Bryan Leyland: Windpower: Foolish Energy

Windpower exists worldwide because of grants, tax breaks and massive subsidies and because, consumers, taxpayers and ratepayers, not the generators, pay for the cost of transmission and backup power stations. The fact that New Zealand has an unusually good wind resource, simply means that the burden on the consumer is not as large as it is in other countries.

I believe that, given the high cost and operational problems of wind power, no responsible Board of Directors of a state-owned or private company could – or should - agree to “investing” in windpower. There are better and cheaper alternatives.

The world has been cooling since 2002. If this trend continues or deepens, there will be a worldwide $500bn crash in the value of subsidized renewable energy projects and carbon trading. Let New Zealand lead the world by studying the evidence and evaluating the risks!

Carter Country - Chris Horner - Planet Gore on National Review Online

What fun would our dash back in time to relive Jimmy Carter’s energy policies be without a visit from the maestro himself? E&E Daily reports that the former president will advise Congress in a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing tomorrow on the Great Leap Backward.

They trot out Al Gore, then Carter . . . can John DeLorean be far behind in this Back to the Future witness queue of success stories? Hmm, DeLorean's DMC-12 didn't advance beyond prototype until the 1981 model year, stepping on the joke — perhaps state-owned Chrysler will revive the Gremlin and Pacer instead, as long as we're rehashing the Seventies.

Carbon Reality, Again - WSJ.com

The reversal, or "backflip," has caused Mr. Rudd much embarrassment. He may still push ahead with legislation in some form, as he promised when running in the 2007 election. But it's becoming clear the proposal won't be a shoo-in despite all the votes Mr. Rudd won when he campaigned as an anti-carbon apostle.

This is yet another example of politicians elsewhere cashing in politically on the current anti-carbon enthusiasm, only to discover that support diminishes as the real-world costs become clear.