Recent industry-wide solar panel defects are causing an uncomfortable stir amongst renewable energy advocates and investors.[1] That is, except for one Jenya Meydbray, co-founder and CEO of PV Evolution Labs. Meydbray claims that recent solar panel failures are run-of-the-mill quality control speed bumps of the kind all industries face when manufacturing and testing products. Yet, the fact that many of these ventures have inevitably received public support is cause for concern, and calls...
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Say your prayers and do your penance, the end is coming. The Wall Street Journal (6/18/13) reports: “Consider the meaning in contemporary jargon of the famous carbon footprint that we all leave behind us. What is it, after all, if not the gaseous equivalent of Original Sin, of the stain that we inflict on our Mother Gaia by the simple fact of being present and breathing? We can all gauge the volume of our emissions, day after day, with the injunction to curtail them, just as children...

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We have the resources, the capital, the innovators, and the technology, but do we have the policy?  Energy Guardian  (6/17/13) reports: “The strength of the American manufacturing renaissance has become a hot debate topic, with some experts contending it is more hype than reality, especially as job growth remains slow in the industrial heartland. That skepticism is unwarranted, says American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers President Charles T. Drevna. With the revolution in shale gas...
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The ironic thing in the debate over carbon policies is that opponents of massive new federal taxes and regulations don’t need to go to obscure websites or ideological Think Tanks to get their talking points. On the contrary, those of us who are very wary of giving the government more power over the entire energy sector (and hence economy itself) just need to quote verbatim from the supporters of such policies. For example, the White House recently updated its estimate of the “social...
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After all, we’re just on a big hamster wheel at the Obama administration’s service. Daily Caller  (6/13/13) report: “The White House raised its estimates of the social cost of carbon dioxide emissions from $21 per metric ton to $35 per metric ton, but critics say that there is ‘little ‘science’ behind the whopping numbers.’… ‘The ‘social cost of carbon’ is a very malleable concept that can be inflated or deflated by turning certain wheels,’ Institute for Energy...
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If complete control of a market is called a monopoly, what do you call mandated control of a market...? The Renewable Fuel Standard. PoliticoPro  (6/11/13) reports: Sen. Tom Coburn used the nomination hearing for Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs nominee Howard Shelanski to rip into EPA’s renewable fuels standard…“We’re going to see ... two refineries in Oklahoma close within a year, year-and-half, because they cannot afford to buy the renewable fuel credits. So, we got a...
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WASHINGTON D.C. – The American Energy Alliance was joined today by 19 other free market organizations in a joint letter to Speaker of the House John Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor urging a floor vote on the concurrent resolution, H. Con Res. 24, expressing the sense of Congress that a carbon tax would be detrimental to the United States economy. The coalition stands in adamant opposition to a carbon tax, as it will raise energy prices and put an unnecessary burden on the...
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Is this guy still alive? I figured he drowned after his beach house was overtaken by rising seas. Politico  (6/11/13) reports: “Former Vice President Al Gore lamented today that scientists “will not let us link record-breaking” tornadoes in Oklahoma and elsewhere to climate change because of inadequate record keeping on the twisters… ‘But when you put more energy into a system, it gets more energetic,’ Gore said at an environmental event in Washington hosted by Sen. Sheldon...
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We mentioned the "social cost of carbon" last week, but here’s the full analysis. The Obama administration is quietly making it easier for their “benefit” numbers to go head to head against costs. IER  (6/6/13) reports: “The very concept of the 'social cost of carbon' is not nearly as objective and scientific as, say, the charge on an electron. It is based on subjective human decisions as to which scenarios to include in the model, the discount rate to apply to future costs and...
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