reserves but whose research was not referenced in the piece, immediately issued sharp rebukes of the Urbina narrative. As I noted in a critique for RealClearPolitics, the Times' article left out key editorial framing details, such as the dubious credibility of the only two identified sources. And as Michael Levi of the Council of Foreign Relations pointed out in his blog, this latest critique of shale gas consisted almost entirely of cherry-picked comments from anonymous sources.
I was pretty surprised by the original piece. Yes, it was the Times, but this was a serious anti-fracking hit piece on the News pages -- maybe I was in the tank for Big Gas after all. It successfully instilled doubt.
That's what I get for believing the New York Times.
July 15, 2011
"Reality Hasn't Cooperated"
There's a phrase of the day for you: "Reality hasn't cooperated."
The 2007 energy bill vastly increased the volume of corn ethanol that must be blended into gasoline, though it also included mandates for cellulosic ethanol. These are the second-generation fuels made from stocks like switchgrass or the wood chips that George W. Bush invoked in his 2006 State of the Union. At the time, no such fuels were being produced on a commercial scale, but cellulosic producers and the green lobby assured Congress they were just about to turn the corner, and both the Bush and Obama Administration furnished handsome subsidies.The EPA set the 2011 standard at six million gallons. Reality hasn't cooperated. Zero gallons have been produced in the last six months and the corner isn't visible over the next six months either. The EPA has only approved a single plant to sell the stuff, operated by Range Fuels near Soperton, Georgia. The company used to be a press corps favorite and has been lauded by the last two Presidents, but it shut down its cellulosic operations earlier this year to work through technical snafus.
The arrogance of our King Canutes in Congress mandating things they do not understand is high on the list of depressing affronts to liberty and dynamism. It is one thing to make the Soviet Five-year plan assertions that President Obama loves "242,000 vehicles with 16.5 inch tires by October 19th!" But it is worse to actually enact them legislatively.
Bonus Unicorn reference at the link (sans flatulence, sorry...)
July 14, 2011
Screw 'Em -- They can Stay Poor!
Stephen Hayward's Energy Fact of the Week (and you though ThreeSources was bad...):
The motion graphic below demonstrates the relationship between rising energy use and falling poverty from 1981 through 2009. The vertical axis represents the number of people living on less than $1 a day in China, while the horizontal axis plots China's total energy use.Chinas total energy consumption during this period increased 406 percent. In concrete terms, it means that for every increase of 1 quadrillion BTUs, 8.2 million people were lifted out of poverty. Everyone likes to wring their hands over Chinas coal use, but these figures work out as follows: for every additional 4.5 million tons of coal used in China, or for every additional 450,000 barrels of oil consumed, 1 million people were lifted out of poverty.
My enviro friends refuse to accept this correlation when I suggest it. And, I'm certain that when I send this the next time it happens, they'll assert that it could be done with solar or wind or magic beans (jg's friend's "unicorn farts" remains the best shorthand). But it is clear that it is cheap and available (scalable) power which is lifting these people out of poverty.
VP Gore can invest in geothermal for his two mansions, that is not available to help these people move form <$1/day to the middle class,
July 11, 2011
Yeah, This Is Going to Work...
Boulder is going to start its own environmentally friendly utility:
The prospect of Boulder turning out a major, investor-owned utility and creating a municipal operation is being watched across the country."If a large community like Boulder can do it, it sets an example for everyone," said Ursula Schryver, a vice president at the American Public Power Association, which represents the country's 2,000 municipal electric utilities.
This is not a joke, or at least a good enough one to fool The Denver Post
I think the phrase I am looking for is "What could possibly go wrong?"
Posted by: jk at July 11, 2011 7:53 PMIn an effort to keep Boulder's business Xcel has proposed building an extra 200 megawatts of wind power capacity to generate "renewable-energy credits" for Boulder. "Boulder would, however, be liable for costs associated with wind power - adding, by Xcel estimates, up to $4 a month, or 7 percent, to residential bills."
That sounds like a bargain. Why don't they take it? Longmont [Colorado's] municipal owned utility charges about 30% more per kwh for wind power than for coal generated watts.
Posted by: johngalt at July 12, 2011 1:42 AMJuly 10, 2011
A Stirring Defense of Cynicism!
The ethanol lobby has filched taxpayers for so long that it's only natural that the Senate's move this week toward rationalizing the industry's subsidies would be described as a "momentous shift away from federal assistance," as the Des Moines Register put it. But please don't believe that the government is about to "drastically cut the financial support" for corn ethanol, as another newspaper reported.Another newspaper that does not happen to rhyme with All Greet Myrna, that is.
It's delightful that the ethanol lobby has lost for once in Washington. Really it is. But the industry will still enjoy a mandate that consumers buy its product every time they pull up to the pump. The 2007 energy bill requires the sale of 36 billion gallons of biofuels by 2022. Meanwhile, both the Renewable Fuels Association and Iowa Corn Growers Association came out cautiously in favor of the Senate deal. And might there be a reason that Iowa Senators Chuck Grassley and Tom Harkin are also in favor? Just asking.Next time we go to coffee, br, you drive.
Dammit! Why are there no wooden stakes in Washington D.C.! The contention that only cockroaches will survive nuclear armageddon is specious. Rent-seeking political lobbyists will be right there with them.
Posted by: johngalt at July 10, 2011 5:20 PMJuly 8, 2011
Quote of the Day
I don't think of myself as a connoisseur of pretty much anything. I can, for instance, identify good bread or good gin or sheets with a high thread count, but I can also very easily tolerate the crummy stuff if that's what's available, because it's just me, right? I'm not a princess; I can deal. Then the CFL bulbs came out, and I discovered that I am the snob to end all snobs . . . when it comes to light. Fluorescent lighting makes me feel like I'm dead, and am just haunting whatever room I happen to be in. It makes me feel like the top of my head has been replaced with something clammy and toxic. It makes me feel like filling up my 15-passenger van with overpriced gas and barreling nonstop to Al Gore's house and smacking his silly, fat face around until he admits that his main goal is and always has been to make each and every day for the entire human race a little less bearable. -- Simcha FisherHat-tip: Insty
It's not the St. Crispian's Day speech, nor is it V's introduction of himself to Evey, but 'tis poetic aplenty - plus, smacking Al Gore's silly, fat face definitely resonates with me, and that's not merely poetic, that's epic. It's positively inspiring.
As for the "overpriced gas," just think: Taco Bell, dollar menu.
Posted by: Keith Arnold at July 8, 2011 2:22 PMActually, "overpriced gas" makes me think of DeBeers. But in this case it's not a South African private corporation that is artificially restricting supply to inflate prices, it is the United States Department of the Interior. (Hmmm, that's in the Executive Branch, no?)
Posted by: johngalt at July 8, 2011 7:25 PMThreeSourcers will have a vested interest in this part of the Dept. of Interior website: http://on.doi.gov/pST7Xm
"Climate change is affecting every corner of the American continent. It is making droughts drier and longer, floods more dangerous and hurricanes more severe... The glaciers in Montana's Glacier National Park are melting so quickly, they're expected to disappear in the next two decades..."
Who writes this crap?
"... At the U.S. Department of the Interior, we manage one-fifth of the land in the country, 35,000 miles of coastline, and 1.76 billion acres of the Outer Continental Shelf..." And that's why, when you elect me President, my Secretary of the Interior will be tasked with exactly one job - to deed every possible square inch of America back to the states within six months, for them to do with as they and their citizens please - make them public parks, cut them down for timber, build suburbs and tract homes, drill them for oil, or strip-mine them. Thank you for your vote.
Posted by: Keith Arnold at July 9, 2011 9:09 PMUnreal.
The Congressional Democrats keep demanding "more revenue" in the debt deal. I say we go all bipartisan on their ass and sell off a few national parks.
Got Prince Harry, but "V and Evey" forced me to Google. Damn, the allusions around here work me like a dog!
Posted by: jk at July 10, 2011 12:24 PMThe good brother asks, "Who writes this crap?"
He knows the answer but I'll spell it out: The same sort of dirty hippies who run and/or advise the other government agencies e.g. FDA. In that example it was charity leeches from Public Citizen, National Breast Cancer Coalition, New America Foundation... They are paid not for the soundness of their analysis, but for the evocative power of polar bear and baby seal images to elicit monthly donations from puppy lovers and cat people. Undoubtedly some know what their donations beget, but certainly the majority believe it is spent on Purina Panda Chow.
Posted by: johngalt at July 10, 2011 5:18 PMHeh. I know the V and Evey speech but not the other one. I guess that means between the two of us we're as literate as our Cali brother, though I concede you are the anchor on that rope.
Posted by: johngalt at July 10, 2011 5:26 PMJuly 7, 2011
Yay
Nanobrewer was celebrating this, but it has seemed too good to be true. Yes, Virginia, they may really cut the ethanol subsidy...
WASHINGTON--Key Senate lawmakers have reached a deal to end two ethanol subsidies by the end of the month, sooner than expected and a sign of how tax policy can change as attention focuses on the deficit.Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D, Calif.) said in a statement that she had reached an agreement with Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D, Minn.) and John Thune (R, S.D.) under which a 45-cent-a-gallon tax credit for blending ethanol into gasoline would expire on July 31. A 54-cent-a-gallon tax on imported ethanol would also expire at the end of the month.
From the article:
"About 90% of the gasoline sold in the U.S. contains at least 10% ethanol, indeed the E-10 fuel blend is the most popular at the U.S. pump."
and...
"The loss of the subsidy would be a blow to gasoline companies because they are the ones who received it for blending ethanol, said Joel Karlin, an analyst for Western Milling, but the effect on ethanol companies and corn farmers would be minimal."
Gosh, I wonder if the latter has any bearing on the former. (It's definitely not because consumers clamor for a fuel that carries them a shorter distance per gallon and ruins their engine in the process.) And they're now telling us that the ethanol subsidy benefitted not ethanol companies and corn farmers, but big oil? WTF! No more special tax breaks for big oil!!
Posted by: johngalt at July 8, 2011 7:17 PMYup, I am last in line to believe. I'm not generally cynical, but circumspection is warranted in the sport of government subsidy killing. Do you get up and leave the theatre the first time Freddy Krueger dies?
June 24, 2011
The Future of the American Car
Friday Funnies from Reason:
Pixie dust will be opposed by the Big Flubber lobby and the enviros will sue for an environmental impact study on Neverland Island. During the study, they will find an endangered crocodile and will demand that the DNR halt production. No one will be able think enough happy thoughts to get anything off the ground.
Posted by: Boulder Refugee at June 24, 2011 6:35 PMAt first I thought it would be easier simply to mount a Mr. Fusion on the rear deck of all of our DeLoreans - until I realized that Big Tire, which doubtless has several Senators in their pockets, will pressure our legislators to block the production of flying automobiles.
Posted by: Keith Arnold at June 24, 2011 7:15 PMI'd have included Obama Administration as one of the tags for this entry.
Hope. Change. Pixie dust.
Posted by: johngalt at June 27, 2011 2:23 PMJune 21, 2011
Bye-Bye E85
I think we've just learned how candidate Romney can afford to take a pass on calling for an end to the ethanol subsidy. Because Congress just took a giant step toward ending it before he might ever take office.
Ethanol subsidies have been a sacred cow in American politics since the late 1980s, and their demise came Friday not with a whimper but with a bang. By a vote of 73 to 27, the Senate declared an end to what Republican Senator John McCain called the "corporate welfare" that had gone on for far too long, and that had become enshrined in presidential politics as a ticket of admission to the Iowa caucuses. Now the legislation moves to the House, where deficit-conscious Tea Party conservatives could provide a similar winning margin.
Read the article to see how Sen. Tom Coburn (HOSS-OK) was the key figure in the watershed vote.
Dude. Out of politeness, you should warn when you link to Eleanor Clift. I suffered a bad batch of McLaughlin Group flashbacks...
I love how she positions it as a rebuke of Grover Norquist.
But I need me some elucidatin'... I heard that this was an amendment on a bill that will never pass and that any interruption to brother br's subsidized truck fuel was completely symbolic -- is this a different amendment or bill?
I thought you would appreciate the effort to shore up our "we read everybody" cred.
However, in reliance on Ms. (if there ever was anyone to whom that salutation applied) Clift's term "demise" I took it as a completed bill on its way to the House. In fact, it was an amendment to S.782, Senator Feinstein's 'Economic Development Revitalization Act.'
But Dr. Senator Coburn hints at the potential fast-track process in his press release:
In light of today’s lopsided vote, I urge my colleagues in the House to eliminate this wasteful earmark and tariff at their earliest opportunity,” Dr. Coburn said.
So those wacky TEA Partiers in the GOP controlled House need to draft a bill on this, pass it, and forward it to the Senate where they will presumably vote in similar fashion.
(Hey, a guy can hope.)
Posted by: johngalt at June 22, 2011 3:08 PMOh, by all means link. We should link to and read a variety of sources. I was just thinkling of a little in-line warning like [DANGER! LINK GOES TO ELEANOR CLIFT!] something simple.
Posted by: jk at June 22, 2011 3:24 PMI waited impatiently for someone to challenge my title. Maybe E85 won't go away. It has become quite entrenched with vested interests and a modicum of pious consumer's demand. But at the very least I want to see the demise of E10 (the 10 percent ethanol routinely blended with gasoline to create a false demand for ethanol reduce emissions (and corrode the insides of the fuel systems in our cars.)
And at the very, very least - get the crap out of NASCAR!
Posted by: johngalt at June 22, 2011 3:30 PMQuote of the Year?
A good friend of this blog nominates Professor Althouse for quote of the year:
Does the NYT care about the carbon footprint of its wonderful pizza-cooking technique?
"Heat the oven and pizza stone at 500 degrees for one hour..."
Oh, hell! Shut up about my light bulbs. Just. Shut. The. Fuck. Up.If you people really believed in global warming in the form that you would like to foist that belief on the common folk, that quoted line above would have sounded to you as something on the moral level of first, torture a small, cute kitten....
I read it to myself, laughed out loud, then read it to the lovely bride. It's pretty good.
Hat-tip: Instapundit
The Great State of Texas has thumbed their nose at Washington on this - and I give Misha extra credit for the Firefly reference: http://nicedoggie.net/?p=1716
Texas - God bless 'em - looks prettier every day.
Posted by: Keith Arnold at June 21, 2011 2:23 PMAmen to that. I fear it will run afoul of Wickard v Filburn, but oral arguments would be fun if it got cert.
Segue-digression-alert: a good friend of the blog I have not heard from in a while emailed to ask if I am "on the Rick Perry bandwagon yet?" The Texas Miracle is lookin' pretty shiny.
...and no, it's not the same one. This blog has two "good friends." Kinda like Instapundit with a blue theme.
Posted by: jk at June 21, 2011 3:01 PMStill trying to reconcile the tone of this post with yesterday's. Those of us with a "Climate Change is a hoax" litmus test aren't demanding that the candidates tell the alarmists to "shut the F up." That's a bit, err, dogmatic.
Posted by: johngalt at June 21, 2011 3:24 PMNot at all inconsistent. I prefer the self-rising crust at home, but order thin-crust from Dominos, where they have the very hot ovens to properly bake the crust.
Oh, you meant attitude. I'll defend that as well. Prof Althouse forcefully and colorfully accuses a NYTimes journalist -- and indirectly the publication, and less directly the media monolith it represents -- of hypocrisy.
There is no assertion of whether DAWG is true or false as in yesterday's post, just a suggestion that she be allowed, in Hayekian spirit, to choose her methods of conserving versus sensual enjoyment, as the NYTimes reader is allowed.
June 14, 2011
EPA: "Employee salary is our highest budget priority"
On his radio show today Mike Rosen read a copy [2:00 to 4:55] of an internal memo from EPA Regional Administrator James Martin to all Region 8 EPA employees. Subject: Fiscal Year 2011 Budget Decisions.
I want to update you on the status of Region eight's budget. The most important thing to tell you is that we continue to protect salary for our on-board EPA employees. It is our highest budget priority and that has not and will not change.Our OCFO has been able to provide us with some relief for our payroll shortfall. This will allow us to maintain our support services at the current levels as we work to meet our agency's mission. We are continuing to work with headquarters for additional relief. In the meantime, to meet the remaining payroll needs we'll be reducing our programmatic funds by 30 percent, as well as some regional support funds.
A distinct difference, to be sure, from EPA's stated policy on private sector jobs.
EPA: Jobs Aren't a factor when making new regs
June 10, 2011
Three Cheers for Black Gold
It seems the good folks at Exxon have drilled down in 7000 feet of water and found 700 million barrels of wind, solar, and geothermal Oil!
The great energy irony of recent years is that governments have thrown hundreds of billions of dollars at wind, solar, ethanol and other alternative fuels, yet the major breakthroughs have taken place in the traditional oil and natural gas business. Hydraulic fracturing in shale, horizontal drilling and new seismic techniques are only the best known examples.Private companies must innovate to survive, and they have the profit incentive to do so, while government cash is usually steered to politically favored companies that may or may not know what they're doing. If you live off federal grants, you need to work the corridors of power more than the technology. Federal grants for cellulosic ethanol are rife with political earmarks, for example. This is why these columns have argued that the political fad of alternative energy has misallocated scarce capital when the economy can least afford it.
I was partially remonstrated (ouch! but better than defenestrated) on Facebook by blog brother jg for agreeing with a new energy proponent that I looked forward to oil's being replaced when a superior source was technologically appropriate and economically viable. I stick by the comment; something new will be cool someday. But my brother was right that I should not join the petro-apologia. Cheap, safe, easily transportable power from oil and natural gas is indeed swell.
Perhaps more interesting in the WSJ Editorial was this tasty nugget of anti-regulation:
Far more important for safety is the effort that the oil industry is taking to contain future deepwater spills. ConocoPhillips, Exxon, Shell and Chevron have led an effort, since joined by other companies, to form the Marine Well Containment Co. to build a spill containment system that will be permanently placed in the Gulf starting next year.The companies are attempting to apply the lessons from the BP fiasco, and their expectation is that the system would be able to handle a blowout as if it were a contained well at depths of up to 10,000 feet. The companies have committed $1 billion to the project, and we're told the cost could reach $1.5 billion. If you believe Big Oil companies are inherently evil, you'll think this is one more confidence trick. But no rational company or CEO wants to endure the reputational damage that accompanied the BP spill.
Oil and financial services are among the most heavily regulated industries in the country. Yet all that government did not prevent the BP spill or the Panic of Oh-Eight. I suggest that the $1.5Billion consortium will prove a lot more effective.
I will mention this to a lefty friend or two. They put so much faith in regulation, when it is demonstrably insane. You get legislation written by guys who really do not understand the thing they are regulating, shaped by the firms being regulated, then subject to regulatory capture, graft, incompetence or all three. Versus the drillers putting up private capital to truly fix the problem or limit damage/losses.
Giga-heh!
At face value this story is a vindication of those who dared criticize the narratives of "peak oil" or "new energy economy." But unless more people follow the examples of David Horowitz and David Mamet the regulatory claws of the welfare state will eventually force even the "animal spirits" such as these in the U.S. energy industry to succomb to its suffocating will. That is the lesson of Atlas Shrugged: Dagny Taggart can repeatedly defeat both the challenges of her industry and the punitive power of the state, but if her customers continue to reward her punishers instead of her accomplishments she will, eventually, stop.
Posted by: johngalt at June 10, 2011 3:45 PMJune 3, 2011
Germany *HEART* Coal!
As a wild-eyed capitalist I've bragged before about how I love coal as an energy source. Now, we can add PhD physicist and Prime Minster of Germany, Angela Merkel to my club. NY Times: Germany, in Reversal, Will Close Nuclear Plants by 2022
"If the government goes ahead with what it said it would do, then Germany will be a kind of laboratory for efforts worldwide to end nuclear power in an advanced economy," said Mark Hibbs, a senior associate in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. "No other country in the world is taking those steps."
I would call it a laboratory for something else - economic self-destruction.
The powerful Federal Association for German Industry, known as B.D.I., sent a letter on Monday morning to the chancellery, warning her about the consequences for German business."How will the international competitiveness of German industry be guaranteed?" Hans-Peter Keitel, B.D.I.s president, wrote. "Industry last year accounted for two-thirds of Germanys economic upswing."
What could possibly go wrong?
Hat Tip: Wikipedia's "in the news" section. (I sure didn't read it first in the Times.)
UPDATE: The reader may wonder at my connecting this Times story to coal, since it never mentions that fuel which provides half of Germany's electricity. It was, however, mentioned in a reference cited in the Wiki entry. There's also a picture of the very down-to-earth Environment Minister who dismisses more cautious and practical energy strategies. Minister Tritten:
"Ten years ago people told us that there would never be enough capacity to have a relevant share produced by wind - now the same people tell me we have too much wind, and have to export electricity because we have such a huge share of wind energy," he stated."So I can't take these arguments seriously."
He stressed he was "convinced" Germany would reach its target.
And he dismissed Dr Pfaffenberger's concerns about cost out of hand.
"He is wrong - simple," he said.
"To hear such arguments from people who haven't learned anything in the last half century - I am very calm on that."
June 2, 2011
End Subsidy Gifts to Big Oil!
Sarah Palin channels JohnGalt:
Palin: End All Energy Subsidies
"I think all our energy subsidies need to be re-looked at today and eliminated," Palin told Scott Conroy of Real Clear Politics during a quick stop at a coffee shop. "And we need to make sure that we're investing and allowing our businesses to invest in reliable energy products right now that aren't going to necessitate subsidies because, bottom line, we can't afford it."
Energy subsidies to alternate energy forms frequently take the form of outright transfers of money from the U. S. Treasury to private corporations that make solar cells, wind turbines, etc. or to utilities purchasing these products. Does "Big Oil" receive any such subsidies as those?
Big Energy (producers of oil, gas, coal, nuclear energy, and distributors of traditional energy products) pays Big Taxes. Frequently, what the left calls "subsidies" are standard tax breaks received by all or most corporations, like depreciation allowances on equipment and buildings or domestic tax deductions for taxes paid to foreign governments. The left wants to single out "Big Energy" for punitive taxation beyond that imposed on other large corporations. Shouldn't "Big Oil" in fairness get tax treatment at least as favorable as Microsoft or Walmart?
Since Big Energy pays Big Taxes, the net flow of revenue to the U. S. Treasury for most producers of traditional energy forms remains positive. They could be considered to be paying for the so-called subsidies from which they benefit. By contrast, most producers of "alternative energy" are engaged in economic activity which makes no sense unless massive government subsidies are in place. For many of these alternate energy producers, the Federal subsidy substantially exceeds the corporation's gross revenue from sales. Such folly obviously should be stopped at once. If alternate energy producers were trimmed to only those "subsidies" that benefit "Big Energy", most if not all of the alternative energy market would dry up and blow away.
The profit from corporations that is transferred to stockholders, or the profit from private businesses that is taken as income by the business owners, is personal income taxed by the Federal government. Is there a clear reason why businesses and corporations should pay any taxes at all, beyond the taxes paid by those who derive income from the businesses and corporations?
Sarah Palin should be looking at the option of repealing all taxes on the private sector other than individual income tax. After all, those corporate taxes are simply being passed on to the consumers of goods and services as higher prices, distorting our markets and unfairly taxing the citizens with lowest incomes disproportionally.
Posted by: Kudzuisedible at June 2, 2011 4:03 PMMay 27, 2011
Crazy Ass Conservatives
If you need to put together an example of smarmy journalism into a time capsule at your Memorial Day shindig this weekend, might I recommend this archetype from Penelope Green.
Last week, for example, in the middle of Lightfair, an annual trade show for the lighting industry, Philips unveiled a winged LED bulb with a promised life span of 25,000 hours and a price tag of $40 to $50. The Associated Press reported its cost as $50, and Fox News ran the story with the headline "As Government Bans Regular Light Bulbs, LED Replacements Will Cost $50 Each." Mr. Beck, Rush Limbaugh and conservative bloggers around the country gleefully pounced on the story, once again urging the stockpiling of light bulbs.
Fifty Dollar Light Bulbs! Can't those wingnuts read? The bulb could cost as little as $40!
Anyhow, the whole thing is a) Not a problem at all! and b) Is Completely George Bush's fault!
The law does not ban the use or manufacture of all incandescent bulbs, nor does it mandate the use of compact fluorescent ones. It simply requires that companies make some of their incandescent bulbs work a bit better, meeting a series of rolling deadlines between 2012 and 2014.
GOT THAT THICKHEADS???? They can still make incandescents, they just have to make them conform to a government design AND STOP SNIGGERING IN THE BACK!!
Hat-tip: Incandescent-Insty, with a link to stock up that profits him directly. Capitalist Pig!
UPDATE: I emailed the Professor asking him how he could seek to profit from light bulb lies and he replied "I'm just a shill for Big Bulb." Heh.
A while back, I stocked up when my local Home Depot had Philips incandescent 4-packs for 99 cents.
Let's see, a 25-cent/1000-hour incandescent, or a $40/50000-hour LED -- which need tints unless you like bluish light. No wonder it takes several years to break even via lower electricity consumption, and that's if an LED really is reliable. Having used LEDs for the, uh, 27 years I've done electronics, I couldn't count how many I've burned out.
Better count on plugging your lamps into surge suppressors, because one lightning strike taking out incandescents isn't so bad, but how about a dozen LEDs throughout your house?
Posted by: Perry Eidelbus at May 28, 2011 3:29 PMAnd when your 25-cent bulb burns out in 700 (or 200, or 10) hours instead of its rated 1000 you throw it out and possibly grumble about having to get the ladder out again. When a bulb costing as much as three 12-packs of microbrew burns out in 10,000 hours instead of its rated 50K you're looking for the warranty card and the 800 number and the pro-ration schedule and ...
Aren't these being touted by the same crowd that wants us to consume less and "simplify" our lives?
Posted by: johngalt at May 28, 2011 5:08 PMThe first CFCs I ever bought (which burned out in days) had to be mailed back for "free" replacements. It was years before I dared risk any more, and the only reason I bothered is because one circuit in our house has old wiring that supposedly can't handle more than 60 watts.
Let's also not forget the occasional $2000 mercury cleanup should a CFC break.
"it seems that Bridges was apparently given quite poor advice on this issue because she could have safely cleaned up the broken bulb herself."
I suppose every liberal in the world is ready to prove how safe these minute amounts of mercury are, by breaking CFCs in their homes and cleaning up themselves? These are the same goddamn wackos who warn us about mercury in fish.
Posted by: Perry Eidelbus at May 30, 2011 9:43 PMBrother PE, was there meant to be a link in there somewhere? And it's CFL's. CFC's are what supposedly fried the ozone layer, since debunked if I'm not mistaken.
Oh, and brother Keith, I meant to give you credit for an awesome paraphrase of 'Anthem.' I was seriously prepared to search my electronic copy of that title for the passage that matched your comment.
Posted by: johngalt at May 31, 2011 1:52 AMErr, yeah, CFLs. Pardon me while I release some hairspray into the atmosphere!
I can't find the link I had meant to include (did I forget to close the tag?), but here's a pro-freedom perspective on the woman who spent $2000 to clean up a broken CFL in her kid's room. There are environmentalists who say, "Oh, the mercury isn't THAT much," but are any of us going to take a chance with our families? I sure as hell wouldn't.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1825609/posts
"Just gently clean the glass up, sprinkle with fine sulfur powder, and vacuum it up in a week or two. Or just vacuum it up straight away." Yes, I'm sure we all keep powdered sulfur around, and we can forego the use of a room for a week.
Environmentalists just don't deal with reality, and their goal is to take us with them.
I've only once broken a mercury thermometer, only because I was young and curious if this 1200-degree thermometer could withstand a gas flame. I've never experienced a broken mercury switch. But good lord, dealing with a CFL bulb is almost like handling toxic waste.
Posted by: Perry Eidelbus at May 31, 2011 10:27 PMHTML tags fixed. Reasonable rates, top customer service.
It's a link worth fixing.
Posted by: jk at June 1, 2011 9:55 AMMay 23, 2011
More of them Green Jobs!
Somebody's got to rip out all of those ineffective, illegal wind turbines they put up.
Now, according to Watts, another miracle may happen: "A judge ordered the removal of 45 wind turbines on the grounds that planning laws were violated. There was no "general municipal plan" establishing a "reserva del suelo"--i.e., the land was not legally declared appropriate for the erection of wind turbines.Kenneth Green suggests Don Quixote might need a little help on these...
Of course, this will also be portrayed as green job creation, as the judge has ordered that the turbines be demolished, and that the vegetation in the area be restored. That'll be fun, since according to one domestic manufacturer, modern wind turbines are about as tall as the Statue of Liberty, and sit on concrete pads that weigh in the vicinity of 327 tons each and use 15 tons of steel reinforcement.
Honestly, this seems like a travesty of justice. After wading through the intermediate links I found the translated original article from Spain.
"The tolerance in this matter leads to an unacceptable situation of fait accompli whereby, without any rules whatsoever and coverage under mere licenses and authorizations, is implemented, more or less, general systems like the one in question, the impact, at least that they behave landscape, "says the judge.
"Coverage under mere licenses and authorizations?" If one can't build something with licenses and authorizations how CAN he build it?
Further insight via Anthony Watts: According to another article going back to January 22nd, Spanish architects from the Autonomous Community (state) of Cantabria complained that windfarms will make it impossible to have the southern valleys declared World Heritage Area, despite the many romanesque churches and buildings making them worthy of that designation.
A Great Leap Backward!
I try to like the Nissan Leaf®. Sure, I have to subsidize its sale to preening Yuppies who make four times what I do, but -- unlike the garage-torching Volt -- the good folks at Nissan developed it with private capital, wagering their innovation resources against the cruel, Schumpeterian vicissitudes of the market. (Yeah, a market distorted by US subsidies, but...)
The Postrellian in me should applaud, but I cannot. My inner Popperian sees this as a trip back to the caves: providing, of course, the caves are within 40 miles, and the weather is good.
The previous day's usage had left me in a pickle. With the 12 miles left and only nine-and-a-half hours charging time at 120V. Of course if I constantly had to remind myself, if I had a 240V charging station at home this would be a non-issue as the Leaf would have been completely full. However, my situation as it was, the Leaf was perhaps a hair over 40% charged when I left for work with the range indicator displaying 59 miles, hopefully enough for my 57 mile drive.
Since I needed all the juice I could get to make it to Burlingame I decided to forgo the pre-heating and let the Leaf charge to the very last second. Fortunately this morning was a hair warmer than the day previous being a brisk 40 degrees. Unfortunately the temperatures and humidity conspired to fog the windscreen. Without sufficient power to make it to work and use the defogger, I chose to defog the old-fashioned way: windows open.
Maybe someday they'll develop transportation that can be quickly and safely refueled.
Hat-tip: Instapundit
Or roadside hazard indicators that don't require electricity...
Posted by: johngalt at May 23, 2011 12:00 PMI also like to remember that these are on brand new batteries, motors and drivetrains. Three years in the elements, I don't know this thing will make it out to buy beer.
Posted by: jk at May 23, 2011 1:29 PMMay 20, 2011
A Tagline for the Brochure
Of course, most battery-powered vehicles can be plugged into a conventional wall outlet, making it possible to recharge them -- slowly, at least -- almost anywhere.You can recharge them slowly almost anywhere! Where do I sign?
Hat-tip: Insty, from an interesting post on buyers' being more influenced by savings than environmental factors. Yeah, I know, the lies these oil company shills print...
May 4, 2011
Wind Power Blows
Scotland's John Muir Trust (yes, that John Muir) has supported a study which concludes that wind turbines "cannot be relied upon" to produce significant levels of power generation.
Statements made by the wind industry and government agencies commonly assert that wind turbines will generate on average 30% of their rated capacity over a year, it said.But the research found wind generation was below 20% of capacity more than half the time and below 10% of capacity over one third of the time.
But industry [damn, it sure feels good to call these environmentalist loons "industry"] spokesmanperson Jenny Hogan, director of policy for Scottish Renewables, was quick to defend the shortcomings of wind power saying, "No form of electricity worked at 100% capacity, 100% of the time."
"It could be argued the trust is acting irresponsibly given their expertise lies in protecting our wild lands and yet they seem to be going to great lengths to undermine renewable energy which is widely recognised as one of the biggest solutions to tackling climate change - the single biggest threat to our natural heritage."We have yet to hear the trust bring forward a viable alternative to lower emissions and meet our growing demand for safe, secure energy."
Climate WHAT? Oh yeah, that.
Hat Tip: A side link from JK's UPDATE.
You're just one of those troglodytes that has yet to accept that The days of permanently available electricity may be coming to an end, the head of the power network said yesterday.
Families would have to get used to only using power when it was available, rather than constantly, said Steve Holliday, chief executive of National Grid. Mr Holliday was challenged over how the country would "keep the lights on" when it relied more on wind turbines as supplies of gas dwindled. Electricity provided by wind farms will increase six-fold by 2020 but critics complain they only generate on windy days.
Mr Holliday told Radio 4's Today programme that people would have to "change their behaviour". "The grid is going to be a very different system in 2020, 2030," he said. "We keep thinking that we want it to be there and provide power when we need it. It is going to be much smarter than that.Posted by: jk at May 4, 2011 3:23 PM
Britons in this "smarter" world will no doubt have to learn to eat when there is food, drink when there is water and be warm when the sun is out.
Posted by: jk at May 4, 2011 3:28 PMStop. Yer killin' me! I'm not supposed to laugh this hard.
Posted by: johngalt at May 4, 2011 5:14 PMOn a more serious tangent, Britons will also soon learn to vote for politicians who promise power "all the time" over "smart" power that goes away when the sun isn't shining and the wind isn't blowing.
Posted by: johngalt at May 4, 2011 8:17 PMApril 23, 2011
Has the President been spending his leisure time with Marion Berry?
"President Obama's suggestions that "there's no silver bullet that can bring down gas prices right away" and that one of the "few things we can do" to ostensibly bring prices down is to "finally end the $4 billion in taxpayer subsidies we give to the oil and gas companies each year" are both ludicrous.
To bring down gas prices right away simply suspend federal regulations dictating specific formulations for specific regions during specific seasons. Reducing the logistical requirement to just "regular, premium and mid-grade" nationwide would allow productivity gains that would flood the market with affordable petrol.
And how exactly is taking money away from oil companies going to bring gas prices down? Not that I oppose eliminating those and all corporate subsidies but please, are we idiots?
But the crown jewel of the President's cheap gasoline plan is "We need to invest in clean, renewable energy. In the long term, that's the answer. That's the key to helping families at the pump and reducing our dependence on foreign oil."
With as much respect as I can muster for the office of President of the United States, investing in so-called "renewable energy" to help families at the pump is like asking alchemists to replentish the kingdom's treasury after his highness has given all of the realm's treasures to China and Brazil.
If this is true, I'm buying a Hummer®
AP -- President Barack Obama says one answer to high gasoline prices is to spend money developing renewable energy sources.Walt Disney said one answer to higher gasoline prices is "Wishing will make it so."
Wild and Crazy Idea time:
I propose dividing the federal government into two competing divisions - The United States of Red America and The United States of Blue America.
Each will be established and governed exclusively by Republicans and Democrats, respectively.
Red America will be a Constitutional Republic and Blue America will be a Democratic People's Republic (if that's what they really want.)
Red America will repeal the 16th, 17th and 18th amendments, abolish two-thirds of executive branch departments, respect private property rights manage a reserve currency based on Friedmanite principles. Blue America will repeal the Constitution, institute single-payer national healthcare, guarantee a government job to every citizen and run the Fed the same way they do now.
Every American (and resident alien) can elect to live under the authority of one or the other but not both of these governments. On April 30 each year citizens will be able to switch to the other government at no charge, but will have to abide completely by the rules of that government for the entire year and will NEVER be able to vote.
Crimes will be adjudicated in the government of the victim.
Red America will provide for the national defense and Blue America can piggyback along for free. Why not - the rest of the western world has been doing it for centuries.
I'm probably missing a few details but I'm sure we can work them out.
Posted by: johngalt at April 23, 2011 12:24 PMOh yes, and to put into context for the post it comments to ... Red America will not infringe on private development of energy resources.
Posted by: johngalt at April 23, 2011 12:28 PMOn first read, I thought you were talking secession. The spirit of John C. Calhoun haunts these pages on occasion.
Reading it correctly, there's much to like. Hans Hermann-Hoppe talks about competing governments at the end of "Theory on Socialism and Capitalism."
I confess I cannot quite get my mind around the actual implementation. It sounds good on paper, but what keeps my (blue) neighbor from hauling my (red) ass into court for Section 3.4.981: Crimes again Gaia with an Incandescent bulb? (To be fair, the Red courts will incarcerate the blues for medicinal marijuana and sodomy.)
Hoppe is a protogee of Murray Rothbard. And while I appreciate the intellectual rigor, we wittingly carve out a slice of life where we allow a Lockean Police to protect us from real abuses by others. I appreciate that the force component is regularized and restrained by, in our case, the Constitution.
Having to evade the blue police (mandatory recycling) and the red (daily "Pledge of Allegiance") seems too much.
Beyond my flippant examples, there are real externalities. The energy extraction will have a non-zero pollution component, the strict wage equality laws will retard economic growth. Looking at Wisconsin, I find it hard to see the two living peacefully together for too long.
April 20, 2011
Hybrid and Electric Cars Suck
My dad recently emailed us a column from an engineering trade rag that bore the same title as this post.
So I am not going green with a hybrid/electric. No offense to Prius owners who are doing their part. It is just not for me. I am sticking with a regular gasoline car that gets good mileage but also has good performance. My other car, a 2010 VW GTI is one of those. It is a blast to drive. The 0 to 60 time is sub-6 seconds and it gets 31/32 mpg on the highway. Cost only $25K too. A real winner.
My dear Hawaiian auntie asked, "Does anyone know how much it costs to "fill one of these cars up with electricity"? I've never seen a quote,only how far you can drive & how long it takes to charge them. I realize it depends on how much your electrictricy costs are,but I've never even seen any estimates. Also how many windmills is it going to take to make all this extra electricity. Just wondering."
She's right. The only time the "fill-up" cost is ever talked about they just say "a few dollars." So I did some calculating from data I found at Wikipedia for the Nissan LEAF. [Yes, I know it's a bit long winded but I think you'll enjoy this.]
The Nissan LEAF has a 24 kwh (kilowatt hour) battery. At 10 cents per kwh and assuming perfect conversion of line current to DC and then battery charge the cost to charge the battery from empty would be $2.40.But it isn't just the cost of the charge that needs to be evaluated. There's also the TIME to recharge.
On 240VAC 30 amp circuit the charge time is 8 hours. On 115VAC 15 amp household outlet the charge time would be about 4 times as long, or 32 hours. They provide this type of charging for "convenience use when making stops or for emergency charging." They tell you to count on about 5 miles of range per HOUR of charge time by this method. Nissan has developed a fast charger that can fully refuel 80% of the 100-mile range of a LEAF in ... 30 minutes. You can buy one for $16,800. (Be careful though, because "Nissan warns that if fast charging is the primary way of recharging, then the normal and gradual battery capacity loss is about 10% more than regular 220-volt charging over a 10-year period.")
IT'S JUST ALL SO COMPLICATED!!!
Enviros and 'Lectric car apologists will try to tell you that all of these limitations are just because the technology is "new" and it will improve rapidly as more people buy the things and by becoming mainstream the car companies will compete with each other and solve all the problems. But electric cars are NOT new. I rode in one in Denver that dad took from the University to Cinderella City to show off to normal people. That was about 40 years ago. FORTY!
Why can gasoline engines get the same range on a couple gallons of gasoline that 'Lectrics get on 32 hours worth of power into the biggest electric heater you can plug into your wall socket? Even though gasoline engines are less than a quarter as efficient as electric motors? Because gasoline has a TREMENDOUS energy content.
I'll quote from a blog post I wrote in July 2008:
"A single gallon of gasoline contains 131.76 megajoules of energy, compared to 2.1 megajoules in a stick of dynamite. 1 gallon of gas therefore equals 63 sticks of dynamite.
An average lightning bolt releases 500 megajoules, or 3.8 gallons of gasoline energy."Now, going full circle back to the Nissan LEAF ... that 24 kwh battery pack it carries can hold 86 megajoules. That's 0.65 gallons of gasoline. (86 MEGAjoules sounded like a lot for a second there, didn't it!) Cost to fill up: $3.69 per gallon equivalent. Well, at least it's got that in common with gasoline powered cars.
I been thinkin' 'bout this...
1) You left Chevy Volt Catches Fire, Again out of an otherwise comprehensive post.
2) I just bought a battery for the mister2. Fossil that I am, I winced when AutoZone® said $102. Hybrid buyers are warned that they will have to replace the batteries in five-seven years. I don't think many internalize that and I suspect fewer consider that prices for replacement and disposal might escalate in that time.
I picture seven year old Prii being worth as much as my old HP inkjet printer with empty ink cartridges. A clever person might innovate a better third party replacement by then. But it is a Beta none include in calculations.
Part of my original email to auntie that was left on the 3Srcs cutting room floor was this from the Wiki page:
"It is estimated that each battery pack costs Nissan US$18,000 (as of May 2010[update]), and this cost is expected to be halved by mass production."Posted by: johngalt at April 21, 2011 12:13 PM
I think it will be halved -- but by Schumpeterian gales, not "mass production." Batteries? They don't mass-produce those?
I wonder if the new packs will retrofit, how much people will pay for scheduled maintenance on a five year old car, and whether disposal of the old packs might become pricey. (We're reaching a point where you pay as much to dispose of your old flat-screen TV than to buy the new one.)
These are the Bic® lighters of cars, are they not?
April 4, 2011
New Energy's Failure to Launch
Some may know that Colorado's latest ex-governor has golden-parachuted into academia in Colorado State University's "Center for the New Energy Economy." Today I learned that ex-guv Ritter's salary as the director there is $300,000 per year. (No word on the pension details.) But the news here is not his ridiculous salary. Rather, it is his apparently complete lack of knowledge on the subject of his office. He recently attended an organized debate at NYU where he and a "new energy" partner attempted to persuade some of the 33 percent undecideds in the audience of the premise: "Clean energy can drive America's economic recovery." From Vince Carroll in the Denver Post:
Before the Oxford Union-style debate, 46 percent of the audience registered support for the proposition, 21 percent were opposed and 33 percent were undecided. Afterward, opinion had made a dramatic shift, to 43 percent in favor, 47 percent against and 10 percent undecided.And no wonder. Ritter and his colleague, Kassia Yanosek of the U.S. Partnership for Renewable Energy Finance, relied upon anecdote, personal experience and hopeful thinking more than hard data and seemed frustrated the other side kept rattling off facts.
So Ritter was so "persuasive" that over two-thirds of the undecideds left the debate agreeing with his opponents. He even managed to scare off one in twelve of those who came in already agreeing with him. I think Carroll closed this story best: "The New Energy Economy is a catchy slogan for a political campaign. But it leaves something to be desired as a substitute for substance."
March 31, 2011
I can be succinct, providing the conditions are right and the meaning is not obscured and ...
President Obama's Energy Speech:
"Drilling should be safe, legal, and rare."
Longer and Better: Kenneth Green's Same Silliness, Different Day.
So that line is a JK original? Awesome.
Ken Green's laundry list of energy policy conflicts with reality is fairly complete. One observation I'd intended to make yesterday relates to the ironically named Green's 6th bullet: With his "100 percent alternative fuel or electric vehicle" mandate for federal agencies, the president has announced his own plan for a government shutdown.
Posted by: johngalt at March 31, 2011 2:12 PMMarch 30, 2011
But None of the Others Was So Awesome!
President Obama will soon call for a one-third drop in oil imports. He never seems to tire of these soviet five year plans: "a 47% crunchier frozen pizza crust by 2041!"
On this, he and the WaPo admit that every president has failed:
In 1973, Nixon called for a "Project Independence," an effort he said should summon the spirit of the Apollo space missions or Manhattan Project and achieve self-sufficiency by 1980. Instead, the United States was importing more oil by that time.In January 1975, President Gerald R. Ford said that "Americans are no longer in full control of their own destiny, when that destiny depends on uncertain foreign fuel at high prices fixed by others."
In 1977, President Jimmy Carter called the energy challenge "the moral equivalent of war" and proposed conservation, alternative energy, higher gasoline taxes, ethanol fuels and wider use of nuclear power. He too set a goal of reducing oil imports by a third, to 6 million barrels a day by 1985 from 9 million a day in 1977.
That target was surpassed by 1982, thanks to a rise in Alaskan oil production and the virtual end of the use of oil by electric utilities and manufacturers. But soon imports resumed their relentless climb as a share of U.S. oil needs. By 2006, Bush was calling on Americans to end their "addiction" to oil , warning of "danger and decline" if the country continued to rely on "unstable" countries. He urged a 75 percent reduction in U.S. oil imports by 2025.
But President Awesome is on the case now! Time to short the tanker stocks...
UPDATE: AFP's Phil Kerpen was less than impressed:
Obama also touted a so-called Clean Energy Standard, and by "clean energy" he means politically-favored, economically-questionable, and highly-unreliable windmills and solar panels. Of course, the wind doesn't always blow and the sun doesn't always shine. You can't run a modern economy without affordable coal, oil, and natural gas. Countries that have tried -- like Spain, Germany, and the U.K. -- have ruined themselves economically. (And of course green groups will sue to block "clean energy" the same way they sue to block everything else.)
President Awesome was obviously not so awesome in his science classes back in junior high school. I'm fine with reducing dependence on foreign oil. Alternative energy, though, is limited by the laws of physics - and I canna change the laws of physics, Captain:
http://www.energytribune.com/articles.cfm/2469/Understanding-E-=-mc2
Recent events in the news may have colored some opinions about the use of nuclear energy, and I totally understand. The only action, though, that can achieve that goal of energy independence is embodied in just four words: DRILL HERE, DRILL NOW.
Posted by: Keith Arnold at March 30, 2011 2:45 PMI'm sure JK will back me in declaring there is nothing wrong with importing oil, if that oil costs less than producing it domestically. What IS wrong is when government makes the cheapest sites for domestic production "off-limits" with regulations and restrictions.
This presidential "initiative" stands no serious chance of making any difference. It is just another sheet of paper in his re-election portfolio: "I've called for increased domestic oil production" he will boast, while his EPA, his DOE and his BLM do everything in their considerable power to stop it. What an asshole.
Posted by: johngalt at March 30, 2011 2:50 PMIf only we had someone running the country who would eliminate the EPA, the DOE, and the BLM! Then we'll have all the gasoline we need!
No disagreement from me on importing. As for your closing comment: again - Spaceball One.
Posted by: Keith Arnold at March 30, 2011 3:02 PMYep, you had that one covered... The problem with Corporate saying "portray him as an 'asshole'" is that the term applies equally well to so, so many government officials.
Posted by: johngalt at March 30, 2011 3:24 PMI seem to have loosened the metaphorical sphincter...such a nice blog we used to have...
Posted by: jk at March 30, 2011 4:26 PMIt is important to maintain decorum and reasonableness. Also, dagny advises that "asshole" is not a descriptive term and conveys no information about what is wrong with the President's actions. Given all of this I must revise and extend my prior missive: What a duplicitous asshole.
Posted by: johngalt at March 30, 2011 9:22 PM