... just listened to the CLASSICAL READ ALOUD suggestion To Build A Fire ... and just realized how appropriate my avatar pic of Ernest Shackleton is ... subscribed to CLASSICAL READ ALOUD. This story of To Build A Fire will haunt me - amazing!
A very nice long-term goal, but as we speak, there are many coal/variable fuel fired co-gen plants currently in operation that have some pretty amazing thermal efficiencies, and very low emissions. These used to be many more plentiful before the "war on coal" took this country by storm, and closed many of them. As evidence, you may want to check out Abbott Power Plant on the campus of the University of Illinois (https://fs.illinois.edu/abbott-power-plant/) and the Wade Utility plant on the campus of Purdue University, (https://www.purdue.edu/operations/energy-utilities/#utilities-generation). These are much less expensive than and, much quicker to build and operate than are nuclear reactor power plants.
Excellent! This echoes Secretary Wright's persuasive writing while he was CEO of Liberty, Saving Human Lives. That is the bottom line: oil/gas save human lives. Having spent 50 plus years in environmental policy, I know my body's temperature comfort zone. Several years in Africa and Nepal/India cooking over wood and dung stoves taught me importance of prime energy for body comfort. Environmental/climate zealots start their advocacy from a baseline of energy comfort without contributing an iota to that baseline. You do not have to venture to the Yukon to come face to face with these realities, as the fragility of our grid makes clear year to year. The fatuous promotions of climatistas is indeed depressing, a road to a cold nowhere.
I love the picture of the three fools from Greenpeace cruising across the
cold ocean in snowmobile suits, carrying an oil kills sign while the only thing saving them from a cold and agonizing death is the gasoline that powers the outboard on their Zodiac.
They assume that Walmart grows them in the back of the store.
They don’t know shit about mining or chemistry or physics.
Funny story…my ex father in low brings a jug of fresh milk from the ranch and offered to my daughter (3 or 4 years old at that time)…she refused it.
She replied to him that she doesn’t like caw milk, she only likes the one from HEB in the plastic container. The moral of the story is that few people know where things come from. It should be mandatory for elementary schoolers to watch every day a chapter of the History Channel of “ How is Made” this world will be different.
From one bond guy to another, the first idea that you need to drop is the Co2 focus. The earth has had significantly higher and lower Co2 levels, and it didn’t go poof. The Environistas (and their mostly red sponsors) did not want us to realize this and to become reliant on them (see constant Chinese, Russian and Iranian propaganda) as Europe has fecklessly become. Co2 is plant food, and if anything, the earth will become greener at the margin with a little more of it.
No question that the worst public-policy action of all times and histories is the killing of the nuclear industry. I sometimes wonder if people like Gavin Newsom or the German geniuses who closed their last nuclear reactors or the authors of Biden's surreally named Inflation Reduction Act could possibly be so stupid, and then I tell myself that they are even stupider – if that were even possible.
I was trained by a nuclear chemist in the Bay Area back in the early 80's. Lenord use to work at the GE nuclear facility near Sunol. Commercial nuclear development sure took a hit back in the 70's.
Gov Newsom championed keeping Diablo Canyon open till 2030 after rolling Black outs occurred on the CAISO grid in 2020. What happens to the facility at that time is up in the air. Back in the 70’s former Gov J. Brown signed a law essentially banning any new facilities until a solution was finalized in regards storing nuclear waste. The topic is being discussed here currently-
Pollito Verde, you have educated me and others into why this is the most logical and safest way to solve the problem, other people like Rick Rule or Eric Sprot had put their money and reputation betting that this should happen and with Energy Secretary Chris Wright and The Donal looks more possible than ever.
Whether CO2 levels are a nothingburger or a crisis matters not.
While widespread nuclear power facilities could blunt the effects, there is simply no viable way forward to power the world without hydrocarbons.
Disagree? Great! Let’s hear the details of the plan one might endorse!
Please include costs, as well as recognition that the actions of the 7 billion non-Westerners are what will determine CO2 levels.
Nothing the West does really matters.
Oh, too: if man stopped all hydrocarbon-sourced CO2 emissions next week, CO2 levels would probably continue their inexorable rise for at least a century, due to system inertia .
so true, when i was living in London every house was so fricking cold and even if you can afford to change windows often you're not allowed as they might not fit the neighborhood 🙈
Thx for the energy analysis, but more so, thanks for reminding me of how much I enjoyed reading all the Jack London stories as a kid. His collected works (some 3000 pages!) are available on Apple Books for 99 cents, and free elsewhere. Most of the way through re reading Call of the Wild for, who knows, maybe the 6 th time. But first time in 40 years. The story is well remembered, but now I am able to appreciate the textures created by a master writer. Thanks again.
On the contrary, it's the middle and upper classes of the UK that have a fondness for Victorian/Edwardian properties that have zero insulation. Any many of them will be environmentalist ecoloon Guardian readers
Me thinks I subscribed just as Doomy was running out of interesting things to talk about and instead started shilling his famous books venture. Geopolitics is where you shine that’s what I came for. Yea I’ve heard you one million times the price of all commodities forever down.
Is it because we have strayed so far from a basic understanding of our own technology, that current leaders blunder about with insane policies that they insist will work when physics clearly proves they are daft?
PS to the propane post. People forget the winter imbalances at Conway which has to compete with Gulf Coast exports. PPS on climate politics craziness, best is to ignore it (hedging bets). Billions of cycles and, physics first, we have no real clue where we are. But what goes up (slight increase in that average ambient earth surface temp) always goes down.
This is a PS to the propane post. People have short memories of Conway winter imbalances. And a further PPS to the craziness of climate politics is to ignore them (hedging bets). Billions of cycles. Physics first, we have no real good idea of where we are, only that what goes up (a slight increase in that ambient surface temp the past few decades) goes down.
You wrote about insulation. what about individual insulation, economic insulation and insulation from war? We are a species of adaptation insulation from physical realities is our specialty. No such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes.
The only way this changes is when we stop listening to anyone using terms like emergency, crisis, existential.
A few years back John Robson ran a series on his site, ClimateDiscussionNexus, called 1920 or 2020.
It took publicly available data from Environment Canada on the high temperature readings from spots all over canada, north to south east to west and compiled 2 lines on a graph and you were invited to guess which line was which year.
In most cases you could not see any difference, some where there were differences you might guess wrong thinking the higher line was 2020, even tho urban heat island is a real thing.
But no, still higher highs in 1920.
Since the further you get from the equator the greater the temp rise is supposed to be, if there is no change in the highs up north what if any problem is there by the equator?
In all cases, the increase in temps over time is that lows are less low, night and winter.
And this is supposed to be bad?
This is exactly what doom refers to above, reducing the thermal difference so we need less energy to survive the cold snaps.
European govts seem to think they can rule in opposition to physics, I don’t understand how they have lasted this long, primarily UK and Germany.
Thank you again for the wonderful reminder of Ruby Love's great readings, a true bonus on top of the excellent energy analysis and information you and colleagues supply. Yes, it is really too bad that the 'enlightened' climate-change fear mongers have never processed this fact: "As London’s tale makes so visceral, the need to achieve a stable environment for the body is an always thing, not an average thing, because it doesn’t take long for a substantial deviation from ideal to result in death. As our engineering friends would say, it only takes one zero in a geometric mean to know what the answer is." As Britain and the Continent have proved, a society CAN self-destruct if immigration and energy policies are both totally screwed up simultaneously. Hopefully North America can avoid traveling the same path.
... just listened to the CLASSICAL READ ALOUD suggestion To Build A Fire ... and just realized how appropriate my avatar pic of Ernest Shackleton is ... subscribed to CLASSICAL READ ALOUD. This story of To Build A Fire will haunt me - amazing!
"Nuclear Power Could Heat Your Home" is my WSJ article about heating cities such as New York with leftover heat from nuclear power plants. A HEAT and power nuke in every city's backyard could get votes. https://www.wsj.com/opinion/nuclear-power-could-heat-your-home-cogeneration-district-heating-energy-steam-china-ap1000-11657734413?st=J1wjJM&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
A very nice long-term goal, but as we speak, there are many coal/variable fuel fired co-gen plants currently in operation that have some pretty amazing thermal efficiencies, and very low emissions. These used to be many more plentiful before the "war on coal" took this country by storm, and closed many of them. As evidence, you may want to check out Abbott Power Plant on the campus of the University of Illinois (https://fs.illinois.edu/abbott-power-plant/) and the Wade Utility plant on the campus of Purdue University, (https://www.purdue.edu/operations/energy-utilities/#utilities-generation). These are much less expensive than and, much quicker to build and operate than are nuclear reactor power plants.
Any way to unfire wall your article? Or which day was it published and I’ll try to get a copy - stoked to read it!
Supposedly WSJ unlocked it here,
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/nuclear-power-could-heat-your-home-cogeneration-district-heating-energy-steam-china-ap1000-11657734413?st=Vur5R3&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
Not unlocked
Thanks for sharing!
Excellent! This echoes Secretary Wright's persuasive writing while he was CEO of Liberty, Saving Human Lives. That is the bottom line: oil/gas save human lives. Having spent 50 plus years in environmental policy, I know my body's temperature comfort zone. Several years in Africa and Nepal/India cooking over wood and dung stoves taught me importance of prime energy for body comfort. Environmental/climate zealots start their advocacy from a baseline of energy comfort without contributing an iota to that baseline. You do not have to venture to the Yukon to come face to face with these realities, as the fragility of our grid makes clear year to year. The fatuous promotions of climatistas is indeed depressing, a road to a cold nowhere.
I love the picture of the three fools from Greenpeace cruising across the
cold ocean in snowmobile suits, carrying an oil kills sign while the only thing saving them from a cold and agonizing death is the gasoline that powers the outboard on their Zodiac.
When you get paid for doing stupidity is synonymous with your brain capacity.
Lol
And the oil that was used to produce the zodiac and those snazzy outfits.
They assume that Walmart grows them in the back of the store.
They don’t know shit about mining or chemistry or physics.
Funny story…my ex father in low brings a jug of fresh milk from the ranch and offered to my daughter (3 or 4 years old at that time)…she refused it.
She replied to him that she doesn’t like caw milk, she only likes the one from HEB in the plastic container. The moral of the story is that few people know where things come from. It should be mandatory for elementary schoolers to watch every day a chapter of the History Channel of “ How is Made” this world will be different.
I imagine more than a small amount of oil went into the manufacture of their vessel and the incredible cold weather gear they are wearing.
I agree with this analysis, and the description of the "Environmental-istas" is apropos.
I also agree that for every hydro-carbon the West doesn't use, other countries people will gladly take the discounted left-overs.
Thus there's no way out from using more hydro-carbons
Here's what gnaws at me, Co2 levels keep rising in the atmosphere and we do not know what happens to climate as they rise.
We have One Planet , thus we have maximum risk.
How do we minimize our maximum risk ?? (Mini-Max theory)
more bigger and better plant growth.......larger trees, greener grasses, less desert!!
From one bond guy to another, the first idea that you need to drop is the Co2 focus. The earth has had significantly higher and lower Co2 levels, and it didn’t go poof. The Environistas (and their mostly red sponsors) did not want us to realize this and to become reliant on them (see constant Chinese, Russian and Iranian propaganda) as Europe has fecklessly become. Co2 is plant food, and if anything, the earth will become greener at the margin with a little more of it.
I would say the answer is simple: Build out a nuclear grid.
Well, maybe not so simple otherwise we would have done it already. Have a listen to Chris Keefer’s podcast series “Decouple” on nuclear power.
No question that the worst public-policy action of all times and histories is the killing of the nuclear industry. I sometimes wonder if people like Gavin Newsom or the German geniuses who closed their last nuclear reactors or the authors of Biden's surreally named Inflation Reduction Act could possibly be so stupid, and then I tell myself that they are even stupider – if that were even possible.
I was trained by a nuclear chemist in the Bay Area back in the early 80's. Lenord use to work at the GE nuclear facility near Sunol. Commercial nuclear development sure took a hit back in the 70's.
Gov Newsom championed keeping Diablo Canyon open till 2030 after rolling Black outs occurred on the CAISO grid in 2020. What happens to the facility at that time is up in the air. Back in the 70’s former Gov J. Brown signed a law essentially banning any new facilities until a solution was finalized in regards storing nuclear waste. The topic is being discussed here currently-
Fowlie, Meredith. “The Nuclear Renaissance Has a Waste Management Problem” Energy Institute Blog, January 12, 2026, https://energyathaas.wordpress.com/2026/01/12/this-nuclear-renaissance-has-a-waste-management-problem/
Yes
Pollito Verde, you have educated me and others into why this is the most logical and safest way to solve the problem, other people like Rick Rule or Eric Sprot had put their money and reputation betting that this should happen and with Energy Secretary Chris Wright and The Donal looks more possible than ever.
We have much bigger problems than co2 levels.
How do you know?
Whether CO2 levels are a nothingburger or a crisis matters not.
While widespread nuclear power facilities could blunt the effects, there is simply no viable way forward to power the world without hydrocarbons.
Disagree? Great! Let’s hear the details of the plan one might endorse!
Please include costs, as well as recognition that the actions of the 7 billion non-Westerners are what will determine CO2 levels.
Nothing the West does really matters.
Oh, too: if man stopped all hydrocarbon-sourced CO2 emissions next week, CO2 levels would probably continue their inexorable rise for at least a century, due to system inertia .
Anthropy
Well, if you have to ask, either you have not been paying attention or are easily brain-washed.
The best path forward is to respond to negative impacts as they arise...
Correct on all fronts
so true, when i was living in London every house was so fricking cold and even if you can afford to change windows often you're not allowed as they might not fit the neighborhood 🙈
Thx for the energy analysis, but more so, thanks for reminding me of how much I enjoyed reading all the Jack London stories as a kid. His collected works (some 3000 pages!) are available on Apple Books for 99 cents, and free elsewhere. Most of the way through re reading Call of the Wild for, who knows, maybe the 6 th time. But first time in 40 years. The story is well remembered, but now I am able to appreciate the textures created by a master writer. Thanks again.
On the contrary, it's the middle and upper classes of the UK that have a fondness for Victorian/Edwardian properties that have zero insulation. Any many of them will be environmentalist ecoloon Guardian readers
Excellent, crisp, and to the point. Energy is life.
Me thinks I subscribed just as Doomy was running out of interesting things to talk about and instead started shilling his famous books venture. Geopolitics is where you shine that’s what I came for. Yea I’ve heard you one million times the price of all commodities forever down.
Is it because we have strayed so far from a basic understanding of our own technology, that current leaders blunder about with insane policies that they insist will work when physics clearly proves they are daft?
PS to the propane post. People forget the winter imbalances at Conway which has to compete with Gulf Coast exports. PPS on climate politics craziness, best is to ignore it (hedging bets). Billions of cycles and, physics first, we have no real clue where we are. But what goes up (slight increase in that average ambient earth surface temp) always goes down.
This is a PS to the propane post. People have short memories of Conway winter imbalances. And a further PPS to the craziness of climate politics is to ignore them (hedging bets). Billions of cycles. Physics first, we have no real good idea of where we are, only that what goes up (a slight increase in that ambient surface temp the past few decades) goes down.
You wrote about insulation. what about individual insulation, economic insulation and insulation from war? We are a species of adaptation insulation from physical realities is our specialty. No such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes.
Did y'all write about/critique "wet bulb temperature" at some point. Or was it someone else?
Can we please start the "Annual Doomberg Anti-Physics Award"?
The only way this changes is when we stop listening to anyone using terms like emergency, crisis, existential.
A few years back John Robson ran a series on his site, ClimateDiscussionNexus, called 1920 or 2020.
It took publicly available data from Environment Canada on the high temperature readings from spots all over canada, north to south east to west and compiled 2 lines on a graph and you were invited to guess which line was which year.
In most cases you could not see any difference, some where there were differences you might guess wrong thinking the higher line was 2020, even tho urban heat island is a real thing.
But no, still higher highs in 1920.
Since the further you get from the equator the greater the temp rise is supposed to be, if there is no change in the highs up north what if any problem is there by the equator?
In all cases, the increase in temps over time is that lows are less low, night and winter.
And this is supposed to be bad?
This is exactly what doom refers to above, reducing the thermal difference so we need less energy to survive the cold snaps.
European govts seem to think they can rule in opposition to physics, I don’t understand how they have lasted this long, primarily UK and Germany.
Green Chicken, et. alia.,
Thank you again for the wonderful reminder of Ruby Love's great readings, a true bonus on top of the excellent energy analysis and information you and colleagues supply. Yes, it is really too bad that the 'enlightened' climate-change fear mongers have never processed this fact: "As London’s tale makes so visceral, the need to achieve a stable environment for the body is an always thing, not an average thing, because it doesn’t take long for a substantial deviation from ideal to result in death. As our engineering friends would say, it only takes one zero in a geometric mean to know what the answer is." As Britain and the Continent have proved, a society CAN self-destruct if immigration and energy policies are both totally screwed up simultaneously. Hopefully North America can avoid traveling the same path.