Italy’s Solar Bust: Just Another Data Point — MasterResource

Italy’s perfect storm of so little electricity at so much cost had three causes

India to pip US as 2nd largest carbon emitter from fuel | JunkScience.com

Don’t Touch That Dial | Power Line

Long before the age of government-mandated low-flush toilets and low-wattage light bulbs, William F. Buckley captured the essence of modern nanny-state liberalism with his comment that a liberal is someone who wants to reach in and turn down your shower. People are wise to the endlessly meddling ways of modern liberalism, which is why there is so much resistance to the plans of electric utilities, thoroughly socialized and housebroken by decades of regulation, to introduce “smart meters” to private residences. I get the idea behind “smart meters,” and like them in the abstract. But a lot of people understand that smart meters may be the first step to enabling the Thermocrats to dial back your power usage remotely if they think you are using “too much” electricity to, say, keep yourself cool during hot summer afternoons. Utilities already try to persuade people to volunteer to allow them to cycle off your appliances remotely during periods of peak demand in return for a slight discount on your bill. But things that start out voluntary have a way of becoming mandatory with liberals, and smart meters are a step to enhancing the power of environmentalist Thermocrats.

Guest Post: Oil and Gas – An American Jobs Producer? | Plugged In, Scientific American Blog Network

Investments in renewables and other industries is critical, as I mention in other posts, but if oil and gas production is good for the economy and good for jobs, why would we spend approximately $1 billion per day importing oil? Instead, we should reinject as much of that money as we can back into safely and responsibly producing domestic petroleum, and creating American jobs.