Global warming again

It seems that with all the snow and low temperatures we've been having lately people are beginning to doubt the battle cry of global warming that so many have been cackling about. Even I am beginning to doubt. The warm scientists are, OF COURSE, saying that the snow was caused by the global warming!!!! No wonder we are so confused. Did anyone feel warm snow? Did it feel warm anywhere? I certainly did not and neither did this topless woman.

Wind Turbines Are Beautiful

From another popular news site: “Paris – Wind is the fastest growing renewable energy in Europe – making up a third of new energy here, with 20 turbines added every working day in 2008, according to EU statistics. What the European wind energy industry now wants is to expand – offshore. Ocean winds are a stronger and more predictable form of energy than the ones on land, and the industry is pushing a $57 billion investment to allow broad-winged turbines to spin at sea. Offshore turbines are also seen as a solution to complaints from Europeans who do not want the gargantuan turbines in their backyards. Complaints that the turbines ruin ocean views have slowed US efforts to get a project started off the coast of Massachusetts. The US has virtually no offshore wind energy, though the Obama administration has started to work on the issue.” My own opinion is that turbines actually decorate the ocean. I think they look cool coming out of the water. Just be careful that you don’t smack your boat against one of the pylons.

Chasing Windmills

From an investor newsletter: By Porter Stansberry: “I'm facing a lot of skeptics who believe what Al Gore has told them about solar energy. But once you know the only real buyers of solar panels are governments (through subsidies and large direct purchases), you should immediately suspect the promise of solar power isn't what it's cracked up to be. If everyone could power their homes by putting solar panels on the roof, everyone would want to do it. We wouldn't need tax incentives. Instead, the cost to install and maintain a solar system far exceeds the economic value of what it provides. And the reason is basic physics, specifically the Second Law of Thermodynamics. This is nature's version of "there's no such thing as a free lunch." The Second Law says energy moves from more useful forms to less useful forms, from more concentrated and powerful forms to more disparate and less powerful forms. In short, machines that promise to bring us the power of the sun by harnessing its rays won't work because by the time the sun's rays reach the Earth, not much useful energy is left. That energy won't return to a more concentrated form without the input of just as much additional power. I'm not the only person who has doubted the functional utility of solar power. Another skeptic is Warren Meyer, who frequently blogs about free market economics, climate nonsense, and solar power, among other topics. Meyer is a Princeton and Harvard Business School graduate, but even those institutions didn't ruin his brain, which tells me he's a very smart guy indeed. Al Gore has claimed, repeatedly, that if we were to build a 90-mile by 90-mile solar-panel facility in the Southwest desert, we would have enough electricity to power the entire United States. The claim is fantastic. If only we cared enough about the environment to build enough solar panels, then the world would be saved and power would be free! Al Gore is a masterful politician, which is to say he is a complete liar.” According to Mr. Stanberry, the cost to build this energy machine would be 21 trillion dollars. He didn’t mention the issue of fossil fuels’ contribution toward global warming. I think I like windmills a lot better already.