I am out of town for this week and next–way out of town, all the way in Turkey–so I’m going solo for two episodes, answering listener questions (submit on my Facebook page) with a focus on how to think about energy issues. This week’s episode is about 45 minutes, and focuses on thinking about the relationship between government and energy. …
Power Hour: Marlo Lewis on The War on Coal
On this week’s Power Hour, Marlo Lewis of the Competitive Enterprise Institute breaks down the war against the world’s fastest growing source of energy: coal. Download Episode 17 with Marlo Lewis Subscribe to Power Hour on iTunes
Test: Does Hydraulic Fracturing Contaminate Water Aquifers?
Below are three graphs showing the distance between aquifers and induced hydraulic fractures. Two are scientifically derived field images from thousands of hydraulic fracture stimulations. One is a fictitious piece of propaganda put out by a media opportunist. Can you tell which is which?
Power Hour: Pierre Desrochers on The Locavore’s Dilemma
On the latest edition of Power Hour, author and geographer Pierre Desrochers discusses his (amazing) new book, The Locavore’s Dilemma. Dr. Desrochers tells fascinating story after fascinating story about how global, industrial agriculture is essential to life, and how the “local,” anti-industrial food movement is a threat to it. Make sure to share this episode with your friends and Like …
Obama is Restricting the Flow of Natural Gas
The shale gas revolution has delivered Americans inexpensive energy. As the chart below shows, the Henry Hub spot price for U.S. natural gas is many multiples lower than what Europe and Japan pay for this vital energy. ycharts.com
Understanding the Green Menace: Robert Zubrin’s Merchants of Despair
In his latest Master Resource post, Alex Epstein reviews Robert Zubrin’s newest book, “Merchants of Despair: Radical Environmentalists, Criminal Pseudo-Scientists, and the Fatal Cult of Antihumanism”. One of Zubrin’s messages in the book is that it is critical to human progress that we understand the lessons of history. As Alex states: “If the public understands that today’s “scientific” bullying is …
Debunking “Externalities”
A popular characterization of laissez-faire capitalism is that it leads to unacceptable negative “externalities,” such as pollution by energy producers. On this installment of “The Best of Power Hour,” Pierre Desrochers and I debunk this idea from several angles: political, economic, and historical. Download the Best of Power Hour–Debunking Externalities For more on this issue, see my article “Energy Externality …
Mark Ruffalo: Be an Avenger for Fracking
Dear Mark Ruffalo, As an energy researcher I am disappointed that you are using the media attention over your new Avengers movie to attack “fracking”–the revolutionary technology that uses controlled explosives high-pressure water jets to fracture once-useless rock formations so as to release bountiful oil and natural gas. I have no objection to celebrities getting involved with important political issues–if …
Power Hour: Robert Zubrin on “Merchants of Despair”
On this month’s Power Hour, I interview Robert Zubrin, author of “Merchants of Despair: Radical Environmentalists, Criminal Pseudo-Scientists, and the Fatal Cult of Antihumanism.” I discovered Dr. Zubrin’s book two weeks ago, and have since read it twice. It is a fascinating history of the theory and practice of what Zubrin calls “anti-humanism”–the belief that “human beings are pathogens whose …
Debunking “Renewable” Energy, Promoting Progressive Energy
Check out my new post at MasterResource, “Progressive Energy vs. ‘Renewable’ Energy.” The idea/ideal of “renewable energy” is the source of an enormous amount of bad thinking about energy–it places our focus on hypothetical energy sources with the longest hypothetical duration, rather than effective energy sources that can provide cheap, plentiful, reliable energy in the here and now. I think …