The high price of magical thinking;

The Danish study finds that the energy technology sector in Denmark from 1999 to 2006 underperformed the broader manufacturing sector in Denmark by an average of 13% in terms of value added, reducing Danish GDP by approximately $270-million compared to what it would have been if the wind sector workforce was employed elsewhere. The Danish Economic Council concluded in a report in 2006: “The wind power expansion in the 1990s is an example of a policy that was unprofitable from society’s point of view, even taking the economic advantages that the wind business enjoyed into consideration.” The Centre for Policy Studies study concludes: “Denmark needs a proper debate and a thorough reappraisal of the technologies that need to be invented, developed, and costed before forcing the country into a venture that shows a high risk of turning into an economic black hole.”

h/t Manotick

With just five words quietly slipped into legislation…

Illinois lawmakers are moving to include tire burning in the state’s definition of renewable energy…

Wait for the howler…

“This is the sort of cynical legislative maneuvering that makes people question the credibility of our elected officials…

Via Tim Blair.

Not just synonyms anymore!

Europe’s emissions trading system was in uproar yesterday amid a mounting scandal over “recycled” carbon permits.
Two carbon exchanges were forced to suspend trading as panic hit investors fearful that they had bought invalid permits.
BlueNext and Nord Pool, the French and Nordic exchanges, suspended trading in certificates of emission reduction (CERs) when it emerged that some had been illegally reused.
[…]
The double counting is threatening confidence in the ETS, according to staff at one energy consultancy. Icis Heren said: “For companies obliged by law to buy carbon credits … government-led carbon credit recycling means they risk buying a worthless asset.”

More…

The question seems to be whether it is the solar collectors that are saving the environment from natural gas or the natural gas that is saving the environment from being blanketed with hundreds of acres of solar collectors.

Chicago Boyz;

Here’s a fact you won’t see mentioned in the public policy debate over “alternative” energy:
There exists no alternative energy source, no combination of alternative energy sources, and no system of combinations of alternative energy sources that can fully replace a single, coal fired electric plant built with 1930s era technology.
Nada.
Zero.
Zilch.
Yet many want to make this group of functionally useless technologies the primary energy sources for our entire civilization.

It’s the math, stupid.

Now is the time at SDA when we juxtapose!
CNN, November 2008 – “There is a delicious irony in seeing private luxury jets flying into Washington, D.C., and people coming off of them with tin cups in their hand, saying that they’re going to be trimming down and streamlining their businesses,” Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-New York, told the chief executive officers of Ford, Chrysler and General Motors at a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee.
Washington Examiner, February 2010 – Electric vehicle maker used private jet to lobby in D.C. a dozen times

The only real problem with wind turbines isn’t their performance record.

Northern New Brunswick’s cold, icy weather is causing wind turbines to freeze and stop producing power at the Caribou Wind Park near Bathurst.

The problem is that people still can’t tell the difference between stuff built to generate power….

Official data recording the performance of half the UK’s onshore turbines revealed the problems caused by a lack of wind during the cold snap. On the coldest day – January 7 – they produced just 5 per cent of their maximum output. On January 9 they produced just 9 per cent, and on two other days the figure was only 10 per cent.

… and stuff built to generate tax subsidies.

“If people see a water tower, they expect it to stand still,” said Wally Wysopal, the city manager of North St. Paul. “If there’s a turbine, they want it to turn.”

h/t Manotick and J.A.

John Kenneth Galbraith:

The affluent…
…A reassement by Theodore Dalrymple…
….When I was young I found him so persuasive. Sure helps to write well.

If we’re the ones doing all the polluting…

Taken near Swanson, SK Feb.7

…how come Toronto has all of the smog?

The Minnesota Municipal Power Association bought 11 turbines for $300,000 apiece.
Each produces enough power for 35 homes!
When it’s waaarm….
h/t Niall

“Will? When? How? How?”

You’d think the giant brains running these corporations could use some of those intellectual gigawatts to come up with their own answers.
You’d also think they’d want to avoid appearances of deception.
Domain Name:CLIMATEAD.ORG
Created On:19-Jan-2010 17:10:17 UTC
Registrant Name:Registration Private
Registrant Organization:Domains by Proxy, Inc.
h/t Eric A.

From Norman’s Spectator:

…

–Another great moment in Canadian journalism

CBC, Post team up to share content (Post)…

X-posted.

Poverty, or, the dial-up alternative.