A CHILL HITS WIND POWER | The SPPI Blog

“Wind cannot be relied upon to provide firm generation at full capacity coincident with peak demand.” warns Hertzmark. “Wind might be capable of contributing to the peak demand requirements at some times. However, this will rarely happen—and when it does, it will be for brief periods. For significant periods of time, no households will be served by the wind farms.”

Nor have either of the worlds “wind leaders”—Denmark and Germany—decommissioned any fossil fuel plants. The fossil generators are kept in “spinning reserve”—burning fossil fuels—to keep the lights on in the schools, factories, and hospitals when the wind dies.

Why build wind turbines at all? Well, wind and solar were the only energy sources the Greens would endorse, probably because they’re so expensive and erratic that there’s no danger of anybody getting hooked on cheap power again. Denmark was also selling wind turbines to other countries, so they had to be demonstrated at home. Now China is making cheaper turbines. Who will buy?

The cost of the “free wind”? Projections are about 17 cents per kwh—far higher than other energy sources. One of my neighbors has just invested $100,000 in a wind turbine. I think he’s wasted his money—and some of yours.

Hot Air » Blog Archive » Dem Senators retreat to South Beach with 108 lobbyists

To demonstrate the blatant access-peddling at work, I must correct the Politico story in at least one respect. Ben Smith claims that Edison Electric Institute has “battled” climate regulation. Not really. In fact, EEI has been lobbying senators to pass the stalled cap-and-trade bill. Why? Because EEI drafted the method for emission allocations incorporated into the House bill. Small wonder that EEI might want some schmooze time with the senators from Michigan.

“MIA on the IPCC” | CEJournal

Perhaps American news media aren’t keeping up with their colleagues overseas because there are so few environmental specialists left. About one out of five American journalists lost their jobs between 2001 and the start of last year, and environmental journalists have been particularly hard hit. I sincerely hope that is the explanation — and not fear of undermining policy action on global warming. That is certainly a legitimate private concern, but not a legitimate journalistic one. Our concern is the truth.

Pajamas Media » Climategate: WWF, the ‘Para-Governmental Organization’ at the Epicenter of the Storm

This is no NGO. The “conservation organization” is not as independent as you might think.