In the Pipeline: 12/7/12

This is all run by affordable, reliable electricity brought to you by hydrocarbons.  Sometimes by nuclear power. Slate (12/7/12) reports: “So it turns out the Internet really is a series of tubes. Last October, for the first time ever, Google posted dozens of rare photographs inside and around its data centers revealing the absurd level of organization, energy, and design that goes into powering some of the largest, most powerful systems plugged into the Internet.”

It’s probably easier to fool the Nobel Committee than the entire marketplace. Watts Up With That (12/6/12) reports: “Is green energy a fad that has run its course? The investment community seems to think so. RENIXX® World, the Renewable Energy Industrial Index of the world’s top green energy companies, hit an all-time low below 146 on November 21, down more than 90 percent from the December 2007 peak.”

In truly breaking news, elected officials are hesitant to steal money from the people to build wind farms.  The cowards!Bloomberg (12/5/12) reports: “Norway put development of its first planned offshore wind farm on hold until further notice, with the company involved citing a lack of political support, a setback in European efforts to boost renewable energy production.”

When is Senator Whitehouse going to debate Senator Inhofe on climate change?  Because it would be fun to watch Oklahoma crush Rhode Island. GlobalWarming.org (12/6/12) reports: “In a fiery speech yesterday, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) ”calls out” “climate deniers.” In the first half of the speech he goes ad hominem, attacking opponents as “front groups” who take payola from “polluters” to “confuse” the public by selling “doubt” as their product.”

Well now, this is a good example of why academics are not usually asked to do survey research for political campaigns.Brookings (12/5/12) reports: “Economists of nearly all methodological and ideological stripes concur that the best way to attempt to stave off the worst impacts of climate change is through some form of taxation on the carbon content of fossil fuels. This idea has been around for a long time. Its latest manifestation includes some form of carbon tax in order to raise government revenue as part of a grand bargain to avoid the pending fiscal cliff.”

So it turns out that the Chinese are no more stupid than Americans. Automotive News China (12/7/12) reports: “With a generous array of incentives, China’s government expected to turn the country into the world’s biggest market for electrified vehicles… It hasn’t happened, and the goal is starting to look like “Mission: Impossible.”… Complete sales figures for EVs and plug-in hybrids are unavailable. But data from various sources help us to gauge the situation.”

Canada, like Obama with Keystone XL, finds $30 B of F-35s made in the USA “not in the national interest.” Maybe Lockheed Martin can make it up selling bioenergy. Ottawa Citizen (12/6/12) reports: “The F-35 jet fighter purchase, the most persistent thorn in the federal government’s side and the subject of a devastating auditor-general’s report last spring, is dead.”

The following think tank chiefs are opposed to a carbon tax.  The list to date follows.  If your guy is not on the list, it is because he either favors a carbon tax, wants to retain the option of favoring a carbon tax at some point in the future, or has yet to contact us.

Tom Pyle, American Energy Alliance / Institute for Energy Research
Myron Ebell, Freedom Action
Phil Kerpen, American Commitment
Fred Smith, Competitive Enterprise Institute
Andrew Quinlan, Center for Freedom and Prosperity
Tim Phillips, Americans for Prosperity
Joe Bast, Heartland Institute
David Ridenour, National Center for Public Policy Research
Michael Needham, Heritage Action for America
Tom Schatz, Citizens Against Government Waste
Grover Norquist, Americans for Tax Reform
Sabrina Schaeffer, Independent Women’s Forum
Barrett E. Kidner, Caesar Rodney Institute
George Landrith, Frontiers of Freedom