While the total ban on incandescents was averted, the old reliable ‘heat-ball’ is still nearing extinction in the US. When we rang in this new year, January 1st, 2013 began, the ban on the 75 Watt incandescent bulb.
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Energy
This will drive the Greenies at TreeHugger nuts!
Over at Breitbart is a post with this headline: “Coal Use Set To Surpass Oil In A Decade: IEA“. I used to go over and post comments over at TreeHugger, as regular readers of the ‘Grok know, and bring the Lefty Enviro-wacko stream of consciousness back here just so that you see what the mindset is (which is, pretty much, you all HAVE to get with our program to save GAIA from our destructive ways). Smaller is better, and that less is best. Pretty much, everyone needs to be shoved into tiny apartments into urban areas because, after all, we have to be conscious firstly and always with the energy we are using and the carbon footprint we are using to stomp on future generations lives. And of course, “white European Developed Nation Guilt” plays a large role in their sackcloth living mantra. Betcha there’s much wailing and rending of said sackcloth at this:
Coal is set to surpass oil as the world’s top fuel within a decade, driven by growth in emerging market giants China and India, with even Europe finding it hard to cut use despite pollution concerns, according to a report published Tuesday.
Wither Thee A Thermostat – One Example of How Government Can Ruin Your Life
Here is a very good example of why the Government sucks, and why the very nature of the state as a reliever of ills is actually destructive to that very end..
Throughout the entire winter, every winter lately, the temperature in my house is around 63-65 degrees. At night, and when we are out, it is a good bit colder. This is not exactly the most comfortable environment but I have no choice. I cannot afford to keep it warmer so we grab extra sweatshirts and blankets and suck it up.
Now some folks will ask, why can’t you afford it and if not would you be eligible for something like heating aid?
I probably am eligible, but it is the governments own fault that I would even need to be eligible in the first place so that is not the kind of aid I want or need.
The Laundry Bill Comes Due (Bumped)
[Bumped: Given that Maggie Hassan is so proud to have sponsored this tax, I figured I’d revisit this post from September 30th]
Originally posted September 30th
The New Hampshire Sunday News has delivered what can only be called the dropping of the other boot on our necks. I am referring to the impending rate hike by PSNH for state government mandates, including New Hampshire’s participation in the Region Greenhouse Gas Initiative, and the NH Renewable Portfolio Standard.
While rates have crept up for years this is the first real admission (I believe) by a local energy provider, that the time has come to deal with costs driven by the New Hampshire Democrat Parties war on cheap energy. As a result the average rate payer will see their annual bill go up about 50.00 a year, with commercial and government customers paying significantly more, costs that will find their way into your tax bills and the cost of all goods and services, right when you need them the least.
Good Call, Maggie – Higher Electric Rates for NH
From inception, Maggie “The Red” Hassan has been a strong proponent of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the “Cap and Trade” program that New Hampshire participates in with other northeastern states. She was instrumental in its 2008 passing and continues to advocate strongly for this nonsensical government swindle.
On her campaign website, Maggie declares that RGGI is “good for the economy and the environment” and that it can “help our families and businesses save money on their energy costs“.
Aside from the fact that the RGGI revenue stream has been a severe disappointment (which should only disappoint the beneficiaries of it : enviro-tyrants, the Green industry, and big-government types looking to fill deficits), PSNH recently made a statement that effectively nullifies the argument that RGGI will reduce rates for consumers and businesses.
Ask New Hampshire Democrats…About Gas Prices
Nothing says ‘we have no principles whatsoever’ like a crowd of screeching banshees gone silent when the shoe is on the other foot. If you’ve failed to notice, this happens to Democrats often, and no example is more prominent than gas prices.
Data Point – Data for Grid Parity for Solar PV keeps going into the future
(H/T: Business Insider)
I have said often that I am not against Solar Energy – I bought a solar hot water heater and solar hot air solar collectors (home heating). But I paid a pretty penny for them and once the subsidies dried up, so did the companies that could no longer service the companies. BI pulls from another source for this chart – Catherine Wood of AllianceBernstein:
The coming of grid parity keeps receding into the distance like a desert mirage. Over the last six years, executives at solar energy firms and their consultants have projected repeatedly that solar energy will reach grid parity—become cost competitive with other power sources—in three to five years—only to push its expected time of arrival further into the future…
…To understand the concept of grid parity, imagine you’re an electric power company executive poised to invest in new generating capacity. You can invest in any technology you want, using any kind of fuel. All you care about is whether the net cash flow from selling the electricity would provide a reasonable return on invested capital. Your first order of business would be to see what price you’d have to charge for the electricity you produce to justify the investment.
Today, you’d need to charge $375 per megawatt hour to justify investment in new solar equipment—nearly four times the average US retail price of electricity. That’s why solar energy requires steep subsidies.
Data Point – US Energy Production as a ratio of US Energy Consumption
(H/T: Business Insider)
Environmentalists who love crony capitalism
Because they can’t stand seeing their fellow citizens ignoring their bleats of “You shouldn’t do that” in some cases (like, you know, use electricity to live a modern lifestyle, or be allowed to drive a car that can, like, you know, can actually hold all of your family members and the grocery bags needed to feed them for a week – in 1 trip). So, they’ve convinced elected politicians (or increasingly, the unelected bureaucrats that doing the pols’ job). They certainly are in favor in taking away choice in little ways as in what kind of light bulbs you may purchase.
And when it comes to industries they like, like all things green, they are bound and determined not to let “green go dark” simply because the Free Market hates their ideas. From that ever amusing, ever complaining, bastion of Watermelon Environmentalism (otherwise known as TreeHugger), the denizens are complaining about the Federal Venture Capital spigot being turned off (gee, and I thought ALL forms of conservation was good – including conserving our tax dollars!).
This seems about right – but he’s WAY too polite
‘Grok friend Chan over at Weekend Pundit has a quick succinct summary of Barack Hussein Obama’s 4 years: Despite the water-carrying the MSM is doing for Obama, the narrative has been shifting from Romney’s perceived ‘deficiencies’ to Obama’s failures, both foreign and domestic. His Middle East foreign policy has been shown to be a disaster … Read more
Where I Give Lessons on Efficiency to Senator Jeanne Shaheen
New Hampshire Senator Shaheen would like me to sign a petition in support of Senate Bill S1000, a piece of legislation she is sponsoring with Senator Rob Portman. From her email….
While disagreements remain about the right approach to fixing our nation’s energy problems, there are also areas of broad agreement that Congress can act on immediately. Nowhere is that better embodied than in a bill that’s sitting before the Senate, awaiting action: The Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act, S.1000, written by Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Republican Senator Rob Portman of Ohio.
The Shaheen-Portman Act would help make the United States a global leader on the fastest and cheapest method we have for addressing our energy needs, energy efficiency. It encourages more private investment in efficient buildings and manufacturing technologies through low-cost, high-reward programs like strengthening voluntary national model building codes and expanding loan programs to include efficiency upgrades. It gives manufacturers tools for increasing energy efficiency in their supply chain. And it puts the federal government, the single largest user of energy in the country, on track to save taxpayer dollars by using less energy.
There is actually a much faster way to save energy, Senator Shaheen… (and a way we could be much more efficient.)
Where environmentalists explicitly wish no access AT ALL to anyone – and are willing to kill people to enforce it.
I’m not sure if the proper metaphor is “enough rope to hang themselves with” or “let them babble long enough to find out what they really believe. Once again, from that crazy hothouse of Environmentalism meets Totalitarian Murder, TreeHugger. This post’s author is absolutely aghast that our civilization has found just SCADS of high amounts of usable energy and that we’d actually use it:
Consider this: If we’re going to keep temperature rise below 2°C (a figure it increasingly appears is still too high to avoid some serious climate impacts, but it is internationally agreed to), then we have about 565 gigatons more CO2 we can send into the atmosphere over the next four decades or so.
Then consider: The amount of carbon contained in the proven coal, oil and gas reserves of national oil companies and private corporations is about five times higher than this, 2795 gigatons.
In other words, we simply cannot allow that fuel to be extracted and used, if we’re going to preserve the climate in anything like a state we’ve grown accustomed over the recorded history of human civilization.
Notice the hubis that he REALLY thinks that:
- Humans can actually stabilize global temperature.
- Sufficiently number of like minded folks are willing to live stone age lifestyles to make that a reality
- What’s this WE bit on the pronouncement, kimosabe?? I see no crown tipped on your forehead
But that wasn’t even the worst. This guy just just wants us to live poorly; this next guy wants something FAR worse!
GrokTV Event-Granite State Institute of Politics Republican Gov. Debate – Next Four Questions for the Candidates
Continuing on with the questions from the Granite State Institute of Politics Republican Debate featuring Ovide Lamontagne and Kevin Smith, here are the next four questions:
Question 5:
“Got my hair cut. Stylist complained about high gas costs. General thoughts on energy costs?”
Previous Posts:
- Live Stream – GrokTV Event: The Granite State Institute of Politics Republican Gubernatorial Debate
- Recording of the Live Stream – GrokTV Event: The Granite State Institute of Politics Republican Gubernatorial Debate
- GrokTV Event-Granite State Institute of Politics Republican Gov. Debate – Intro Ceremonies and Candidate Opening Remarks
- Question 1: What names are Democrat politicians or others calling you that distort or oversimply what you are about and why are they wrong?
- Question 2: The Commissioner of Employment Security stepped down over fiscal corruption charges. What would you doto insure that ethics return to the Executive Branch?
- Question 3: Salesman-in-Chief; why can’t Jackie Cilley or Maggie Hassan get on the horn and call up CEOs and credibly convince them to create jobs in NH as effectively the way you can?
- Question 4: The Legislature left open the issue of education by the State this past term. Can you discuss what your understanding of the issue is, what its likely and possible impact will be on the State budget and how you would go about addressing it?
Question 6:
Where’d All The CO2 Go?
This is curious. Just when the Global Warming Monkeys we’re complaining about how its totally hot, like…as if we were experiencing, like, Global warming, Ok? OMG! So why is it so damn hot if US CO2 emissions from energy are nearing their lowest since 1991…without cap and trade? Could it just be the weather? … Read more
Where Has The Other Senator Ayotte Gone?
Obama’s war on coal is netting some unusual suspects as supporters. New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte, who indicates that she has a history of preventing outside meddling with policy of this nature, voted against a resolution that would have overturned the EPA’s utility MACT rule.
Continuing New Hampshire’s tradition of protecting the state’s environment through commonsense policies, U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) announced today that she voted against a Senate measure that would weaken national Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) for power plants aimed at reducing emissions of toxic air pollutants such as mercury, arsenic and metals.
There are a lot of things that are bad for us, and even if you agree that the DC should do something, there are other factors to consider–unless you happen to be a stooge for the Democrat party and the Green movement in which case adding to the bureaucracy is always job number one.
This rule will add costs and threaten the coal industry, which just happens to be at the top of President Obama kill list. It will probably result in job cuts to that sector, increase energy costs for everyone, and add more hoops and administrative costs, all borne by rate payers, in the midst of a stagnant economy, and for what?
If you wanted America to fail….
From FreeMarketAmerica.org, via Instapundit: “If I wanted America to fail…” [jwplayer mediaid=”22043″]
Regressives hate this energy-producing process
See the “oil pyramid” in the diagram below? Note the 800 billion barrels of “oil shale” reserves. But wait…how the heck do they get oil out of rock? Have you ever wondered exactly how “horizontal drilling” and “hydraulic fracking” is done? It’s a process making the U.S.A. the world’s biggest energy-producer…as in “Saudi Arabia won’t matter … Read more
EPA decides to be both Legislative and Executive Branch – outlaws coal generated electricity
So, where is all that electricity going to come for Obama’s million electric cars?
The proposed rule — years in the making and approved by the White House after months of review — will require any new power plant to emit no more than 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt of electricity produced. The average U.S. natural gas plant, which emits 800 to 850 pounds of CO2 per megawatt, meets that standard; coal plants emit an average of 1,768 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt.
Legislation? What the heck does our Monarch Obama wants to do with that?
What was That Obama Said About Production Being Up?
I think Mr. Obama said something about us drilling more now than before he was president. Drilling for what, Bull S**t? And just to reiterate a point I, and many others, have made previously about “subsidies, tax breaks, and special Federal deals for energy companies, and let me add ‘any’ companies–don’t just stop subsidies for … Read more
Yeah, and if I could turn sand into oil, I could replace up to 100% of our needs…..Oh Wait!
Obama (emphasis mine): “We’re making new investments in the development of gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel that’s actually made from a plant-like substance, algae — you’ve got a bunch of algae out here,” Obama said at the University of Miami [yesterday]. “If we can figure out how to make energy out of that, we’ll be … Read more