Yale pumps out a lot of uninformed spokespeople and the numbers they spew are gross. 7 million people die annually from the burning of fossil fuels? Show us the real evidence. It would be very entertaining to move all the anti fossil fuel people to their own little place and let them make a go of it. The majority of Americans don’t want to reduce our energy consumption and lower our health and wealth. The subsidies are disgraceful. Time to end this nonsense. Great job rebutting his bogus claims.
I grew up in Gaylord. I saw in a Thomas Shepstone post the DNR is selling/leasing 400 acres in Hayes Township for a solar farm. Crazy! The approval by a 3 person committee forces this? From a few buddies still there that say the Township can’t even vote it down. Man, talk about scary.
I did see that. I have an editorial in the works (editing now) and hope to submit it to The Detroit News tomorrow.
You're correct that the township doesn't have any say. The MPSC has now been given the final say over siting decisions for major solar and wind projects. What the towns or counties want no longer matters. When Barack Obama said that "elections have consequences," he was spot on.
Dave, apologies for my delayed response. That claim about people dying from fossil fuels is based on very weak research that claims particulate matter is causing early deaths. The best rebuttal of that nonsense that I have seen is Steve Milloy's work. He writes at www.junkscience.com and his book "Scare Pollution" an excellent read - https://a.co/d/ihlD45U.
Nicely done, sir. The title of your essay, "Decarbonization or Dependability," seems to really ask, which matters most? Do we want to "save the planet" from some future catastrophe that may or may not happen, or do we want electricity for our TV sets to tell us what is happening right up to the bitter end?
I'm an engineer; I respect data, hard and direct evidence, and understand risk. The physics of renewables cannot be altered; they will forever be an intermittent source of power. The technology to balance that intermittency does not exist at the scale needed to power global economies. To replace affordable, reliable fuel sources with intermittent resources is little more than rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. No amount of subsidies, academic research, or wishful thinking is going to change those physics.
The best plan the wind and solar advocates have devised so far is overbuilding to maximize the amount of electricity that they can produce during good conditions. However, this requires massive amounts of batteries or pumped hydro storage (which increases the costs), and when they overproduce, they are curtailed (and paid to sit still). This is hugely inefficient and wasteful.
Below is a sad story of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and the demise of coal fired generation for their grid since 2019. Put another log on the fire! As good Michiganians the temporary solution is RICE(rotating Internal combustion engines, usually diesel by Detroit Diesel).
Yale pumps out a lot of uninformed spokespeople and the numbers they spew are gross. 7 million people die annually from the burning of fossil fuels? Show us the real evidence. It would be very entertaining to move all the anti fossil fuel people to their own little place and let them make a go of it. The majority of Americans don’t want to reduce our energy consumption and lower our health and wealth. The subsidies are disgraceful. Time to end this nonsense. Great job rebutting his bogus claims.
I grew up in Gaylord. I saw in a Thomas Shepstone post the DNR is selling/leasing 400 acres in Hayes Township for a solar farm. Crazy! The approval by a 3 person committee forces this? From a few buddies still there that say the Township can’t even vote it down. Man, talk about scary.
I did see that. I have an editorial in the works (editing now) and hope to submit it to The Detroit News tomorrow.
You're correct that the township doesn't have any say. The MPSC has now been given the final say over siting decisions for major solar and wind projects. What the towns or counties want no longer matters. When Barack Obama said that "elections have consequences," he was spot on.
I wrote about that here - https://www.mackinac.org/viewpoints/2024/were-not-experts-says-state-agency-given-authority-over-placement-of-wind-and-solar-energy-installations
Was he ever more correct! I am however, looking for the health care plan I was supposed to be able to keep…..
Dave, apologies for my delayed response. That claim about people dying from fossil fuels is based on very weak research that claims particulate matter is causing early deaths. The best rebuttal of that nonsense that I have seen is Steve Milloy's work. He writes at www.junkscience.com and his book "Scare Pollution" an excellent read - https://a.co/d/ihlD45U.
No worries. My refute is we’d probably almost all die now without fossil fuels!
💯% (and not probably). Natural gas feeds half of humanity.
https://www.mackinac.org/blog/2023/natural-gas-feeds-half-of-humanity
Nicely done, sir. The title of your essay, "Decarbonization or Dependability," seems to really ask, which matters most? Do we want to "save the planet" from some future catastrophe that may or may not happen, or do we want electricity for our TV sets to tell us what is happening right up to the bitter end?
I'm an engineer; I respect data, hard and direct evidence, and understand risk. The physics of renewables cannot be altered; they will forever be an intermittent source of power. The technology to balance that intermittency does not exist at the scale needed to power global economies. To replace affordable, reliable fuel sources with intermittent resources is little more than rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. No amount of subsidies, academic research, or wishful thinking is going to change those physics.
Barry, apologies for the delayed response. Thanks for the note. I agree 100%. You can't change the nature of wind and solar. They are intermittent and inherently unreliable. Even their strongest proponents have had to admit that they are "reliably unreliable." (I wrote about that during the Winter Storm Uri blackouts in Texas - https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2021/02/22/renewable-energy-part-cause-texas-blackouts-column/6772677002/).
The best plan the wind and solar advocates have devised so far is overbuilding to maximize the amount of electricity that they can produce during good conditions. However, this requires massive amounts of batteries or pumped hydro storage (which increases the costs), and when they overproduce, they are curtailed (and paid to sit still). This is hugely inefficient and wasteful.
Below is a sad story of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and the demise of coal fired generation for their grid since 2019. Put another log on the fire! As good Michiganians the temporary solution is RICE(rotating Internal combustion engines, usually diesel by Detroit Diesel).
https://mi-psc.my.site.com/sfc/servlet.shepherd/version/download/068cs00000Pgv0NAAR?lctg=6617f6c95ebd57af8302295b&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletter_morning_briefing%202024-12-27&utm_term=Newsletter_morning_briefing