fossil fuels

Howard Cork Hayden, Emeritus Physics Professor, University of Connecticut: In the 5th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental report on Climate Change (AR5 of the IPCC) it says, "There is high confidence that orbital forcing is the primary external driver of glacial cycles." The implied chain of events is this: 1. Milankovitch cycles change the atmospheric CO2 concentration; 2. CO2 changes then cause temperature changes. To my knowledge, no ‘climate scientist’ in any institution, with any amount of funding, with any amount of computing power available, has ever asked, let alone answered, how this chain of events could happen. By December 2038, we’ll have logged two 30-year-average satellite data points. To alarmists, these very few data points are enough to demand that all use of fossil fuels come to an immediate halt.

Roy Spencer, Ph.D. Meteorology: The total amount of CO2 humans have added to the atmosphere in the last 100 years has upset the radiative energy budget of the Earth by only 1%. How the climate system responds to that small ‘poke’ is very uncertain. Here’s a list of basic climate change questions, and brief answers based upon what I know today.

Charles Battig, M.D. and electrical engineer: Thousands of years of climate adaptation by untold numbers of biological species is now viewed by climate alarmists as an obsolete process, as they assume that the global climate environment has reached its ultimate optimum state of “now.” Weather patterns are now to remain confined to a stable narrow range of not too hot, not too cold. Not too many nor too unusual tornadoes, hurricanes, nor sea level rise lest there be a hint of change. For the “Botoxed generation,” the thing they fear is change itself. Try to change that.

Willie Soon is an astrophysicist, David Legates is a climatologist and professor of geography: When Erik the Red first arrived in Greenland, the fertile land was perfect for farming. Within a few centuries, the thriving Viking settlements had been wiped out by global cooling. The Little Ice Age has been scientifically identified. Since about 1850 the earth has been in a warming period.

What is the role of carbon dioxide in warming? The best available records of temperature and atmospheric CO2 over the past 650,000 years indicate that the earth's temperature always rises first, followed by a rise in carbon dioxide. A warmer earth leads to increased levels of CO2—and not the other way around.

I believe something terrible is about to happen to millions of unsuspecting Americans… Our good fortune of the past 50 years is about to take a major turn, as two inevitable trends careen toward each other, like runaway freight trains on the same track. This collision will bring about some of the most difficult years in American history.

I’ve made three macroeconomic predictions in my 50-year career. All three proved to be right, though I was mocked each time.

My fourth and final prediction should be no different.

Many friends and family disagree with this article. Others strongly agree with it. Michael Shellenberger is an outstanding student, analyst, and speaker / author of key topics about humanity, government, energy, and the environment. He deserves praise for all of his work and for his honesty in changing positions as he learns more.

For several years now, advocates of “decarbonizing” our energy system, along with promoters of wind and solar energy, have claimed that the cost of electricity from the wind and sun was dropping rapidly and either already was, or soon would be, less than the cost of generating the same electricity from fossil fuels.

Ken Gregory came out with a Report at a Canadian website called Friends of Science with the title “The Cost of Net Zero Electrification of the U.S.A.” Gregory provides a tentative number for the additional storage costs that could be necessary for full electrification of the United States system, with all current fossil fuel generation replaced by wind and solar. That number is $433 trillion.

Alex Epstein explains the most fundamental facts about solar and wind energy versus fossil fuels and nuclear power: intermittent, lowest energy density, inadequate energy storage technology, remoteness from urban centers that require large amounts of energy, vast areas of land required, environmental and wildlife destruction. "Greenpeace and others protesting CO2 and global warming, based on a mere BELIEF, like any other religion, is as laughable (if it weren't for their willful and unlawful disruption of honest TAX-PAYING citizens' lives) as demanding the government 'do something' about the length of daylight, or the force of gravity, or the composition of Jupiter.

Europe’s obsession with breezes and sunshine has sent electricity prices rocketing. The average cost of electricity for delivery in the short term soared to record levels in 2021, rising over 200 per cent in Germany, France, Spain, and the UK, largely due to their excessive reliance on wind and solar power.

John Shanahan, Civil Engineer, Editor of allaboutenergy.net: Colorado state and city governments are mandating conversion from fossil fuels to wind and solar based on arguments of catastrophic man-made global warming from carbon dioxide from fossil fuels. There is no man-made catastrophic global warming or sea-level rise. It is mostly, if not all natural. The turning away from fossil fuels will be a man-made disaster of the magnitude never seen before.

Joel Kotkin, contributing editor for City Journal. Described by the New York Times as “America’s uber-geographer,” Joel Kotkin is an internationally-recognized authority on global, economic, political and social trends. He authored The Human City: Urbanism for the Rest of Us. The Left’s fixation on climate change is cloaked in scientism, deploying computer models to create the illusion of certainty. Ever more convinced of their role as planetary saviors, radical greens are increasingly intolerant of dissent or any questioning of their policy agenda. They embrace a sort of “soft Stalinism,” driven by a determination to remake society, whether people want it or not.

John Shanahan, Civil Engineer, Editor of allaboutenergy.net and efn-usa.org: The History Colorado Center in Denver sponsored a fall foliage trip from Denver to the San Luis Valley in south central Colorado with two train rides of early mountain train routes. There were three official tour guides with lots of historical information. The tour guests were invited to add historical and geological information. John Shanahan added information mainly for Pueblo. This city was very important in the development of the west and in contributing to the war effort in WW II. Pueblo did this through energy from coal and steel production. In the United States steel production and use of coal has become very unpopular by groups working to stop use of fossil fuels and heavy industry like steel manufacturing.. They want that done out of sight and care less about environmental impact in Asia. The dominant thinking in Colorado in the Front Range cities is to stop use of fossil fuels and use instead wind and solar energy, a solution that doesn't work for Colorado and most of the world. In preparing this presentation, John Shanahan included important events in Pueblo related to this energy struggle. We hope you enjoy this photo essay about the history of Colorado and its mountain and biological beauty.

David Wojick, Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow, CFACT, Washington, D.C., Ph.D. Philosophy of Science and Mathematical Logic, B.Sc. Civil Engineering: The Green New Deal has two features which, taken together, will make it a nightmare for Democrats in the upcoming national elections. First, it is a wonderful wish list of goals the Democrats hold dear. But second, the actions it calls for are impossible. In particular, they would be impossibly expensive, even for tax-and-spend Democrats. The Green New Deal is simply preposterous. This unholy combination sets up a dilemma for every Democrat candidate, for the Presidency, House or Senate. The problem is that every Democrat candidate will have to declare whether or not they endorse the Green New Deal.