Can We Rely on Wind and Solar Energy?
23 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
in economics, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming Tags: solar power, wind power
Solution aversion and the anti-science Left
11 Mar 2016 1 Comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, health economics, law and economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice Tags: antiscience left, climate alarmism, geo-engineering, GMOs, growth of knowledge, gun control, motivated reasoning, nuclear power, political persuasion, solar power, solution aversion, wind power
Climate science is the latest manifestation of solution aversion: denying a problem because it has a costly solution. The Right does this on climate science, the Left does it on gun control, GMOs, and plenty more. Cass Sunstein explains:
It is often said that people who don’t want to solve the problem of climate change reject the underlying science, and hence don’t think there’s any problem to solve.
But consider a different possibility: Because they reject the proposed solution, they dismiss the science. If this is right, our whole picture of the politics of climate change is off.
Some psychologists wasted grant money on lab experiments to show that people that think the solution to a problem is costly tend to rubbish every aspect of the argument. Any politician will tell you you do not concede anything. Sunstein again:
Campbell and Kay asked the participants whether they agreed with the IPCC. And in both, about 80 percent of Democrats did agree; the policy solutions made no difference.
Republicans, in contrast, were far more likely to agree with the IPCC when the proposed solution didn’t involve regulatory restrictions…
Here, then, is powerful evidence that many people (of course not all) who purport to be skeptical about climate science are motivated by their hostility to costly regulation.
The Left is equally prone to motivated readings. For example, it was found that those on the left are much more concerned about home invasions when gun control can reduce them rather than increase them.
The Left picks and chooses which scientific consensus as it accepts. The overwhelming consensus among researchers is biotech crops are safe for humans and the environment. This is a conclusion that is rejected by the very environmentalist organisations that loudly insist on the policy relevance of the scientific consensus on global warming.
Previously the precautionary principle was used to introduce doubt when there was no doubt. But when climate science turned in their favour, environmentalists wanted public policy to be based on the latest science.
The Right is welcoming of the science of nuclear energy or geo-engineering. The Left rejects it point-blank. Their refusal to consider nuclear energy as a solution to global warming is a classic example of solution aversion. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.
@GreenpeaceUK thinks these wind turbines are a pretty sight
05 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, law and economics, property rights Tags: Big Wind, land use conflicts, visual pollution, wind power
@RusselNorman @JulieAnneGenter a hedge fund specialises in shorting renewable energy shares @Greenpeace
03 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economic history, economics of regulation, energy economics, entrepreneurship, environmental economics, financial economics, global warming Tags: active investing, disinvestment, entrepreneurial alertness, ethical investing, Fossil Fuels, green rentseeking, hedge funds, passive investing, renewable energy, solar power, Vice Fund, wind power
Just as the Vice Fund specialises in investing in tobacco, alcohol, gaming and defence shares, Cool Futures Funds Management is starting-up to specialise in betting against global warming by shorting green stocks:
…instead of renewables being our energy future, they’re betting on the subsidies drying up and the whole industry collapsing; instead of fossil fuels being left in the ground as “stranded assets”.
An example of the nice little earners this hedge fund can come across is anticipating when particular investors will want to disinvest from fossil fuels.
When institutional investors ranging from universities to sovereign investment funds such as the New Zealand Superannuation Fund seek to disinvest from fossil fuels, that will be a good time to buy cheap shares.The
Electricity from new #wind 3x more costly than existing #coal @GarethMP
22 Jan 2016 1 Comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, global warming Tags: power prices, wind power
Wind has exceeded 1% of the world’s energy needs in 2015
21 Jan 2016 Leave a comment
in economic history, energy economics, environmental economics Tags: wind power
@Greenpeace why are German and Danish power prices so high?
24 Dec 2015 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: Big Solar, Big Wind, bootleggers and baptists, climate alarmism, Denmark, Germany, green rent seeking, power prices, solar power, wind power
Is investing in renewable energy a good investment?
21 Dec 2015 Leave a comment
in economic history, energy economics, environmental economics, financial economics Tags: Big Solar, Big Wind, hydroelectric power, renewable energy, solar power, wind power
Is Paris the end of fossil fuel era?
04 Dec 2015 Leave a comment
in economic history, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming Tags: climate alarmism, Fossil Fuels, global warming, nuclear power, renewable energy, solar energy, wind power
The payoff from different energy investments
24 Nov 2015 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics Tags: atomic energy, Big Solar, Big Wind, coal power, nuclear power, solar power, wind power
Solar and wind in India will remain uncompetitive for the next 25 years
21 Nov 2015 Leave a comment
in development economics, energy economics, environmental economics Tags: India, solar energy, wind power
Can We Rely on Wind and Solar Energy?
04 Nov 2015 Leave a comment
in energy economics Tags: Big Solar, Big Wind, green rent seeking, solar power, wind power
The U.S. is consuming more #green energy such as nuclear power
03 Nov 2015 Leave a comment
in economic history, energy economics Tags: gas, nuclear power, Oil prices, renewable energy, solar power, wind power
@GreenpeaceNZ @RusselNorman Can We Rely on Wind and Solar Energy? @NZGreens
02 Nov 2015 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA Tags: Big Solar, Big Wind, bootleggers and baptists, expressive voting, green rent seeking, rational irrationality, renewable energy, solar power, wind power
Is renewable energy the face of the future?
23 Sep 2015 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, global warming Tags: Big Solar, Big Wind, climate alarmists, hydropower, renewable energy, solar power, wind power
EIA Forecast for US Energy Sources to 2040. Fossil fuels will supply >80%, renewables 8%, it's a 'fossil fuel future' http://t.co/B923DH9ncW—
Mark J. Perry (@Mark_J_Perry) June 11, 2015
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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