Free Republic

Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst presented her monthly squeal award — which recognizes a wasteful Washington expense — to the Biden administration and specifically White House Climate Envoy John Kerry for officials’ fossil-fueled overseas trips to lecture the world on climate. After world leaders convened in Egypt for the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP27), Ernst, along with Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton and West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, requested the Government Accountability Office (GAO) track the amount of greenhouse gas emissions from the Biden administration’s travel to the conference. The GAO report was inconclusive because...

The Scottsbluff, Nebraska 5.2 MW Community Solar project was part of the NPPD’s Sunwise program that consisted of an array has over 14,000 solar panels. It’s reported that it had been put into operation in 2019. Surely the project had been ceremoniously put into operation, with dignitaries and proponents proclaiming it would reliably deliver cheap and clean energy, reduce the state’s carbon footprint and contribute to a bright and climate-friendly future. Now it has been just recently reported that the multimillion dollar solar energy park was literally reduced to a heap of rubble as hail literally pummeled it to a...

In the world of all things wonderful and green, the biggest push has been to hasten the demise of the internal combustion engine and the chirpiest assessments have been how EVs will save the planet. From California to New York state to the federal government and internationally, the powers that be have been on a tear to declare the ICE deadly and obsolete, while the EV in all its incarnations is the future. Perhaps the bloom is coming off of that overly optimistic and premature rose. Some EV business models aren’t motoring along as well as previously anticipated, even with...

New problems undermine the country’s old playbook as manufacturing powerhouse.. Europe’s largest nation and its main growth engine has become the biggest drag on its economy. ... In past economic crises, Germany could rely on its factories to pull it out of any recession by tapping the world’s insatiable demand for made-in-Germany products. But a mixture of short-term and structural problems means this is no longer the case. ... A sharp rise in energy prices last year made producing goods more expensive. And with inflation and interest rates up around the world, foreign consumers can’t always afford the higher price...

French President Emmanuel Macron has suggested the imposition of a global taxation system in order to subsidise the green agenda to mitigate climate change. Speaking at the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact in Paris on Friday, Mr Macron argued that actions from individual governments would be insufficient to deal with the alleged armageddon set to descend upon the world and therefore a new international taxation framework should be established.

Siemens Energy announced Thursday that it will be undergoing a technical review after it was found that up to 30% of its wind turbines could have faulty components, according to statements made by the company. Siemens Energy, an international energy company that seeks to “decarbonize global energy systems,” announced that it is withdrawing its profit guidance for the year after subsidiary Siemens Gamesa found that there was a “substantial increase in failure rates of wind turbine components.” The company believes that between 15% and 30% of its installed fleets are suffering from component failures, Jochen Eickholt, CEO of Siemens Gamesa,...

Ruzycki Farms in Jones was the site of a possible chemical attack Tuesday, leaving much of the produce grown there dying or unsellable. The farm’s owner Michael Ruzycki believes his crop was targeted with some kind of herbicide. The chemical damage will possibly lead to over $100,00 in lost revenue for the Ruzycki family based on estimates from their typical revenues off their subscription service, where people pre-order produce. Ruzycki Farms is a local chemical-free farm, growing crops while also running a store, year-round public market and produce picking events in Jones. Ruzycki also provides produce for several local restaurants....

If a bill banning the use of fossil fuels in the creation of green energy projects were to become law, it would be the end of renewable energy. There’s no feasible way to manufacture and transport wind turbines, solar panels and electric vehicles without fossil fuels. New York state Sen. George Borrello, R-Wyoming County, has introduced a bill to require that all wind turbines, solar collectors and infrastructure for producing green energy be manufactured and constructed without the use of fossil fuels. His bill would also apply to the manufacture and distribution of electric vehicles. If the bill were to...

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Wednesday pushed the Green New Deal on Twitter Wednesday in reaction to record-hot temperatures in Puerto Rico and wildfire smoke from Canada overwhelming U.S. East Coast cities, saying the world is "unprepared" for the "climate crisis." "Between NYC in wildfire smoke and this in PR, it bears repeating how unprepared we are for the climate crisis," the Democrat from New York stated Wednesday "We must adapt our food systems, energy grids, infrastructure, healthcare, etc ASAP to prepare for what’s to come and catch up to what is already here," she said.

Inflicting heavy fines on developers of a project billed as supplying clean, renewable energy, a federal jury has awarded a couple in southwest Georgia $135.5 million after runoff from “Lumpkin Solar” severely polluted waters and soils on their rural property. According to a lawsuit filed by Shaun and Amie Harris, Lumpkin Solar’s developers – after clearing about 1,000 acres of timberland, farmland, and land previously used for hunting and fishing – failed to install adequate measures for erosion and sediment control. “The result is what one would expect – when it rained, pollution poured downhill and downstream onto the neighbors’...

Consumer advocate: New Biden regulations mean ‘Everyday things that people want are going to get more expensive or disappear' ... A pledge by the Biden administration in December 2022 to take “more than 100 actions” to impose significantly tighter environmental standards on consumer goods is now becoming reality, and consumer groups are predicting a future in which Americans pay more for products that do less, while manufacturers warn of shortages and supply chain breakdowns. “You’re seeing, just in the last few months, new rules from the Biden administration about clothes washers, dishwashers, and other kinds of kitchen appliances, and in...

The left-wing Labour Party is reportedly prepping plans to ban all new oil and gas developments in the North Sea and only provide loans and investments to so-called green projects. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who is widely predicted to become the next prime minister of the United Kingdom, is set to make the green agenda a central feature of his pitch to voters in the upcoming general election.

In an advance that could deliver a constant stream of sustainable electricity, scientists have developed Air-gen, a device that uses a natural protein to create electricity from air moisture.

Fresh on the heels of a sensible request by France to pause new green regulations comes an even stronger pushback in Germany. ... Last week it was President Macron who was rowing back on green measures. In a speech he asserted that Europe has, for now, gone far enough – if it introduces any more regulations without the rest of the world following suit then it will put investment at risk and harm the economy. This week, the European People’s Party – a centre right grouping which includes the German Christian Democrats, the party of Commission President Ursula von der...

On Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Steve Rattner, who served as counselor to the Treasury Secretary in the Obama administration, and currently serves as the show’s Economic Analyst, acknowledged that, according to estimates by both the government and the private sector, the green provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act are going to cost hundreds of billions of dollars more than originally estimated.

With a hotter than usual summer projected, federal agencies are warning utilities of an "elevated risk" of power outages across two-thirds of North America between June and September. Hope is a powerful energy, but it won’t keep the air conditioner on when summer temperatures soar and demand for electricity skyrockets, causing an overburdened electrical grid to grind to a stop. Yet that seems to be the Biden administration’s plan in addressing warnings that nine North American regional electrical grids face an “elevated risk” of power outages this summer, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Commissioner Mark Christie maintains. “I take it...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) tweeted Thursday that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) wanted to see Rep. Jamal Bowman (D-NY) lynched like Emmett Till after she claimed Bowman made her feel threatened. Greene complained about Bowman after he confronted her on the steps of the Capitol Wednesday, saying he had been “aggressive” and that he had previously called her a “white supremacist.” Video of the confrontation went viral, and appeared to show Bowman interrupting Greene to urge Republicans to expel Rep George Santos (R-NY). Rep. Jamaal Bowman and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene outside the Capitol after George Santos had press...

Saindy Pyles thought she was going to die with her baby son, Liam, clutched to her chest as she flew home to Wichita from Miami after photographing a wedding. Midway through the flight Pyles said smoke filled the cabin after she saw sparks and fire burst from a bag in the seat directly behind her. "Honestly, I thought we were going to die," she said. "I looked and all I saw was flashes, just like flashes. I'm like, 'Oh my God, like, what is that?' And [the owner of the bag] is like, 'I don't know. I don't know.'" "Then...

The rationale offered is that cooperating with the Net Zero agenda will buy some time for traditional energy producers. I understand that there is pressure concerning quarterly financial disclosures, but appeasement will only end one way. The time is coming when your upcoming quarterly financial reports will be your last. Efforts to go along to get along will not be enough It's best to spend that money not trying to appease the perpetually outraged and instead spend that money trying to win the battle in public and in court.

It’s obvious to any person with the faculty of critical thinking that intermittent renewable “green” energy will never work to power a modern economy. So as various U.S. states and foreign countries press forward on their crash programs to go fully “green” with their electricity generation, the next obvious question immediately arises: who will be first to hit the green energy “wall”? That is, which state or country will be the first to find that without enough reliable generation its electricity system no longer works? And how will that impact the population? In previous posts I have examined the progress...