August 17, 2024

Debate: Is A Demonstration Project Really Necessary?

August 17, 2024/ Francis Menton

My repeated calls for a Demonstration Project of a zero-emissions electrical grid have led to a spirited debate among knowledgeable commenters.
While most back my position, some say that a Demonstration Project is really not necessary and would be a waste of effort.
The gist of the argument of those disputing the necessity of a Demonstration Project is that it is so obvious that a zero-emissions grid powered predominantly by wind and solar generation cannot be achieved that the expense and effort of building an actual physical facility cannot be justified.

August 13, 2024

Zero Emissions Grid Demonstration Project Follies: No Fraudulent Demonstration Projects Allowed!

August 13, 2024/ Francis Menton

Even as I regularly repeat my calls for a Zero Emissions Grid Demonstration Project, I’m ready for the next move in the back and forth.
Suppose someone claims that a steady zero emissions electricity supply has been achieved? How can we determine and verify whether that is true? The facts can be sufficiently complex, and the incentives sufficiently perverse, that fraudulent claims are to be expected.
But now consider the case Switch Inc., which is one of the largest (maybe the very largest) companies that specialize in operating data centers.

August 10, 2024

August 10, 2024/ Francis Menton

I claim credit for being the first person to demand a demonstration project to show how a zero emissions electrical grid is supposed to work, before trying to build such a thing for our entire population of three hundred million as involuntary guinea pigs.
How could it be that lots of others haven’t been demanding this for years? It’s like everyone has lost their minds.
Before climate hysteria set in, the idea of attempting an engineering project as enormous as a zero emissions electrical grid for the United States, or even for one state, without first having a functioning demonstration project, would have been completely unthinkable. But under the powerful sway of the fear of climate armageddon, the need for a demonstration project to prove feasibility never seems to occur to anybody. And thus trillions of dollars are getting spent — wasted — on facilities that anyone with a brain can easily see will never come close to providing a zero emissions grid — although they will greatly drive up the cost of electricity to consumers.
Let me then welcome an important new voice to the still tiny chorus of those demanding a demonstration project. The new voice is Congresswoman Harriet Hageman of Wyoming.

August 07, 2024

August 07, 2024/ Francis Menton

As the saying goes, Socialists: You can vote them in, but you have to shoot them out. We’re watching an extreme example of that saying play out right now in Venezuela.
The U.S. press seems remarkably uninterested in events in Venezuela following its presidential election held July 28. Likely that’s because those events show just how much a determined election fixer can get away with when he controls all the levers of power in a country and is in a position to block and stymie any investigation into election fraud.
There are clear lessons from that for the upcoming U.S. election, lessons that the press would prefer not be learned.
First, a review of where we are.

August 04, 2024

August 04, 2024/ Francis Menton

The headline of this post is the same headline as appears in today’s New York Daily News as a big banner spanning pages 26 and 27 of the print edition, which are the main op-ed pages. Those two pages then contain two op-eds taking opposite positions on the future of New York’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act of 2019, which the Daily News refers to as the “Climate Statute.”
The column on page 26 is by Emily Gallagher and Kim Fraczek, with the headline “Getting to affordable, clean energy solutions.” On page 27 the headline is “We have to rethink the state’s climate act”; the by-line is Jane Menton.
Both pieces are behind the Daily News’s paywall, although it appears that you can get through it by paying them $1 for an introductory subscription. In my case, when I found out that Jane’s piece was running I went out and splurged $3.50 for the print version.
Comparison of the two pieces will provide a look into the quality of the debate going on in New York over the supposed energy transition.

August 01, 2024

August 01, 2024/ Francis Menton

As mentioned in my recent post from July 20, there are many data points gradually accumulating as to the lack of progress toward the so-called “green” economy.
It has long been clear to people who think about it that the energy transition to “net zero” is a fantasy that will not occur.
But the question remains of exactly how the mania will come to an end. Will the net zero fantasies of the climate cultists proceed at full speed until they crash into a wall of physical reality (e.g., blackouts)? Or instead will these fantasies gradually retreat as governments respond to voter pressure over costs and convenience, and as investors pull back as it becomes clear that projects cannot succeed financially?