Skeptical Thoughts on Energy, Science and Global Warming

Not Significantly Different From Zero


Chicken Little Climate Science

Climate change has become the go to excuse for anything bad happening in the environment. Legions of climate scientists have issued dire warnings regarding the consequences of man's profligate use of fossil fuels. So common have these pronouncements become that news reporters and politicians have taken to blaming all things judged out of the ordinary on global warming. This fits the agendas of many, since global warming is supposedly caused by human activity and human activity is linked to greed, avarice and big business. But the doomsayers should take care, for there have been other times when experts have warned humanity that its evil ways have brought the world to the edge of perdition. Does anyone these days remember over population?

Sentinel: A Plan to Save Earth

A 17-meter-wide asteroid that no one saw coming exploded in February near Chelyabinsk, Russia, blazing across the sky and television screens world wide. Efforts have been made to identify asteroids larger than a kilometer—objects large enough to threaten life on Earth. Hollywood has cranked out dozens of cheesy asteroid collision movies, some bad and others worse, but none capture the magnitude of the actual threat from near Earth objects (NEOs). There may be a million asteroids with masses greater than ocean liners in Earth-approaching orbits, nearly all of which remain undiscovered and their courses uncharted. Now, a private foundation wants to build Sentinel, a satellite containing an infrared telescope that would be able to detect a half-million orbiting objects from a vantage point near Venus. Is this a project too important to trust to government agencies like NASA and the ESA?

Forget Global Warming, The Ice Age Is Coming!


Slanting Science


Forests, CO2 and H2O

Much has been done to vilify carbon dioxide in the media. Listening to the talking heads and on-air “experts” could lead one to believe that CO2 is an evil scourge that the world would be better off without. Nothing could be further than the truth. CO2 is necessary for life on Earth, forests in particular. It is not just plant food, the maligned gas also plays a role in regulating water use by the world's forests. New research has uncovered an unexpectedly strong decrease in H2O uptake caused by increasing CO2. Along with global increases in photosynthesis, forest growth rates, and carbon uptake, higher CO2 levels contribute to enhanced timber yields and improved water availability. Who says higher CO2 levels are a bad thing?

Frack Attack!


AWED Announces New Website:

AWED, the Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions, has officially announced its new website, intended to serve as a scientific resource to help citizens, scientists, elected representatives, etc. in making more informed energy and environmental decisions. The purpose the site is to sort through the avalanch of articles, studies and reports on energy matters, select a representative cross-section of informative material, and then organize it in an understandable manner. In constructing the new site, volunteers previewed over 5000 studies, reports, and papers, collecting and organizing just the most useful material. The new site,, replaces

Requiem for the Electric Vehicle


The Retreat From Falsehood Begins


Crank of the Week – June 24, 2013 – Barack Obama

U.S. President Barack Obama delivered his highly anticipated speech about combating climate change today. As predicted, he plans on accomplishing this by hamstringing America's energy industry. The speech began with false claims regarding natural disasters and then descended into a morass of new regulations. In a blatant attempt to placate the eco-left, the scandal plagued Chief Executive announced an end run around the Congress by using executive orders to crack down on CO2 emissions from the nation's power plants and limiting oil & gas recovery using fracking on federal lands. It was a speech larded with lies and promises of political pork that, in the long run, will do little to please his critics on the right or left.

Modeling Flaws Plague Climate Science


Solar Power Failing World Wide


The 100,000 Year Problem


Game of Thrones Climatology

Sometimes scientists show their whimsical side by applying the tools of their profession to things outside the realm of science. Such was the case when a team of graduate students at the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Johns Hopkins University, decided to look into the oddly inconsistent seasons on the planet Westeros, the world invented by George R. R. Martin in A Game of Thrones. The group recently published a paper in which they explore the possible cause of summers lasting for years and winters for a generation. Using a numerical three-body computer simulation the intrepid researchers reach the conclusion that such a world is possible in the non-mythical universe.

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