Soaring solar rejections, Keefer on Pickering extension, in praise of $100 binoculars

Soaring solar rejections, Keefer celebrates extension of Pickering, & a review of $100 binoculars

I spoke in Houston on Tuesday night at an event sponsored by Weldbend Corporation, a Chicago-based company that makes steel fittings and flanges for industrial clients. Weldbend is like a lot of other companies that work in and around the hydrocarbon sector. It’s a family-owned business. Weldbend is run by Jim Coulas and his sons, Jimmy and Kevin, along with Michael Hammer. Weldbend employs about 160 people. Thus, it’s not a huge business. But it’s not a small one, either. As I’ve mentioned in previous editions of this “news” letter, I continue to be surprised by the size and breadth of the companies that work with, and for, customers in the oil and gas sector, including ones in the upstream, midstream, and downstream. For all of the hype about the potential for jobs in the renewable energy business, the reality is that the hydrocarbon sector employs a huge number of people directly and many more people indirectly. Weldbend provides another example of the strength and importance of domestic manufacturing. And given the stress on global supply chains, it’s exactly the kind of enterprise the U.S. needs right now. During my remarks, I pointed out that for all of the talk about the energy transition, there’s little evidence that a transition is actually happening. I also talked about EVs, the energy crisis in Europe, and why the decline of European industry could accrue to the benefit of the U.S. Now to business. Three items today:

• Real Clear Energy: Solar Rejections Surge

• Podcast: Chris Keefer celebrates the extension of the Pickering nuclear plant

• Binoculars for $100 

The Wingspan 8x32 binoculars above sell for about $100. 
 

Here's my latest, at Real Clear Energy, on the growing rural backlash against Big Solar. I began: 

• The hype about wind and solar energy keeps colliding with the hard reality of land-use conflicts. Nowhere is that more obvious than in Ohio, where 41 townships have rejected or restricted the expansion of wind and/or solar projects since last November. In addition, at least eight Ohio counties have implemented restrictions on Big Wind and Big Solar over that same time period. The soaring number of rejections – all of which are documented in the Renewable Rejection Database – brings the total number of solar rejections in the U.S. this year to 67. That total includes the October 12 unanimous vote by the Linn County, Iowa, Board of Supervisors to implement a moratorium on solar projects in their county. In all, since 2017, 94 communities across the U.S. have rejected or restricted Big Solar. 

I ended the piece thusly:

• The punchline here is obvious: the hype about major expansions of renewable-energy capacity ignores first principles. As Lee Cordner, an Oregon-based consulting electrical engineer who has more than 40 years of experience in the industry puts it, all energy infrastructure projects have to answer three questions: “Where are you going to put it? How are you going to connect it? And how are you going to pay for it?” The latest rejections in Ohio, Iowa, and other states, show once again, that there aren’t enough places in the U.S. to put all the wind turbines and solar panels that climate activists and academic models claim are possible. 

• I’ll end with a quote from Jesse Ausubel, the head of the Program for the Human Environment at Rockefeller University who I wrote about in these pages last week. Ausubel foresaw the problems with wind and solar energy way back in 2007. Indeed, 15 years ago, Ausubel wrote a landmark essay in which declared, “renewables are not green.” He continued, “How then can we meet more stringent consumer demands and stay on course for decarbonization? The inevitable reply is nuclear energy.”

Again, here’s a link. Please share it.
 

I used this slide in my speech in Houston on Tuesday and in the Real Clear Energy piece

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Chris Keefer: Ontario has "the most pro-nuclear government in the western world"      

The latest episode of the Power Hungry Podcast (#142) is out this week with another appearance by Chris Keefer, the president of Canadians for Nuclear Energy. In his fourth appearance on the podcast, (previous appearances were November 2021, May 2021 ) and April 29, 2022) Keefer talks about Ontario Power Generation’s decision to reverse course and extend the life of the Pickering Nuclear Generation Station, a move that could keep the 3.1-gigawatt plant running for another 30 years. We also talked at length about the essentiality of the Cobalt-60 isotopes that are produced by CANDU reactors. We also talked about why OPG reversed course, his role in that reversal, and why Ontario has “the most pro-nuclear government in the western world.” I have a great deal of respect for what Dr. Keefer accomplished in Canada. He didn’t do it alone, his colleagues Dylan Moon and Jesse Freeston, among others, also deserve a lot of credit. But Chris was one of the main catalysts behind the campaign to rescue Pickering from premature closure.

I am proud to consider Chris a friend of mine. His work shows, yet again, what a person can accomplish if they put their mind to it. It brings to mind the famous quote from the anthropologist Margaret Mead, who famously said “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” 
 
We recorded this episode on September 30, 2022. The audio is on all the major podcast outlets. In addition, the audio and transcript are on my website. The video, as always, is on YouTube. 

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In praise of $100 binoculars    

This week, my friend John Henderson, reached out for some advice on binoculars. John and I got acquainted a while back when I was in Louisville and we’ve stayed in touch since then. John wanted to know which binoculars he should buy and whether or not the Nikon Monarch 7 8x42 was worth the additional $200 over the cost of the Monarch 5 with the same focal length. My advice to him was to get the Monarch 5 and buy an identical pair for his wife. Why? Because one pair of binoculars is no good for two people. Plus, it’s always more fun to go birding with your spouse, or with other birders.

As you no doubt know from reading this epistle, I am an evangelist for birdwatching. It has brought great joy to my life and to our children, who have through osmosis, also become birders. Lorin and I love to go birding together and we’ve done it all over the world. Over the past three decades or so, we have been gradually upgrading our binoculars. Our upgrade this year was a big one. We both got the Nikon Monarch HG 8x30. They are pricey (about $1,000) but they are also super sharp and light. Plus, they have a great feel to them. They are well balanced and easy to hold. (The image above shows my binocular collection, from left to right: the $100 Wingspans, my battered Monarch 7s, and the new HGs).  
 
So now back to John’s question about binoculars. After talking to him, I am  compelled to point out that it’s not essential to spend $300, $500, or $1,000 on binoculars to enjoy birding. I recently bought Wingspan Optics' 8x32 compact binoculars on Amazon. I did so because I wanted an extra pair of small binos to have when I’m traveling. I also wanted to see what I could get for less than $100. My conclusion: the Wingspans ($89.99) are not bad. They are fairly light: they weigh just over 1 pound or about 490 grams. That’s about the same weight as the HG, but at a tenth of the price. 
 
What about the optics? As I said, they are not bad. Not great, but not bad. The imaging is better than I expected. That said, images get fuzzy on the edges and the binos are lousy for close focusing. That’s a big disadvantage. One of the best things about more-expensive binoculars is that they can focus on objects as close as six or seven feet away. That’s important when looking at butterflies, dragonflies, and other things that are nearby. So would I recommend the Wingspans for $100? Yes. The reason is simple, and it reminds me of the old adage about cameras: 
Q: What’s the best camera? 
A: The one you have with you. 
 
The same applies to binoculars. You don’t have to break the bank to be a birdwatcher. Plus, it’s good to have more than one pair of binoculars so you always have a pair nearby.
 
Have a good weekend.

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