Human Flourishing Requires More Fossil Fuel Use, Not Less

In Pennsylvania, Will Josh Shapiro Unlock Decades of Affordable Energy?
Guest Blogger
Developing Pennsylvania’s deposits of natural gas and coal would enhance its role as a global powerhouse and promote the well-being of Pennsylvanians. . . .

 

Gas-Fired Power Is Now Cheaper Than Offshore Wind Again
Guest Blogger
From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT By Paul Homewood . . There are increasingly strong signs that European gas prices are back to pre-war lows and may stop…

 

India’s Uncompromising Commitment to Coal
Guest Blogger
In Asia, the need for sustained economic growth outweighs fanciful visions of a “carbon-free” utopia, making coal the obvious choice for at least several decades. . . .

 

Have Fossil Fuels Progressed Humanity? (Part III)
Guest Blogger
The most important indicator of global prosperity is declining poverty. . . .

 

What Has Been the Role of Petroleum in Human Progress? (Part IV)
Guest Blogger
The role that fossil fuels have played in the progress of humanity in four revolutions is undeniable: . . . .

 

I have heard that all the good coal in mines across America have run out of high-quality coal and only have low-quality coal left. Low-quality coal can't be used to replace high-quality coal.

I have also heard that all the easy-access oil is just about tapped out. That's going to affect the big oil states like Saudi Arabia. That leaves the hard-to-get oil in shale and tar-sand layers. While it's estimated to have a 300-year supply at 1990s-era oil usage, it's not unlimited. It's taken a technological leap to get to where we can extract oil from these hard-to-reach layers of the earth. And we've just crushed that oil industry.

We'll need fossil fuels for the foreseeable future. Still, the consequences of using them all up on direct power needs now will rob the future of valuable materials as they disappear in time.

 

None of what you have heard is true.

 

Not even close to true and by the way if the oil markets are left alone by the government (We wish) the steady increase in price in the future would be a signal that oil is becoming too expensive to continue to explore and drill which isn't happening at all today the real cause of the large increase in cost in last 2+ years is because of governmental interference and incompetence.

 

You do know that Biden is artificially keeping the price of oil low by releasing the emergency reserve, right?

 

That is governmental interference, and he is the one who shut down the pipeline and resisted or stopped the permit process from running as it should which contributes to instability and lowers the future forecasting because government is messing it up.

Leave the oil industry alone in their prospecting forecast and drilling business.

 

Let's Face It: Net Zero Is Dead In The Water
January 30, 2023/ Francis Menton

• 
  The headline comes today from Dr. Benny Peiser’s newsletter for the Global Warming Policy Foundation’s New Zero Watch project. (If you don’t subscribe to this newsletter, you should. Go to this link to sign up. As with MC, there is no charge.)
  
  
• This latest newsletter contains a roundup of articles from just the last couple of days reporting on the ongoing disaster of the Net Zero fantasy. In this post, I’ll just cover some of the highlights.
  
  
• But first, can somebody please let President Biden in on this news, or at least some of it?
  
  
• Even as the impossible dream of a wind/solar-powered economy collapses everywhere it is tried, the U.S. federal government blindly pushes forward with hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer funds to subsidize wind and solar generation and battery storage.
  

READ MORE

 

Forget Net Zero: Oil and gas investment needed for another 30 years, BP warns
Guest Blogger
The assessment is likely to spark backlash from climate groups and campaigners who argue that investment should be immediately stopped in order to meet net zero goals. . . .

 

Industry-Intensive Vietnam to Increase Fossil Fuel Consumption
Guest Blogger
Recent developments in the country indicate that Vietnam will not give up its most reliable and affordable energy source: coal. . . .

 

The great climb down has begun.
“BP’s CEO Plays Down Renewables Push as Returns Lag” (‘beyond petroleum’ imaging wearing thin)
Guest Blogger
Chief Executive Bernard Looney plans to dial back elements of the oil giant’s high-profile push into renewable energy, according to people familiar with recent discussions. . . . .

 

Investors Have Become Super-Bullish About Oil
J. Kemp, Reuters

 

Don't Believe The Geniuses Claiming To Know Our Energy Future
February 26, 2023/ Francis Menton

• 
  “Stranded assets.” You know what those are. Probably you’ve read a hundred or more articles over the past few years confidently proclaiming that oil and gas fields and coal mines owned by large energy companies will soon become worthless, as production of energy shifts to “cleaner” and “cheaper” things like wind and solar.
  
  
• The owners of the fossil fuel properties won’t be able to sell them for even a dollar. The assets will thus be “stranded.”
  
  
• The “stranded assets” predictions unsurprisingly come from the same crowd who are also ordering up the electric car future. For just a tiny sample of recent pieces making the stranded assets point . . .
  

READ MORE

 

Another blow against the empire.
Challenging Net Zero with Science: Lindzen-Happer-CO2 Coalition Paper Released
Charles Rotter
Net Zero Plans Are Dangerous and Unsupported by Science and the Scientific Method . . .

 

Green Movement Faces a Confrontation With Reality
Rupert Darwall, The Spectator




Environmentalism is the ruling ideology of our times. Forget neoliberalism. That peaked around 2000 and was definitively dethroned by the... Read More

 

There Is No Energy Transition, Just Energy Addition
Guest Blogger
While renewables claim a larger fraction of a growing pie, fossil fuels are expected to grow faster in absolute terms. . . .

 

Surprise: “Coal Became Most Important Energy Source For Electricity In Germany” In 2022
By P Gosselin on 14. March 2023

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The more Germany tries to wean itself off fossil fuels, the more it seems to rely on them – especially coal.

Germany’s online Blackout News here reports: “Coal again the most important energy source in power generation”.

As Germany continues to move ahead and shut down its nuclear power plants, leaders are realizing that coal as an energy source for electricity is unavoidable and without alternative.

Coal has risen to 33% share

“As a result, the share of coal-fired power plants in electricity generation has risen to a good 33 percent,” reports Blackout News, citing Der Spiegel. “Last year, coal thus became the most important energy source for electricity generation in Germany by a growing margin.”

In the wake of the Fukushima disaster, the then German government panicked and moved to shut down its remaining fleet of nuclear power plants. The last three plants are scheduled to go offline on April 15th, after having their operating time extended earlier this year in order to get the country through the winter. This has made Germany increasingly reliant on coal.

The sabotage of the Nordstream II gas pipeline, a major artery supplying energy to Europe, has also made coal even more crucial in keeping the lights on in Germany and the rest of Europe.

14 coal-fired power plants were put back into operation

What’s surprising is that Germany vowed not long ago to do away with coal power, in a bid to ward off “dangerous global warming”. Yet:

“Last summer, a total of 14 coal-fired power plants and one petroleum-fired power plant were put back into operation or, contrary to original plans, were not shut down in order to counteract the acute gas crisis,” reports Blackout News, citing the German tagesschau. “These measures were necessary to prevent the looming electricity shortage in Germany. In addition, five lignite-fired units from the so-called supply reserve remained on the grid, contrary to the planned shutdown.”

In a nutshell: there’s no way to eliminate coal

Citing the Federal Statistical Office, in 2022, one third (33.3 percent) of the electricity fed into the grid in Germany came from coal-fired power plants, a rise of 8.4 percent. Wind energy, despite having a high level of installed capacity, supplied just 24.1 percent, followed by solar with 10.6 percent. Nuclear power’s share halved in 2022, accounting for only 6.4 percent of the electricity fed into the grid.

 

US Gas Consumption Trends
Guest Blogger
No surprise there, as gas has steadily been replacing coal in the electricity mix. . . .

 

Wall Street Journal Makes Fun Of German Energy Policy. “Hilarious Green Irony” As Coal Rescues
By P Gosselin on 21. March 2023

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Irony: Coal kept the lights on in Germany this winter



Germany’s Blackout News reports how the global media is making fun of the clown show that’s become Germany’s energy policy.

Incompetent hands

For decades, Germany’s energy policy has been overtaken and revamped by green environmentalist and pacifist politicians who have little or no technical competence at all in the fields of energy engineering. They promised it would be cheap, clean and plentiful. The sun and wind, after all, are free for the taking!

Today, the German public is painfully starting to find out that solar and wind energy indeed do send bills, and quite large ones at that. And if you think Germany’s energy policies sound really dumb, then come out and see how they feel! One single grandmother I know recently got her new natural gas prices: 600 euros a month!

“World’s dumbest energy policy”

So it’s little wonder that not long ago, the Wall Street Journal called Germany’s it: “The world’s dumbest energy policy.”

Now the famous, renowned financial journal is back again with a follow-up article: “Coal keeps Germany’s lights on“.

First the WSJ reports how Europe managed (ironically) “to avert an energy-shortage recession this winter”, by using “evil coal”, citing recently released data. This past winter, without coal stepping up to the plate, the natural gas shortages would have left a number of German households out in the cold.

Coal is doing the job, according to the WSJ, because “wind and solar don’t work when the winds are still or the skies are cloudy” and “when the weather doesn’t cooperate” – which is often the case in Germany in the wintertime.

“Another explanation for coal’s resurgence is the political hostility of Germany’s green left to nuclear power” and to its shale-gas reserves,” comments the WSJ. “So in an hilarious green irony, coal is keeping the lights on.”

The WSJ keeps the hope alive that “Berlin will catch up to what the market already knows: Fossil fuels remain indispensable for powering modern economies.” My message to the WSJ editors: Don’t keep your hopes up. The “world’s dumbest energy policy” is being run by the world’s dumbest energy politicians. So don’t expect them to solve the huge mess they themselves have created.

 

World Energy Data Confirms Fossil Fuels Will Dominate Future Global Energy Use
Guest Blogger
The OECD nations cannot stop this from happening and despite their nefarious efforts otherwise cannot conceal this global energy growth and fuel use (as well as emissions growth) reality. . . .

 

Fossil Fuels Still Dominate Security and Defense Needs
Guest Blogger
Fossil fuels are essential for just about everything the military needs, from nuclear weapons to toilet paper! . . .

 

COP28 Boss is Presiding Over a Massive Gas Production Expansion
Eric Worrall
Perhaps COP28 boss and national oil chief Sultan Al Jaber sees the climate conference as a marketing opportunity for his nation’s fossil fuel products? . . . .