Energy Policy Outrage, Part II: ‘Windmills Are Pretty!’

By: Steve Maley (Diary)  |  October 29th at 11:00 AM  | 

Despite the inefficiency, unreliability and poor economics of wind energy, even the biggest skeptic would acknowledge the appeal of the Bird Cuisinart* to anyone interested in the elusive goal of Energy Independence. After all, the wind is free, right? The wind may be free but the magnets required to make electricity from the whirling blades of a windmill are any thing but free. As we | Read More »

Big Bird Learns It’s Not Easy Being Green

By: Steve Maley (Diary)  |  April 4th at 08:13 PM  | 

This is not a post about Sesame Street or the Childrens Television Workshop. No, this is about a literal big bird, a griffon vulture, and its unfortunate failure to maintain separation from a large power-generating windmill in Crete. Let’s got to the videotape. (Not for the squeamish or PETA activists.) Renewable energy proponents want to portray an image of their technology being “free” and “green” | Read More »

One Step Toward Energy Independence (And Three Steps Back)

By: Steve Maley (Diary)  |  March 13th at 12:31 PM  | 

The emotional appeal of the New Green Economy rests on its promise to free us from our addiction to oil. Our carbon-free future envisions a land of Rainbows, Unicorns and Magic Windmills, with a Prius in every garage. Our energy will be as free as the wind; no more will our thirst for petroleum make us slaves to foreign regimes. There’s just one hitch. Green | Read More »