“Politicians are spending hundreds of billions of dollars and keeping consumers from the cars they want for virtually no climate benefit.” That’s the bottom line of Bjørn Lomborg’s assessment of electric cars. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, the president of the Copenhagen Consensus says: “The climate effect of our electric-car efforts in the 2020s…
Search Results for: pollution
Was Environmental Policy Worth It?
Economist Timothy Taylor reports on a study of the past 50 years of environmental policies. The news is generally upbeat. “Have the reductions in pollution been worth it? he asks. “Economists have sought to itemize and monetize the costs and benefits of environmental rules. The studies can be controversial, as one might expect.” (It’s hard…
Why Such a Summer of Turmoil in the Netherlands?
“A standoff between Dutch farmers and their government is causing havoc in the Netherlands this summer. Protesters have withheld deliveries from grocery stores, smeared manure outside the home of the agriculture minister, and blocked highways with hay bales and tires,” writes Ciara Nugent for Time magazine. Farmers in the Netherlands have a good reason to…
Australia’s Great Coral Reef Is Alive and Well. Why Hide That Fact?
(This file has been updated.) Peter Ridd, who examined current data about Australia’s Great Coral Reef, demolishes fears that the reef is sick or dying. He asks why the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) is obscuring that fact by failing to aggregate the data. However, perhaps recognizing that Ridd (a controversial figure) was studying…
Are Wood Pellets Carbon-Free? Of Course Not, But They Are Defined That Way and Here’s Why
The European Union is considering removing a rule that—in the effort to meet international carbon-reduction goals—has been defining wood pellets as “carbon-free” fuels. That special elevation of wood pellets has made their production a thriving industry in the United States, which exports substantial amounts of wood pellets to England and other parts of Europe. However,…
I’m Fed Up with “Clean” Energy
From a news release: “On June 9, 2021, Governor [Cooper] issued Executive Order No. 218 highlighting North Carolina’s commitment to offshore wind power as the state transitions to a clean energy economy.” “. . . a clean energy economy”? This is a misnomer. Does anybody remember what dirty energy was? Sooty, full of particulates and sulfur dioxide—it…