Energy
John Mauldin’s report from an economic conference in Texas doesn’t leave much room for optimism, with its first point being as follows: John Hofmeister is the former president of Shell Oil and now CEO of the public-policy group Citizens for Affordable Energy. He paints a very stark (even bleak, as he gets further into the…
An article about a small-scale windfarm to be completed by spring 2012 offers some numbers and thereby invites readers to do the math: Three, 360-foot tall turbines — the largest in the state — will be built at the Narragansett Bay Commission’s Fields Point Wastewater Treatment Facility. The team for the $12-million project includes Gilbane…
OSPRI’s Bill Felkner has an excellent summary of Rhode Island’s adventures in mandated expensive wind power in the Daily Caller: President Obama recently proposed spending $2 billion for the creation of 5100 green jobs. On government standards, that’s a very thrifty $392,156 per job — a bargain compared to the $2.2 million being proposed in…
Well, the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has reached the decision that the General Assembly and Governor Carcieri all but required it to make, signing off on the expensive contract for an offshore wind farm between Deepwater Wind and National Grid: “It will be four cents a day more,” Carcieri said. “Who wouldn’t be…
A couple of weeks ago, President Obama week showed off an expensive electric car with a short driving range and a nice taxpayer subsidy. On a tangential but important issue, Slate’s Charles Lane is correctly not happy about the latter aspect of this vehicle. … this little runabout is a rich man’s ride. And that’s…
After an excellent description of the process and risks of deep sea oil drilling, Mario Loyola turns political (see PDF here if you don’t subscribe to National Review): What is more startling is that, judging by appearances at least, Obama may be trying to advance his agenda by intentionally causing a fuel shortage. The moratorium…
This so-called “smartgrid” technology is a disaster waiting to happen: The hurried deployment of smart-grid technology could leave critical infrastructure and private homes vulnerable to hackers. Security experts at the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas last week warned that smart-grid hardware and software lacks the necessary safeguards to protect against meddling. Utilities are being…
Don’t these people realize the work that Rhode Island’s leaders have already put into handing a lucrative government contract to a particular wind farm developer? A Canadian company that says it can provide Rhode Island with renewable power at a cheaper price than Deepwater Wind is urging state regulators to stop their review of a…
Rather than simply cut the Public Utilities Commission out of the process of approving an off-shore wind project, the General Assembly, with the enthusiastic assent of Governor Don Carcieri, has effectively permitted the commission a single stamp — a rubber one: The new law changes that measuring stick by dramatically narrowing the window for the…
I am usually willing to give the benefit of the doubt to alternative energy projects, on the grounds that I believe that the development of new energy sources which can help the United States reduce its entanglements with demented foreign governments who happen to sit above fossil fuel reserves is, in general, a good thing.…
