[oh8eleven]

Our policy is clear and has been unchanged for thirty years or more: produce little, use lots, and wonder why things never get better.
He's right and it's a shame because the GOP is just as guilty as the Dims.

[A message]

BTTT.

sigh :(

[Rummyfan]

Energy, it seems, is icky.

The left's position in a 'nut'shell! They don't even want windmills spoiling their local vistas!

[The_Republican]

Great Post!

Great Article!

President should borrow some for tomorrow night!

[NonValueAdded]

Wow, that is positively Steynian writing! Great piece!

[subterfuge]

we will continue to live in a fantasy world in which we do not develop our own oil, coal, gas, hydropower, wind power or nuclear and instead dream about hydrogen and ethanol and solar

Pretty well sums it all up right there. There are some pretty funny lines in the article though. thanks.

[TheCrusader]

"Our policy is clear and has been unchanged for thirty years or more: produce little, use lots, and wonder why things never get better."

Doesn't this also pertain to every other product we Americans use? It's all about international trade and one-worldism. Whether Bill O'Reilly's thoughts or yours are the closest to the truth, you just can't get away from the fact that it's the few controlling the lives of the many.

[PogySailor]

Man, that's a good article.

[MonroeDNA]

Communists never sleep. They are behind the anti-energy movement.

[antiRepublicrat]

Expensive and impractical in most places, so it’s currently a favorite. It would be perfect for providing electricity to isolated areas -- a market that could fuel the development and practicality of the technology for use elsewhere.

Still not a favorite in scales that matter. Solar Two can pump 10 megawatts on average, and actually supplies power 24 hours a day, and it's only a technology test bed. But it takes several acres of land covered with mirrors and has a huge tower and a couple of big tanks in the middle of it, so the environuts aren't too happy.

A cool side benefit is that Sandia (which runs Solar Two) has used the mirror array to heat-test things for the DoD, and cooperation with the military is a definite no-no for the environuts.

Speaking of that, when these things go online, computer security should be paramount. Imagine some one hacking in to redirect the mirror array's multi-megawatt beam at a low-flying airplane. Okay, inverse square says at 20,000 feet the beam wouldn't be nearly as strong, but it could still be damaging.

[dirtboy]

A fine bit of satire.

[citizen]

Excellent article. We've been trying to drill in ANWR for, what, two decades? I despise liberal whackos.

[talleyman]

Great post!

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

The Chinese (amongst others) are developing "pebble-bed modular reactors (PBMR). These are inherently safe; and, being modular, can be scaled to any size. The modules would be mass produced -- greatly reducing the cost of construction.

The US is doing some research; but the Chinese have the big edge -- they won't broker any opposition.

http://web.mit.edu/pebble-bed

[Dog Gone]

But America will not pursue nuclear energy, any more than it will drill for its own oil.

Oh, but it will.

Projected global energy demand will require the discovery of 87 new Saudi Arabias to supply the energy required by 2100. Think we'll discover even one? 20?

What will make up the shortfall? Not corn, not windmills, not anything. Except nuclear.

America has vast deposits of uranium, and if someone would reverse Commie Carter's Executive Order forbidding breeder reacters it wouldn't matter anyway.

America is going to have that discussion about nuclear power. It has no choice.

[neverdem]

The Counterrevolution in Military Affairs

Melanie Phillips: Hamastan

Study Ties Political Leanings to Hidden Biases

From time to time, I’ll ping on noteworthy articles about politics, foreign and military affairs. FReepmail me if you want on or off my list.

[G.Mason]

Mac ought to run for Congress. He, like they, has all the questions and none of the answers.

Don't ask, because I will tell you.

[traviskicks]

Some stories that generally follow the theme of this article:
http://www.neoperspectives.com/gasoline_and_government.htm

[2ndreconmarine]

Superb article.

Thanks for the post and for the ping.

Excellent observations by many posters too!!

He should have made the argument against solar, stronger, though.

Solar heating works because the 2nd Law of Thermo allows essentially 100% efficiency. However, solar produced electricity is limited in efficiency. Because the produced energy density is low, there is a very high recirculating energy.

In order to make 1 silicon solar cell that will produce 10 kjoules of energy over its lifetime, you need 5-6 kjoules of energy to make the damn thing. You spend all your money and energy making more silicon cells... and very little net energy.

That is why solar is so expensive. Moreover, the advertised cost of solar is much below the true cost. They base the cost on cheap energy from oil to produce the cells. It is not a self consistent calculation.

Nuclear is the only way to go.

[Tolik]

Nailed It!

This ping list is not author-specific for articles I'd like to share. Some for the perfect moral clarity, some for provocative thoughts; or simply interesting articles I'd hate to miss myself. (I don't have to agree with the author all 100% to feel the need to share an article.) I will try not to abuse the ping list and not to annoy you too much, but on some days there is more of the good stuff that is worthy of attention. You can see the list of articles I pinged to lately  on  my page.
You are welcome in or out, just freepmail me (and note which PING list you are talking about). Besides this one, I keep 2 separate PING lists for my favorite authors Victor Davis Hanson and Orson Scott Card.