On Sunday, February 17, the Sierra Club will lead what is being billed as the world’s largest ever “climate rally.” “This is a blackout rally,” said Alex Epstein, President of the Center for Industrial Progress (CIP). “The Sierra Club doesn’t just want to outlaw the Keystone Pipeline, which would by itself be a horrible economic [...]
Archive | Energy
Interventions Beget Interventions
It has long been noted that government intervention seldom, if ever, accomplishes the stated purpose. When the failure of some regulation, subsidy, or program becomes clear, legislators respond with further interventions. As an example, consider the solar panel industry. Solyndra, which received more than $500 billion in federal loan guarantees, is only one of many [...]
Big Oil: Please, Please Let Us Drill
The headline on CNN.com said it all: “Big Oil’s promise: Let us drill, we’ll hire 1.4 million workers.” The article goes on to say: With job creation taking center stage in American politics, the oil industry Wednesday made a pitch for drilling more widely. With looser restrictions, the industry says it could deliver 1.4 million [...]
Ethics of Energy Companies
Energy companies, particularly those producing fossil fuels—oil, natural gas, coal—are under attack by the environmentalists and their sympathizers in the media. It is one thing to criticize companies such as BP, deservedly, for lax safety procedures or lacking emergency preparedness that lead to disastrous pollution. But it is entirely different to attack these companies precisely [...]
No Easy Fix for Gas Prices
This month, as unleaded gasoline prices increased for 17 consecutive days (to a national average of $3.647 per gallon – up 11% thus far this year) and West Texas Intermediate crude joined Brent crude in breaking through a $100 per barrel level, energy prices emerged as a full blown political issue. While President Obama conveniently [...]
The Symptoms of Nuclear Hysteria
Imagine you invented a machine that revolutionized travel. You know your invention could cut local and long distance travel time substantially and vastly improve the ability for business to deliver freight efficiently. The invention would add trillions to global GDP. If released, your invention would no doubt be universally used and admired. However, based on [...]
Obama's Inept Nuclear Strategy: Building Down Will Trigger A Rogue Build Up
On April 6, the Obama administration released its new nuclear strategy; on Thursday, the prez inked a new nuke treaty with the Russians in Prague. This week, he’s hosting an all-world atomic affair in Washington. It’s a veritable “no-nukes-palooza.” Problem is, not all nuclear cutbacks are wise. This week’s D.C. summit makes sense: It’s focused [...]
Running Out of Oil
“Proven” oil reserves, oil that’s economically and technologically recoverable, are estimated to be more than 1.1 trillion barrels. That’s enough oil, at current usage rates, to fuel the world’s economy for 38 years, according to Leonardo Maugeri, vice president for the Italian energy company ENI. Mr. Maugeri provides a wealth of information about energy in [...]
Californication and the East Coast Blackout
There’s a very fundamental reason for the latest blackout on the East Coast. The United States of America needs more power facilities. I’m not talking about ten thousand windmills on the coast of Massachusetts or seventy square miles of solar collectors in Vermont. I’m talking about burning coal and using natural gas. I’m talking about [...]
The Enemies of Nuclear Power
As Congress ponders how the country can avoid an energy crisis like the one that has affected California, many people believe that only science-fiction can offer a long-term solution–a solution in which discoveries in theoretical physics would lead to a new energy-producing technology. The fuel for this technology, as they imagine it, would be abundantly [...]