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Showing posts from February, 2015

The Alarming Thing About Climate Alarmism

Exaggerated, worst-case claims result in bad policy and they ignore a wealth of encouraging data. By: Bjorn Lomborg, Wall Street Journal Originally published Feb 1st, 2015 It is an indisputable fact that carbon emissions are rising—and faster than most scientists predicted. But many climate-change alarmists seem to claim that all climate change is worse than expected. This ignores that much of the data are actually encouraging. The latest study from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that in the previous 15 years temperatures had risen 0.09 degrees Fahrenheit. The average of all models expected 0.8 degrees. So we’re seeing about 90% less temperature rise than expected. Facts like this are important because a one-sided focus on worst-case stories is a poor foundation for sound policies. Yes, Arctic sea ice is melting faster than the models expected. But models also predicted that Antarctic sea ice would decrease, yet it is increasing. Yes,...

Oil price slump taking a toll on U.S. alternative fuels

By: Nichola Groom, Jan 9th, 2015 (Reuters) - With gas pump prices lingering near their lowest levels in five years, greener, cleaner alternative fuels are taking a hit. Makers of biodiesel, a fuel made from vegetable oil or animal fats, are slashing prices and margins in a bid to stay competitive with the price of diesel fuel, which is down more than 20 percent from a year ago. Shippers are delaying purchases of trucks that run on  naturalgas , and sales of electric vehicles are down, while demand for less fuel-efficient SUVs is up. Wall Street is also punishing the sector. The WilderHill Clean Energy index, which tracks everything from renewable power producers to solar panel makers, is down 36 percent after hitting a three-year high last March. "The producers have to be getting murdered," said Steven Boyd, senior managing director at Sun Coast Resources Inc., a Houston-based distributor of petroleum and alternative fuels. "And the consumer puts a smile on ...

We should not have to choose between economy and the environment

By: Stewart Muir, Executive Director, Resource Works From the Resource Works Weekly Update - Feb 10th It’s true nobody out is there is against everything. But every single resource project has someone against it. The cumulative effect I have called the anti-everything movement . It is having a corrosive effect on our ability to plan for a future in which tuition fees are kept in check, people can afford their health care, and there are jobs at home so our kids don’t have go off to other provinces with the grandkids in tow. Yesterday I counted 25 lobby groups that, often with millions of dollars from foreign sources, are taking positions on environmental issues. In almost all cases, the issues in question are, at some level, legitimate ones that everybody should be concerned about.  It is the proposed remedies for these problems that should give reasonable people cause for concern. Too often, we are being asked to sign on to positions without properly understanding w...

Where is the Hot Air Coming From...?

March Recorder Article By: Mike Doyle, CAGC Mike Doyle is the President of the CAGC – the Canadian Association of Geophysical  Contractors - representing the business interests of the seismic industry within Canada.  The CAGC website may be found at www.cagc.ca . Hunker down and good luck to all of us. Let’s hope things turn around by the fall. Already cheap oil has meant that gasoline usage is on the rise.  As well the USA shale producers are slowing down drilling quickly. For all of us in the industry we need the market to rebalance itself – lower the supply and increase the demand – perhaps by this summer it will be closer to balance. It is difficult to listen to too much doom and gloom so here is something a bit different. From Investors.com - Warming Alarmists Could Use Lesson On History Of Climate By George F. Will – January 7, 2015 We know, because they say so, that those who think catastrophic global warming is probable and perhap...