Free Republic

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- How do you invest if you believe man-made global warming is about to decimate the planet? And how do you invest if you think that's a lot of hooey? Most would say those who deny global warming should first bet on coal, oil and gas, but that's no way to make money. If you think your thesis is right, you bet on stocks that go against the other way of thinking. So if you accept the scientific consensus that glaciers are melting, temperatures are warming and we're heading over the environmental cliff, you look to sectors...

The outgoing government in Norway has buried much-vaunted plans to capture carbon dioxide and store it underground amid mounting costs and delays. The oil and energy ministry said the development of full-scale carbon dioxide capture at Mongstad oil refinery had been discontinued. It said it remained committed to research into carbon capture. When the Labour Party presented the plan in 2007, it was hailed as Norway's equivalent of a "Moon landing". Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and his allies lost a general election to conservatives and centrists this month, and are due to step down shortly. Mongstad had already run into...

Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe said in 2009 he "never want[s] another coal plant built,” but in the meantime, he hasn't been above taking money gained through coal investment for his campaign. Tom Steyer, a California-based financier and one of McAuliffe’s wealthiest out-of-state supporters, told his advisers in August to launch climate change television ads via his group, NextGen Climate Action Committee, in Virginia to help turn out the vote for McAuliffe, Politico reported in August. Steyer (pictured, left) said, “I would say there’s a very clear choice on this topic between these two candidates, and I think the citizens...

Many Europeans complain about their high energy costs, largely due to their increasing dependence on renewables — the most costly energy sources. ... This is killing European economies. Electricity costs in Europe are more than double the cost of electricity in the U.S. High electricity costs make it difficult for businesses to operate if they need a lot of electricity.

After the Department of Energy announced this week ithad given up on not-bankrupt-but-should-be Fisker Automotive, and will auction off its loan for a pittance, you’d think (and hope) Congress would have had enough of this kind of thing. Senator John Thune certainly has. “The Obama administration has gotten into the business of picking winners and losers at a significant cost to taxpayers,” said the South Dakota Republican yesterday. “I’m calling for the Senate to consider my amendment to eliminate the wasteful ATVM loan program and for my colleagues to join me in protecting taxpayer dollars from any future risky green...

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: shale gas is fracking green. A new study confirms that natural gas helps decrease greenhouse gas emissions by displacing the much dirtier and more carbon intensive coal. The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin, and it pokes a hole in one of the last gripes greens have about the American shale boom. Prominent greens like Bill McKibben and the misleading documentary filmmaker Josh Fox have criticized fracking for leaking the potent greenhouse gas methane into the atmosphere, nullifying the fact that burning natural gas emits...

Aleo Solar AG, a German solar-module manufacturer that has its U.S. headquarters in Denver, said it will withdraw from the United States immediately. ... the US operation had failed to meet recent sales targets and was not operating profitably

It looks like General Motors is attempting to make up for the money it loses on every Chevy Volt in volume as August sales, spurred by recent price cuts, reached an all-time high of 3,351. The fact that the car has been on the market for about three years and initial much-hyped proclamations from GM would have put sales at 20,000 per month by now goes unrecognized by those that think 3,351 vehicles is a lot of cars to sell in a month. To put the sales in perspective, it took Toyota about 2 ½ days to sell that many...

Syria isn’t the only battle into which President Obama is injecting himself where he doesn’t belong. True, on a global scale, Arizona’s fight over net metering seems insignificant. However, on a personal scale, what is taking place in Arizona’s sunny desert has the potential to directly impact far more Americans than the shots being fired in Syria’s desert. Syria’s conflict is often called a proxy war in that it is an indirect confrontation between superpowers via substitute actors. According to the definition of a proxy war found on the Intro to global security blog, “Modern non-state actors do not necessarily...

As I say, though, the Keystone pipeline will save everyone a lot of money and headaches, and the Canadians are understandably way past impatient with the Obama administration’s eternal dithering. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper actually wrote to President Obama last week, wondering if they mightn’t work out a tit-for-tat of some kind: Prime Minister Stephen Harper has sent a letter to U.S. President Barack Obama formally proposing “joint action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the oil and gas sector,” if that is what’s needed to gain approval of the Keystone XL pipeline through America’s heartland, CBC News has...

Paul Krugman has an interesting piece in the New York Times entitled “Years of Tragic Waste.” I thought for a brief second that Krugman was going to mention the reckless waste by the Obama Administration on green energy initiatives like GM’s VOLT, Solyndra or Fisker. Or high speed rail fantasies. But no. Krugman is whining that Congress and the Administration didn’t waste even MORE money! Take the recent example of VPG. From AP: The Energy Department conceded Friday that the federal government will lose $42 million on a loan to a shuttered Michigan van manufacturer — part of the same...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Energy Department said Friday it will lose about $42 million on a loan to a now-shuttered Michigan company that made vans for the disabled.

Humvee manufacturer AM General paid $3 million at auction to purchase the U.S. Department of Energy‘s loan to Vehicle Production Group, a defunct maker of wheelchair-accessible vans that struggled to meet performance targets and shut down earlier this year. Together with $5 million seized from the company’s accounts in April, that means the DOE recovered just $8 million of the $50 million it loaned VPG back in March 2011 under a government program designed to promote advanced technology vehicles. VPG’s plan was to sell handicapped vans that run on compressed natural gas. Taxpayers also took a loss on the collapse...

Today is a great day not only in Australian history, but also in world history. It marks the day when people of character and sensibility pushed back against an overwrought and pointless green agenda, and pushed back in a big way. They’ve had enough, and they’ve scraped the Krudd off their shoes and are moving forward. Tony Abbot has won the Australian election in a landslide, and vows to abolish the carbon tax as a first order of business. Abbott has declared Australia is “once more open for business” in claiming victory in Saturday’s election. It is a huge blow...

<p>I’ve written before that Obama’s Solyndra-style handouts have been a grotesque waste of tax dollars.</p> <p>I’ve argued that they destroy jobs rather than create jobs.</p> <p>I’ve gone on TV to explain why government intervention in energy creates a cesspool of cronyism.</p> <p>I’ve even shared a column from Obama’s hometown newspaper that criticizes the rank corruption in green-energy programs.</p>

Germany's agressive and reckless expansion of wind and solar power has come with a hefty pricetag for consumers, and the costs often fall disproportionately on the poor. Government advisors are calling for a completely new start. If you want to do something big, you have to start small. That's something German Environment Minister Peter Altmaier knows all too well. The politician, a member of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), has put together a manual of practical tips on how everyone can make small, everyday contributions to the shift away from nuclear power and toward green energy. The so-called Energiewende,...

… The government predicts that the renewable energy surcharge added to every consumer’s electricity bill will increase from 5.3 cents today to between 6.2 and 6.5 cents per kilowatt hour—a 20-percent price hike. German consumers already pay the highest electricity prices in Europe. But because the government is failing to get the costs of its new energy policy under control, rising prices are already on the horizon. Electricity is becoming a luxury good in Germany, and one of the country’s most important future-oriented projects is acutely at risk. After the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan two and a half years...

The “war on coal” has five new casualties. A lawsuit brought by environmental groups has forced the shutdown of five Indiana coal-fired power plants by 2018, totalling 668 megawatts of power. ... “While today’s settlement is a step in the right direction, more must be done to ensure that Hoosier families are protected from rising energy bills and the enormous health threats posed by Indiana’s reliance on coal-fired power plants,” said Jodi Perras with the Sierra Club’s anti-coal campaign. The Sierra Club and other environmental groups have been targeting coal plants nationwide for retirement, which they say contribute to global...

Just when you thought the Loan Program Office in President Obama’s Department of Energy might put its unused electric auto loan money back in the Treasury coffers, the government investor-crats are going to try to find some takers for the dollars of disrepute that have been tainted by the likes of inoperative, nearly bankrupt Fisker Automotive and Vehicle Production Group. You might remember when we last heard about the condition of this program, it had trouble finding takers for the remaining $16.5 billion or so it had been allocated. According to a March report produced by the Government Accountability Office...

With just weeks to go until state Sen. Angela Giron (D-Pueblo) is set to face voters in an unprecedented recall election triggered by her support for gun control legislation, a new radio ad is targeting the embattled lawmaker for backing an income tax hike and a controversial expansion of a government-imposed energy mandate. “Senator Angela Giron – so disappointing, so out of touch with Pueblo,” a female voice intones in the ad. “When big dollar interest groups pushed for more government energy mandates last spring, Senator Giron stood with them, not Pueblo. The results? Energy analysts promise higher utility bills...