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The original doc. at http://freeassemblage.blogspot.com/2009/02/obamas-science-is-political-as-politics.html contains hyperlinks to references.Thursday, February 26, 2009Obama's Science is Political--As Politics Invariably Makes It >Let us never say that we have not been warned<"Consider that it takes about 1,000 wind turbines, occupying tens of thousands ofacres, to produce as much electricity as just one medium-sized, coal-fired powerplant. And that's if the wind is blowing: the intermittency of wind wreaks havocon electricity grids, which need a stable flow of power, thus requiring expensive,redundant backup capacity or an unbuilt, unproven "smart grid.""Or consider the "promise" of solar. Two projects in development will cover 12.5square miles of central California withsolar cells in the hope of generating about800 megawatts of power (as much as one large coal-fired plant). But that poweroutput will only be achieved when the sun is shining brightly--around noon onsunny days; the actual output will be less than a third that amount. And theelectricity will cost more than market price, even with thel ife-support offederal subsidies that keeps the solar industry going. The major factor drivingthe project is not the promise of abundant power but California's state quotarequiring 20 percent "renewable" electricity by 2010."There is a reason why less than 2 percent of the world's energy currently comesfrom "renewable" sources such as wind and solar--the very sources that aresupposedly going to power the new green economy: despite billions of dollars ingovernment subsidies, funding decades of research, they have not proven themselvesto be practical sources of energy. Indeed, without government mandates forcingtheir adoption in most Western countries, their high cost would make them evenless prevalent."Will a green energy industry be an engine of economic growth? Many want us tothink so, including our new President. Apparently a booming green economy withmillions of new jobs is just around the corner. All we need is the right mix ofgovernment "incentives.""These include a huge (de facto) tax on carbon emissions imposed through a cap-and-trade regulatory scheme, as well as huge government subsidies for "renewable,"carbon-free sources. The hope is that these government sticks and carrots willturn today's pitiful "green energy" industry, which produces an insignificantfraction of American energy, into a source of abundant, affordable energy that canreplace today's fossil-fuel-dominated industry. This view is a fantasy--one thatcould devastate America's economy. The reality is that "green energy" is at best asophisticated make-work program. [condensed from the Ayn Rand Institute]President Obama guarantees "to inflict untold damage on his own country and manyothers, on the basis of claims so demonstrably fallacious that they amount to astring of self-deluding lies..."Mr Obama begins by saying that "the science is beyond dispute and the facts areclear". "Sea levels," he claims, "are rising, coastlines are shrinking, we've seenrecord drought, spreading famine and storms that are growing stronger with eachpassing hurricane season.""Delegates from 190 countries met in Poznan, Poland to pave the way for thisyear's UN conference in Copenhagen at which the world will agree on a successor tothe Kyoto Protocol on climate change," heard Mr. Obama speak these words.
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