There are situations where burning wood to heat a home makes much sense. The wood needs to be harvested locally, not shipped across the world. When the trees are replanted and grow, they absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen. This is renewable energy.
As a committed green chicken follower, I was seething at his highlighting the BS that accompanies these policies to allow them and can only assume that there were great personal benefits to those who enabled this legislation to pass in Europe.
Meanwhile, your Macrovoices podcast was terrific. thanks
The btu/lbs of wood and coal can vary depending on type but in my estimation it would take 2 tons of wood pellets to equal the btu output of 1 ton of coal. Therefore, 2T of wood pellets equals one pellet of uranium.
Over the past few decades, I've typed myself hoarse about Energy. Until Humanity can harness NEW types of Energy such as Dark Matter and it's cousins and discover NEW materials such as Room Temperature Super Conductors or it's equivalents, we are wasting our time and money trying to re-engineer ancient Technologies such as Biomass, Wind and Solar into Modern Day modes which will do absolutely nothing to further quench our ever present need of Energy. In the mean time, I guess Humanity just doesn't trust Nature to be able to deal with CO2 as it has for Billions of Years. Human Arrogance is truly astounding...
This so-called CO2 travesty is real to those who are only partially clear thinkers. True clear thinkers know the the entire anti-co2 narrative is itself just another psy-op.
Just finished a seven week solo trek across France and Switzerland... nothing but a backpack and trails from Calais to Lausanne and up the Rhone Valley to the Great Saint Bernard Pass. Many of the trails are in local and national forests. I noticed there was a lot of logging going on and asked a local in the area of Laon (near the major Foret de Saint Gobain) if the activity was normal. Non!... was him immediate response. Big increase in selling hardwoods to China over the past few years. Next I observed that almost every country village has large stockpiles of firewood neatly stacked on the edge of the village. When I inquired about this, it seems that the villagers are worried they are going to need firewood for heating this winter and the firewood stockpiling has begun in earnest. When I raised the issue of nuclear power potential for electricity and heating (France has a big nuclear industry), there was pride that they are one of the leaders in that industry in the EU, but skepticism that they would see any benefit from expansion of that industry in a way that would impact their lives at the local level. Seems to be power for industry and cities, but not rural areas. So, looks like wood is the most reliable heating source for the upcoming winter... gonna' be some smoggy days in Paris and London!!
Access to a physical source of energy is the ultimate hedge. For individuals there is only one that fits the bill and that's wood. I live in the UK and I've stocked up on enough wood (1.5 m3) to see us through the winter. To be fair, I'm not that concerned about supply, but I am worried about the price of energy.
Thanks David. By now I should be accustomed to political double-speak and justification of just about anything, but still had to shake my head in disgust at this one. Nothing seems to change. Per Mark Twain, "Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But then I repeat myself."
It isn't the first time that the EU's environmental policies have had some serious unintended consequences. Ever since new rules were introduced into the EU in 2010, biodiesel has been supplemented with gasoline in order to reduce the blocs reliance on fossil fuels. The regulations, which set a 10% renewable energy target for transport for each member state, helped turned the EU into the world's largest biodiesel producer, with palm oil providing a significant proportion of the feedstock.
Almost all oil palm is grown on lands that were once tropical forests. Clearing the land to make way for planting inevitably results in biodiversity loss, but it’s the impact on what lies beneath the surface that is particularly damaging. Tropical forests stand above a rich bed of peat. Worldwide, peatlands store twice as much carbon as the worlds forests. As the peat dries out, it rapidly degrades and releases carbon into the atmosphere.
UNECE stands for United Nations Economic Commission for Europe - 1 of 5 UN regional agencies. Don't believe anyone else until you read this from the "horse's mouth" itself.
As the "Climate Change Cult" (yes, if you look at the definition of cult and see if it applies you will understand) and as with Haymaker's claim to the term "Greenflation" I claim the rights to the idea of "Climate Change Cult" let's move on. Until they realize that Renewables will NEVER have sufficient energy density to move all nations (including 3rd world nations to move up from sheer poverty) to a higher standard of living we are doomed to EVERYONE having a lower standard of living.
Good job pointing out the excellent piece by the Chicken, one of my favorite authors. There cannot be enough exposure of the hideous acts that hide under the rubric of "earth friendly" in today's world.
Again, Goehring & Rozencwajg Associates does an excellent job explaining the truth of green energy absurdity, and the greater harm to the environment these policies produce, in addition to the economic havoc they create. This is a war being fought on society that society needs to understand.
Nuclear power will be the way of the future and we in the US need to get on it right away. Smaller plants scattered to where the power is needed makes sense as it obviates the need for expensive transmission lines. For decades the US Navy has desalinated water on their nuclear ships using small nuclear power plants. Why aren't we doing that in our dry coastal areas? Most of these wood pellets are made from small trash trees not mature timber, just to set the record straight in that regard.
While I agree that there's much to criticise in current energy policies, we cannot just give up on the green energy transition or put it off to some unknown future date when new technologies may be available. Climate change is already here and will get much worse. We must do as much as we can, which includes limiting energy use.
I agree that more nuclear energy is needed. It's the lesser of two evils. How far away are SMRs, and what more can more be done to speed up their development and deployment?
Wow, thank you for this enlightening and infuriating piece... The world needs more nuclear ASAP.
Thanks for reading, Nick!
I prefer #GreenIdiocy as a descriptor.
There are situations where burning wood to heat a home makes much sense. The wood needs to be harvested locally, not shipped across the world. When the trees are replanted and grow, they absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen. This is renewable energy.
Agreed! It certainly has practical applications, but shipping it across the world at exorbitant cost and environmental impact is not one of them.
As a committed green chicken follower, I was seething at his highlighting the BS that accompanies these policies to allow them and can only assume that there were great personal benefits to those who enabled this legislation to pass in Europe.
Meanwhile, your Macrovoices podcast was terrific. thanks
The btu/lbs of wood and coal can vary depending on type but in my estimation it would take 2 tons of wood pellets to equal the btu output of 1 ton of coal. Therefore, 2T of wood pellets equals one pellet of uranium.
Thanks for the context, Alan. If that math is even in the ballpark, it's pretty staggering!
Over the past few decades, I've typed myself hoarse about Energy. Until Humanity can harness NEW types of Energy such as Dark Matter and it's cousins and discover NEW materials such as Room Temperature Super Conductors or it's equivalents, we are wasting our time and money trying to re-engineer ancient Technologies such as Biomass, Wind and Solar into Modern Day modes which will do absolutely nothing to further quench our ever present need of Energy. In the mean time, I guess Humanity just doesn't trust Nature to be able to deal with CO2 as it has for Billions of Years. Human Arrogance is truly astounding...
Thanks for the thoughts, Alex. It does look increasingly like we will need a watershed-type breakthrough in energy to really move the needle.
This so-called CO2 travesty is real to those who are only partially clear thinkers. True clear thinkers know the the entire anti-co2 narrative is itself just another psy-op.
Just finished a seven week solo trek across France and Switzerland... nothing but a backpack and trails from Calais to Lausanne and up the Rhone Valley to the Great Saint Bernard Pass. Many of the trails are in local and national forests. I noticed there was a lot of logging going on and asked a local in the area of Laon (near the major Foret de Saint Gobain) if the activity was normal. Non!... was him immediate response. Big increase in selling hardwoods to China over the past few years. Next I observed that almost every country village has large stockpiles of firewood neatly stacked on the edge of the village. When I inquired about this, it seems that the villagers are worried they are going to need firewood for heating this winter and the firewood stockpiling has begun in earnest. When I raised the issue of nuclear power potential for electricity and heating (France has a big nuclear industry), there was pride that they are one of the leaders in that industry in the EU, but skepticism that they would see any benefit from expansion of that industry in a way that would impact their lives at the local level. Seems to be power for industry and cities, but not rural areas. So, looks like wood is the most reliable heating source for the upcoming winter... gonna' be some smoggy days in Paris and London!!
Interesting. Thank you for sharing the experience and perspective!
Access to a physical source of energy is the ultimate hedge. For individuals there is only one that fits the bill and that's wood. I live in the UK and I've stocked up on enough wood (1.5 m3) to see us through the winter. To be fair, I'm not that concerned about supply, but I am worried about the price of energy.
Thanks David. By now I should be accustomed to political double-speak and justification of just about anything, but still had to shake my head in disgust at this one. Nothing seems to change. Per Mark Twain, "Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But then I repeat myself."
It isn't the first time that the EU's environmental policies have had some serious unintended consequences. Ever since new rules were introduced into the EU in 2010, biodiesel has been supplemented with gasoline in order to reduce the blocs reliance on fossil fuels. The regulations, which set a 10% renewable energy target for transport for each member state, helped turned the EU into the world's largest biodiesel producer, with palm oil providing a significant proportion of the feedstock.
Almost all oil palm is grown on lands that were once tropical forests. Clearing the land to make way for planting inevitably results in biodiversity loss, but it’s the impact on what lies beneath the surface that is particularly damaging. Tropical forests stand above a rich bed of peat. Worldwide, peatlands store twice as much carbon as the worlds forests. As the peat dries out, it rapidly degrades and releases carbon into the atmosphere.
If you want the unfiltered facts about the lowest lifecycle cost of electricity use the following link and read about nuclear for yourself: https://unece.org/sites/default/files/2022-04/LCA_3_FINAL%20March%202022.pdf
UNECE stands for United Nations Economic Commission for Europe - 1 of 5 UN regional agencies. Don't believe anyone else until you read this from the "horse's mouth" itself.
Green Leap Forward
As the "Climate Change Cult" (yes, if you look at the definition of cult and see if it applies you will understand) and as with Haymaker's claim to the term "Greenflation" I claim the rights to the idea of "Climate Change Cult" let's move on. Until they realize that Renewables will NEVER have sufficient energy density to move all nations (including 3rd world nations to move up from sheer poverty) to a higher standard of living we are doomed to EVERYONE having a lower standard of living.
David,
Good job pointing out the excellent piece by the Chicken, one of my favorite authors. There cannot be enough exposure of the hideous acts that hide under the rubric of "earth friendly" in today's world.
Again, Goehring & Rozencwajg Associates does an excellent job explaining the truth of green energy absurdity, and the greater harm to the environment these policies produce, in addition to the economic havoc they create. This is a war being fought on society that society needs to understand.
See the G&R work at http://gorozen.com/ , and keep up the good work!
Nuclear power will be the way of the future and we in the US need to get on it right away. Smaller plants scattered to where the power is needed makes sense as it obviates the need for expensive transmission lines. For decades the US Navy has desalinated water on their nuclear ships using small nuclear power plants. Why aren't we doing that in our dry coastal areas? Most of these wood pellets are made from small trash trees not mature timber, just to set the record straight in that regard.
While I agree that there's much to criticise in current energy policies, we cannot just give up on the green energy transition or put it off to some unknown future date when new technologies may be available. Climate change is already here and will get much worse. We must do as much as we can, which includes limiting energy use.
I agree that more nuclear energy is needed. It's the lesser of two evils. How far away are SMRs, and what more can more be done to speed up their development and deployment?
Podcast up on Spotify already. Another great show!
Thanks, DK!