Daily Archives: July 24, 2011

Shale is good unless you need to yell “Look! A distraction!”

Posted on July 24, 2011 | Leave a comment

Shale gas set to supply half of America’s gas needs within 10 years
By Mark Leftly

According to Chris Weston, president and chief executive of Centrica’s direct energy unit, this single source of energy has grown so much in North America that it is bigger than the UK’s entire gas production. Some experts believe shale gas will account for half of all North American production by the end of the decade.

Technological advances over the past 10 years have meant that it is finally economically viable to drill great distances horizontally, fracture the tightly packed shale rock and capture the gas. Shale gas production has rocketed in the US, with President Obama promoting the technology in overseas trade talks. (The Independent)

Fracking French
By Andres Cala

Did you hear? Fracking is the new Gaddafi in France!

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Posted in Fracking

Wind rush bursts bubble

Posted on July 24, 2011 | Leave a comment

Wind farms multiply, fueling clashes with nearby residents

Demand for clean energy has led to a wind turbine building boom. But many living in their shadow decry the electricity generating projects as pesky eyesores. (LA Times)

Green Bubble Bursts: Investors In Wind Power Get Cold Feet
Sunday, 24 July 2011 07:50 Dominic Jeff, Scotland on Sunday

The UK’s energy market white paper is too vague to encourage green investment – Funding for wind farms slowing down due to low average wind speeds which are depressing rates of return. (GWPF)

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Posted in Energy, Wind

Only makes sense to dopey greenies

Posted on July 24, 2011 | 1 Comment

Ontario’s Power Trip: Power dumping
Parker Gallant
Billions are wasted buying subsidized wind and solar power that ends up being exported at fire-sale prices
By Parker Gallant and Scott Luft

During the spring months in Ontario, the winds blow a lot. For companies in the wind-power business, that’s good news. For the province’s electricity consumers, though, it’s another financial disaster that, on an annual basis, drains up to $400-million out of consumers’ pockets. But that money doesn’t directly fund green electricity for Ontarians who pay for it. Instead, the bulk of wind power is essentially surplus power that is exported to the United States and out of province at rock-bottom prices. Ontarians are paying $135 for units of power that are dumped on the export market at prices as low as $20. Sometimes, Ontario has to pay other jurisdictions to take the surplus off its hands. (Financial Post)

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Posted in Corporate welfare, Energy, Solar, Wind

Virtual people dropping like flies

Posted on July 24, 2011 | Leave a comment

17,000 Dead From Electric Utilities? Obama’s Big EPA + Gore’s Big Green = Big Lies

Read here (h/t Climate Depot). The EPA and the Environmental Defense Fund are promulgating quack green statistics, such as the over-the-top lie that 17,000 annual deaths are due to electric utilities pollution. Plain and simple, it’s fabricated, quack statistics – totally fraudulent, with not a shred of empirical evidence in support of it.

This environmental lie is reminiscent of other leftie/greenie lies, say the infamous 50 million climate refugees or Kofi Annan’s global warming’s 300,000 deaths per year bogosity, which have been throughly debunked. (C3 Headlines)

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Posted in EPA, Green scams, Pollution, Propaganda, Rubber room

Seasonal spitballing about “vertical agriculture” has arrived – what a pity inputs must be commensurate with outputs…

Posted on July 24, 2011 | 2 Comments

Can Urban Agriculture Feed a Hungry World?
By Fabian Kretschmer and Malte E. Kollenberg

Agricultural researchers believe that building indoor farms in the middle of cities could help solve the world’s hunger problem. Experts say that vertical farming could feed up to 10 billion people and make agriculture independent of the weather and the need for land. There’s only one snag: The urban farms need huge amounts of energy. (Spiegel)

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Posted in Agriculture

Should this have read: “stressed kids demonstrate reduced lung function”?

Posted on July 24, 2011 | Leave a comment

It’s not clear “pollution” is a key determinant here. “Stressed parents” offer a world of confounding factors (can’t meet the rent, provide nutritious meals, afford basic heating/cooling… ?).

Parents’ stress tied to pollution’s effect on kids

Children living in high-stress households are more vulnerable to lung damage from traffic pollution than children whose parents are less stressed out, according to the results of a new study. (Reuters Health)

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Posted in Pollution

Robin McKie tries to pretend he’d recognize science if it leapt up and bit him

Posted on July 24, 2011 | Leave a comment

But promptly demonstrates otherwise with this egregious sequence:

“Most hillocks shrink and disappear until, in the end, you are left with a single towering pinnacle of virtual certitude.” The case of manmade climate change is a good example, adds May.

Manmade climate change is a “single pinnacle of virtual certitude”? Mann-made, we’d believe.

Science and truth have been cast aside by our desire for controversy

Last week’s report into media science coverage highlighted an over-reliance on pointless dispute (Robin McKie, The Observer)

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Posted in Activists, Climate change