Serbia’s Last Stand Against The Central Powers I THE GREAT WAR – Week 68
12 Nov 2022 Leave a comment
in defence economics, war and peace Tags: World War I
Wicked Waste: Nothing to Show From $3.8 Trillion Squandered On Intermittent Wind & Solar
11 Nov 2022 Leave a comment
The wild claims about wind and solar replacing, coal, gas and nuclear power don’t stand first contact with reality.
Over the last 20 years, trillions of dollars have been squandered on subsidies, tax breaks, mandates, penalties, and other state-directed efforts to make chaotically intermittent wind and solar serious contenders on the world energy scene. Their combined contribution to world energy demand remains thoroughly underwhelming, as John Hinderaker highlights below.
$3.8 Trillion for Essentially Nothing
Powerline
John Hinderaker
26 October 2022
Jeff Currie, who is Global Head of Commodities Research for Goldman Sachs, describes the utter futility of “green” energy:
Here’s a stat for you, as of January of this year. At the end of last year, overall, fossil fuels represented 81 percent of overall energy consumption. Ten years ago, they were at 82. So though, all of that investment in renewables, you’re talking about $3.8 trillion, let me repeat that…
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How Old is Health Care?
11 Nov 2022 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of media and culture, health economics
Henry VII’s Pretenders: A Game of Thrones
11 Nov 2022 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of media and culture Tags: British history
How Ukraine Forced Russia’s Retreat in Kherson
11 Nov 2022 Leave a comment
in defence economics, war and peace Tags: Ukraine
Gas Demand Driven By Need to ‘Back Up’ Wind & Solar Using Fast-Start Gas Turbines
09 Nov 2022 Leave a comment
Before the obsession with intermittent wind and solar took hold, gas was rarely used to generate electricity if coal, nuclear or hydro sources were available. Gas-fired electricity, in the main, was simply too expensive, by comparison with coal-fired power.
Coal-fired generators are designed to run around-the-clock. Wind turbines and solar panels only run according to the dictates of the weather and, in the latter case, where the Sun sits in the sky.
The crazy and chaotic intermittency inherent in wind and solar has created a place for Open Cycle Gas Turbines and even piston-engined diesels, of the kind used in oceangoing vessels.
Both are referred to as ‘peakers’ in the electricity generation trade, because they’re designed to run for short bursts to pick up peaks in the load (ie rapid increases in demand). Their running costs are such that they were only ever meant to run at the margins…
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Sweden was right
09 Nov 2022 Leave a comment
It turns out all the panic mongers were wrong. Lockdowns etc worked worse than the Swedish approach, even without taking into account all the long term damage to life expectancy, educational outcomes, economic prosperity that the authoritarian states incurred.
As of reporting date June 19th 2022, of all the countries analysed by theOECD, Sweden has the lowest overall cumulative excess deaths tally.
And New Zealand took all that pain for long term damage rather than gain.
Reappointing Orr
09 Nov 2022 Leave a comment
Yesterday’s announcement from the Minister of Finance that he was reappointing Adrian Orr as Governor of the Reserve Bank was not unexpected but was most unfortunate. I was inclined to think another commentator (can’t remember who, so as to link to) who reckoned that it may have been Robertson’s worst decision in his five years in office was pretty much on the mark.
When Orr was first appointed, emerging out of a selection process kicked off by the Reserve Bank’s Board while National had still been in office, it seemed to me it was the sort of appointment that could have gone either way. I captured some of that in the post I wrote the day after that first appointment was announced, and rereading that post last night it seemed to at least hint at many of the issues that might arise and come to render the appointment problematic at…
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