Energy Tribune- Ethanol from Coal, Natural Gas and Coke, not from Corn

In the unreasonable environmentalist fervor of the last few years, imbued by alarmism after alarmism, preposterous solutions like wind and solar have been offered, even in the face of overwhelming evidence that they cannot substitute fossil fuels for decades, if ever. It is not just the costs which, the only conceivable source, governments, can no longer afford; thermodynamics is simply prohibitive.

Corn-based ethanol has been an even more spectacularly silly idea. It is of course supported heavily by the agricultural lobby in what my colleague, Robert Bryce, has routinely called the ethanol scam. With a very adverse impact on food prices, this ethanol is both highly inefficient (as it is done today it takes 1.6 gallons of gasoline equivalent to produce one gallon of ethanol) and much ado about nothing. If we use all of the corn grown in the United States to produce motor vehicle ethanol it would amount to about 20 percent of our gasoline demand.

BYRON YORK: Dems love fact and science, except when they don’t - Massillon, OH - The Independent

The “clean-energy economy.” President Obama speaks frequently about “accelerating the transition to a clean-energy economy.” Neither Obama’s promises of breakthroughs in solar, wind and other alternative-energy sources – which can supply only a tiny fraction of the nation’s energy needs – nor his claims that his policies will create hundreds of thousands of “green jobs” in a new clean-energy world, are supported by solid economic analysis. Numerous studies found that the president’s favored cap-and-trade program would not have led to economic growth, and the concept of “green jobs” is so fuzzy as to be almost useless.

“They are ignoring the fact that subsidized green jobs destroy jobs elsewhere and direct capital and resources away from their most efficient use,” says Nick Loris, an analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation. “If these technologies were economically competitive and profitable, they wouldn’t need the subsidies and mandates the administration is supporting.”

CBC News - Manitoba - Manitoba climate change law up in air

Environmentalists worry Manitoba is backsliding on its commitment to implement a cap and trade system to combat climate change over fears the move will be unpopular with voters.

Tuesday's throne speech made no mention of cap and trade, even though Premier Greg Selinger pledged to implement such a system last December, at the UN Climate Change Conference in Denmark.

'Maybe they aren't sure how to act on these commitments they've made. But I'm fairly concerned because the time drags on.'—Gaile Whelan-Enns

"There's nothing in the speech from the throne," said Gaile Whelan-Enns, national director with Climate Action Network Canada.