22 Aug
Very simply, Pflugerville City Issues and News will be largely about a variety of issues including a number that might be expected to arise in these times in a rapidly growing city.
Pflugerville, located just north of Austin, Texas, has a population of approximately 50,000.
9 Oct
Progress is continuing toward building a renewable energy park in Pflugerville according to “Pflugerville Sees Green Technology as Economic Engine” by Marques G. Harper, Austin American-Statesman, October 8, 2011. The starting time for construction will be in two weeks according to the article.
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In some areas of the world, green energy is meeting up with some serious challenges.
In Germany:
“It’s the Dawn of Life-Saving Coal: 2010 Consumption Jumped 5.2 % — Most Since 1979” by P. Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, October 7, 2011.
“The Great Wealth Transformation – Shift to 100% Renewables Would Cost Each Household Additional $1000.00 per Month” by P. Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, October 4, 2011.
“German Economics Professor Concludes: ‘Solar Subsidies Are Senseless’” by P. Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, September 29, 2011.
In the United Kingdom:
“Wind Farms: The Monuments to Lunacy That Will Be Left to Blot the Landscape” by Christopher Booker, The Telegraph, September 10, 2011.
Here in the United States:
“Know When to Fold ‘em” by Kyle Smith, New York Post, October 9, 2011.
“Need Angel Investors?”Mickey Kaus, The Daily Caller, October 9, 2011.
“Doubling Down on Solyndra” in Investor’s Business Daily, October 7. 2011.
“USC’s Biomass Plant Debacle” by Wayne Washington, The State: South Carolina’s Homepage, October 9, 2011.
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“The Renewable Energy Disaster” by Christopher Calder.
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9 Oct
An article appeared today about the hot weather and drought in Texas.
“New Normal? Think Hotter” by Art Phillips, Austin American Statesman, October 9, 2011, page D1. This article can be found online as “Heat and Drought Becoming the New Normal in Texas” in Reporting Texas.
There is a consensus among atmospheric scientists in Texas about man-made global warming according to information provided by Andrew Dessler that was reported in the Statesman article.
Also today, a blog entry entitled “Spencer finds ‘the Big Picture’ on cloud feedback” in Watts Up With That? has commentary by Roy W. Spencer about papers by Dessler that appeared in 2010 and 2011.
3 Oct
A number of the reasons for developing green energy no longer appear to be valid. This is evident in “Green Energy Industry Staggers” by Walter Russell Mead, The American Interest, October 1, 2011.
At the present time the arguments that are left for favoring green energy development are based mainly upon catastrophic man-made global warming theory. These, however, have increasingly been called into question as the implications of Climategate have become better known with time, not necessarily through major newspapers and television broadcasts, but rather through weblogs and books.
“The Global Warming Guerrillas” by Matt Ridley, Spectator, February 3, 2010.
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Another Article by Matt Ridley:
“The Case Against the Hockey Stick“
This is a review of Andrew Montford’s book, The Hockey Stick Illusion. This book is in the Austin Public Library collection. The name of Montford’s blog, incidentally, is Bishop Hill.
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Results from a Poll about Global Warming
Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and the Tea Party
A Study by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication
Poll data were taken from April 23, 2011 to May 12, 2011.
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“Five Truths about Climate Change” by Robert Bryce, The Wall Street Journal, October 6, 2011.
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“Another Domino Falls: UK’s Leading Scientific Body Retreats on Climate Change” by Patrick Henningsen, 21st Cewntury Wire, September 30, 2011.
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“Wasting Money on Climate Change Betrays Sick” by Joanne Nova, The Australian, May 7, 2011.
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About Canada’s Oil Sands
“Harper’s Next Stand” by Lawrence Solomon, Financial Post, October 7, 2011.
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2 Oct
Taxpayer money is commonly required for the creation of green jobs, but green job creation is apparently not likely to make a major difference toward bringing about an economic recovery.
“The Green Jobs Fallacy” by Ed Fuelner, Austin American-Statesman, September 29, 2011.
Perhaps, one should take another look at fossil fuel energy possibilities for restoring prosperity.
“How North Dakota Became Saudi Arabia” by Stephen Moore, The Wall Street Journal, October 1, 2011.
“Gassing Up: Why America’s Future Lies in Traditional Energy Industries” by Joel Kotkin, Forbes, September 27, 2011.
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A good source of information about shale gas is The Shale Gas Shock by Matt Ridley. This is a publication (about 30 pages) of the Global Warming Policy Foundation.
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1 Oct
The Austin City Government is becoming greener according to “Today, Austin Becomes an All-Green Municipal Operation” by Marty Toohey, Austin American-Statesman, September 30, 2011.
Overseas, some movement toward renewable energy usage is described in “A Green Dark Age” by Matt Ridley, The Spectator, May 21, 2011.
Here is an account of what has been happening in Canada: “Global Warming Runs Out of Gas” by Rex Murphy, National Post, August 20, 2011.
And, catastrophic man-made global warming theory is becoming less credible with the passage of time.
“Warmed Right Over: The Global Warming Theory Is Nearing Its End as Evidence Against It Mounts” by Lawrence Solomon, Financial Post, September 16, 2011.
Austin’s apparent support for man-made global warming theory is not necessarily shared at the state level. An article entitled “Rick Perry Needn’t Sweat His Global Warming Skepticism” (by Larry Bell, Forbes, August 30, 2011) suggests that this is not a problem.
26 Sep
It has become difficult to be optimistic about the success of emerging green energy companies after the appearances of “Green tech: where the jobs aren’t” by David Brooks, Austin American-Statesman, September 6, 2011, and “Number of green jobs fails to live up to promises” by Aaron Glantz, The New York Times, August 18, 2011.
Events leading to the demise of Solyndra were discussed in “In rush to assist a solar company, U.S missed signs” by Eric Lipton and John M. Broder, The New York Times, September 22, 2011. More information about some missteps taken appeared in “How did Solyndra spend all that money” by Megan McArdle in the Atlantic. Some recommendations appeared in “Lessons for government in energy firm failure” in the Austin American-Statesman, September 11, 2011.
Still another analysis: “Solyndra bankruptcy reveals dark clouds in solar power industry” by Anne C. Mulkern, The New York Times, September 6, 2011.
Earlier, problems arising from foreign competition, particularly from imports from China, were described in “Hold the accolades on China’s ‘green leap forward’” by Bjorn Lomborg, The Washington Post, April 20, 2011. It was noted here that China exported most of the solar panels produced there and reserved little for domestic use. This would make economic sense for China as long as domestic power from wind and particularly from fossil fuels remained less costly than from solar. It was also noted in the Lomborg article that China leads in the production of solar heaters, which are claimed to be cost effective. China apparently has already made a start in exporting solar heaters so competing in this area might not be easy.
An editorial in the recent Sunday Review section of The New York Times suggested that the solar industry in the United States is not doing badly, but this seems inconsistent with the assessment given in “President Solyndra and his mean green wealth-wasting machine” by Steven F. Hayward, The Weekly Standard, October 3, 2011, and the information in “Obama green-tech program that backed Solyndra struggles to create jobs” by Carol D. Leonnig and Steven Mufson, The Washington Post, September 14, 2011.
In view of what is happening, perhaps it is time to adopt a more balanced approach for bringing commercial development to Pflugerville with less emphasis upon green jobs.
The rationale for eventually adopting some extreme (and costly) measures nationally and perhaps locally for protecting the environment is based largely on man-made global warming (or climate change) theory. A very good expression of the case for skepticism has been put forward in “Climate skeptics don’t ‘deny science’” by Jeff Jacoby, The Boston Globe, September 24, 2011. This is a three-page article but the text is frequently interrupted by advertisements.
A No Tricks Zone blog entry dated September 26, 2011, that seems appropriate to mention here is entitled “Yale Paper Shows That Climate Science Skeptics Are More Scientifically Educated” by P. Gosselin.
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“Gassing Up: Why America’s Future Job Growth Lies in Traditional Energy Industries” by Joel Kotkin, Forbes, September 27, 2011.
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“German Economics Professor Concludes: Solar Subsidies Are Senseless” by P. Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, September 29, 2011. This pertains to the situation in Germany.
18 Sep
A possible first tenant of a PCDC (Pflugerville Community Development Corporation) business park proposed for Pflugerville is Complete Energy Systems, LLC according to
“Green manufacturer could bring 230 jobs to Pflugerville” by Blake Rasmussen, Community Impact, September 15, 2011.
Listed in the article are some possible financial incentives available to the manufacturer if an agreement is approved.
For the United States, there is considerable pessimism about the value of green jobs for driving the economy forward toward full recovery. See, for example,
“Green tech: where the jobs aren’t” by David Brooks, Austin American-Statesman, September 6, 2011.
“Hold the accolades on China’s ‘green leap forward’” by Bjorn Lomborg, The Washington Post, April 20, 2011.
“Solyndra, the logical endpoint of Obamanomics” by James Pethokoukis, Reuters, September 16, 2011.
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“City Council approves deal to bring green company, 200 jobs to Pflugerville” by Blake Rasmussen, Communioty Impact, September 27, 2011.
“Two companies to add 140 jobs in Palm Beach County” by Jeff Ostrowski, The Palm Beach Post, September 27, 2011. This article mentions $1.5 million in possible incentives.
18 Sep
The 24-hour Al Gore Climate Reality show beginning on September 14, 2011, was answered with a “Gorathon” response appearing at the same time interval with cartoons about climate change. The skeptical reactions of a polar bear character in the cartoons added to their effectiveness.
The Gorathon can still be seen here in the Bishop Hill website and here in the Watts Up With That? website.
30 Aug
“Perry appears to be shooting the messenger on climate change“ by Andrew Dessler, can be seen on the editorial page of today’s Austin American-Statesman.
It might have been much very more timely and informative to show, if possible, “Science getting settled” by Lawrence Solomon. This appeared in the Financial Post on August 27, 2011.
Some Earlier Articles:
“Strong evidence that the sun controls climate” by Lawrence Solomon, Climate Realists, June 3, 2011.
“Evidence that cosmic rays seed clouds” by Steve Milloy, Climate Realists, June 2, 2011.
More About This:
“Blame the sun,” a letter to the editor by Charles Doty, Austin American-Statesman, September 9, 2011.
26 Aug
Great emphasis is currently being placed upon building a green economy in Pflugerville.
See, for example, “PCDC business park could help boost green economy” by Rebecca LaFlure, Community Impact, April 1, 2011.
But there is much skepticism building up across the country. It is easy to find doubts about the wisdom of counting on green jobs for improvement of the future economic situation.
“America’s ‘green’ quagmire’” by Jonah Goldberg, Los Angeles Times, August 23, 2011.
“Feeding the masses on unicorn ribs” by Walter Russell Mead, The American Interest, August 19, 2011.
“The green economy withers” in Investor’s Business Daily, July 14, 2011.
“Green jobs, red faces” in Investor’s Business Daily, August 19, 2011.
“Green jobs revealed as fiscal black hole” in The Orange County Register, August 26, 2011.
“Solyndra solar company fails after getting controversial federal loan guarantees” by Joe Stephens and Carol D. Leonnig, The Washington Post, August 31, 2011.
“Sunburned” in National Review Online, September 1, 2011.
