Renewable energy

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Photo Credit: Shutterstock

Legal double standard: Obama administration gives wind energy industry a pass on killing birds, but not oil and gas

Mark J. Perry | May 14, 2013, 10:49 am

The video above (***Warning: graphic***) shows a magnificent eagle getting killed by a wind turbine, which is actually a federal crime. According to a 2009 estimate from the US Fish and Wildlife Service (reported on the American Bird Conservancy website … read more >

Carpe Diem

Renewable energy projects cost US taxpayers $26 billion for only 2,300 permanent jobs, which is $11.5 million per job

Mark J. Perry | May 10, 2013, 8:53 am

In 2008, Barack Obama pledged to create 5 million jobs over 10 years by directing taxpayer dollars toward renewable energy projects in the form of loan guarantees. But here’s what has actually happened according to recently released data by the Department of … read more >

Carpe Diem

Rethinking wind: Harvard research suggests the generating capacity of wind farms at large scales has been overestimated

Mark J. Perry | February 26, 2013, 9:50 am

From a press release today from Harvard’s School of Engineering: “People have often thought there’s no upper bound for wind power—that it’s one of the most scalable power sources,” says Harvard applied physicist David Keith. After all, gusts and breezes don’t … read more >

Carpe Diem

Video: On the lunacy of the failed Renewable Fuel Standards

Mark J. Perry | January 18, 2013, 10:56 am

In the video above, the SmarterFuelFuture.org explains why the Renewable Fuel Standard, which mandated the use of of biofuels starting in 2007, has not only failed to achieve its stated goals over the last seven years, but has raised food … read more >

Carpe Diem

What’s to like about ethanol? It can ruin car engines, it’s bad for the environment, and it raises taxes, gas and food prices

Mark J. Perry | January 16, 2013, 5:41 pm

Except for a small minority of corn growers and ethanol producers, corn ethanol is a bad deal for everybody else: it damages automobile engines and fuel systems, it’s bad for the environment, it requires billions of dollars extracted from US … read more >

Carpe Diem, Economics, Energy and the Environment

Sunday energy links

Mark J. Perry | December 9, 2012, 10:04 am

The renewable energy bubble has burst1. Washington Times — “Is green energy a fad that has run its course? The investment community seems to think so. RENIXX World, the Renewable Energy Industrial Index of the world’s top green energy companies, … read more >

Carpe Diem

According to government forecast, abundant and reliable fossil fuels will supply 80% of U.S. energy demand in 2040

Mark J. Perry | December 5, 2012, 8:04 pm

The Department of Energy released it Annual Energy Outlook today for 2013, with updated estimates of U.S. energy consumption by fuel source out to the year 2040 in Table A1 of the report (data here) . Based on the government … read more >

Carpe Diem

Hurricane Sandy illustrates the importance of fossil fuel energy to our economy, both now and for decades to come

Mark J. Perry | November 9, 2012, 9:49 am

In yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, Manhattan Institute fellow Robert Bryce used Hurricane Sandy to illustrate the importance of fossil fuels (especially oil and gasoline) to the recovery and to the overall U.S. economy (and the relative unimportance of wind and … read more >

Carpe Diem

Energy interviews: Daniel Yergin and Diana Furchtgott-Roth

Mark J. Perry | September 21, 2012, 9:17 am

Here are a few excerpts from two recent interviews on energy issues: 1. From an interview with Daniel Yergin in the Wall Street Journal: We expect to see tight-oil production [oil extracted from dense rock formations] grow dramatically over the … read more >

USFWS Mountain-Prairie (Flickr) (CC BY 2.0)

Economics, Energy and the Environment

Wind and solar power: Destabilizing the German grid

Kenneth P. Green | August 21, 2012, 10:39 am

The problem is that wind and solar farms just don’t deliver the same amount of continuous electricity compared with nuclear and gas-fired power plants. read more >

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