‘The Crumbling Edifice of Climate Orthodoxy’ – ‘The Tide is Turning Decisively Against Net Zero’ – ‘Collapsing under the weight of its own contradictions’
TILAK DOSHI: “There is a growing realisation across advanced economies that the grandiose project of achieving ‘Net Zero by 2050’ is collapsing under the weight of its own contradictions. What was once heralded as a consensus across the political class, corporate boardrooms and multilateral agencies now looks increasingly like an edifice of ideology built on a vaporous, oxymoronic ‘consensus science‘. The rising tide of empirical reality — the costs of intermittent renewables, the geopolitical consequences of energy insecurity and the sheer scale of power demand growth from artificial intelligence infrastructure — has swept away the carefully constructed narrative of inevitability around the so-called energy transition.”
How AI could fuel a boom in carbon capture: Seeking to ‘balance the power requirements of technical innovation with the desires of local communities & customers for emissions stewardship’
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/power-switch/2025/09/04/how-ai-could-fuel-a-boom-in-carbon-capture-00543608 The rise of artificial intelligence could boost a long-hyped but slow-growing industry aimed at countering humanity’s warming of the Earth. Tech companies need cheap, reliable, fast power to fuel their data centers and train AI models, as Carlos Anchondo and I report today. Utilities have used that to justify extending the life of fossil fuel […]
Interior Sec. Burgum: ‘By shutting down our forests, we killed our position in timber milling, we killed rural communities’
.@SecretaryBurgum on forest mismanagement in the United States over the years: “By shutting down our forests, we killed our position in timber milling, we killed rural communities… The fires in California have released more CO2 than all of their efforts to control CO2.” pic.twitter.com/voT9lcZYbS — Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) September 3, 2025
Why Dishwashers Are Quietly Disappearing From American Homes: ‘Federal efficiency standards transformed dishwashers into marathon cleaners’ – But Trump admin’s regulatory ‘rollback offers a rare win for function over dogma’
Gadget Review: When Efficiency Becomes Inconvenience: Federal efficiency standards transformed dishwashers into marathon cleaners. Modern machines take 2.5 to 4 hours per cycle—a far cry from the quick turnarounds families actually need. The Department of Energy’s push for water conservation limits new models to 5 gallons per cycle, with proposals dropping that to 3.2 gallons by 2027. You get cleaner dishes eventually, but “eventually” doesn’t work when kids need their lunch containers ready for tomorrow morning.
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Reason Mag: Donald Trump’s Energy Department Saved Your Appliances: Decades of efficiency mandates have made dishwashers weaker, A.C. units feebler, and appliances more expensive. A new rollback offers a rare win for function over dogma. –
Marc Oestreich: My 1979 brick ranch creaks on into senescence, its heater, air-conditioning, fans, and water heater—bastions of a bygone era of appliance liberty—teetering. Replacing them likely means paying thousands of dollars for lesser-able machines. That’s been the story for decades: as tech leaps forward, appliances regress. Until now. …
Take electric motor mandates—these rules hit everything from your blender to your garage compressor. They aimed to tighten already-strict regulations and expand them to even more motors in everyday appliances. Ostensibly, the goal was to reduce electricity use and emissions. Sounds noble—until you realize what it does to the products we actually use.
These motors skimp on low-end torque, hobbling appliances that need a quick jolt—think A.C. units gasping to start or a blender stalling on ice. They’re slower to respond and less precise. And because they require rare earth metals and heavier materials, they make devices bulkier—your cordless drill suddenly feels like a lead pipe.
Former UN climate chief urges Australia to set ‘prosperity’ target of cutting emissions by 75% by 2035 – ‘Would increase the country’s chance of winning rights to host Cop31 in 2026’
https://share.google/z5VqfsyffBo1Kodio A former UN climate chief has urged the Australian government to set a greenhouse gas emissions reduction target of at least a 75% cut by 2035, backing calls from a group of more than 350 businesses that it would be better for the economy than a lower goal. The intervention by Christiana Figueres, an […]
‘Preparing our city to withstand global warming is perhaps the most important task we have right now’ – Philadelphia considers banning cheaper gas-powered leaf blowers landscaping equipment in favor of ‘battery-powered alternatives’
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/officials-consider-banning-common-landscaping-101500289.html By Kritiksha Sharma Philadelphia may soon take a major step toward quieter neighborhoods and cleaner air. A new bill introduced by City Councilmember Curtis Jones Jr. would ban the use of gas-powered leaf blowers within city limits — a move hailed by residents, clean energy advocates, and even some landscaping pros, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. […]
Two New Studies find ‘most warming this century may be due to air pollution cuts’ — NOT CO2 – ‘Reducing pollution is thus an obstacle to achieving’ UN climate goals
https://rogerpielkejr.substack.com/p/the-bad-science-and-bad-policy-at By ROGER PIELKE JR. Excerpt: According to Peter Cox of the University of Exeter, most of the planet’s warming this century is not due to greenhouse gases, but reductions in air pollution, mainly sulfur dioxide: “Two-thirds of the global warming since 2001 is [sulfur dioxide] reduction rather than [carbon dioxide] increases” … Climate Depot […]
Associated Press: AI ‘brings a hidden climate cost’ – ‘Releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere & contributes to climate change’
As AI becomes part of everyday life, it brings a hidden climate cost By CALEIGH WELLS, Associated Press Excerpt: Every time someone uses AI, it uses energy that is often generated by fossil fuels. That releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and contributes to climate change. … “Since we are trying to build data centers […]
Some New York Dems Starting To Realize Climate Targets Are Too Extreme
Some New York Dems Starting To Realize Climate Targets Are Too Extreme By Audrey Streb DCNF Energy Reporter Some New York Democrats are sounding the alarm over the state’s climate goals, arguing that New York should delay implementing some of its stringent green energy mandates. Donna DeCarolis and Dennis Elsenbeck — appointed members of New […]
The great ‘zero-carbon renewables’ deception
Wind and solar systems, the darlings of California’s energy policy, may not emit carbon dioxide while generating electricity. However, their production, transportation, installation, maintenance, and disposal are energy-intensive and emit copious amounts of carbon dioxide, as does virtually every other industrial enterprise.
Copper for wiring and electricity transmission lines is mined and smelted using fossil fuels. Transport and installation of these systems require diesel-powered trucks and other heavy machinery. Batteries used to back up intermittent wind and solar systems require lithium, cobalt, and nickel, all mined with the support of internal combustion engines and often by ethically questionable methods.
The steel of the modern wind turbine and of the massive pillars supporting them are forged in coal-based blast furnaces. The gigantic blades are made of fiberglass and resins with heat and feedstock derived from petroleum. Foundations for these behemoths require vast quantities of cement, whose manufacture releases significant quantities of CO2.