fbpx

Latest Posts

Home

Facebook

Twitter

Search
About
logo
Thinking Minnesota Archive

Education

Employee Freedom

Families

Governance

Health Care

Minnesota Economy

mobile logo
0 Comments
on November 25, 2019
Print
Sticky

China is Building 34 Times More Coal Than Exists In Minnesota, So Why Are We Raising Our Power Prices?

Written by Isaac Orr
in Climate, Energy, Environment, Minnesota Economy

According to an article in The Financial Times, China is set to add new coal-fired power plants equivalent to the EU’s entire capacity. as the world’s biggest energy consumer ignores global pressure to rein in carbon emissions in its bid to boost a slowing economy. The article states that China is building 148 gigawatts, or 148,000 megawatts, of coal. For context, Minnesota has 4,309 MW of coal, meaning China will build 34 times more coal-fired power plants in the coming years than currently exist in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. In fact, these coal additions mean will nearly eclipse the entire...

Continue reading
0 Comments
on September 18, 2019
Print
Sticky

Statewide View Column: Closing Down Coal Gives China’s, India’s Iron Industries An Edge

Written by Isaac Orr
in Climate, Energy, Environment, Mining, Minnesota Economy

The following article was written by me, and it originally appeared in the Duluth News Tribune. Xcel Energy recently made headlines by announcing it wished to close down its coal-fired power plants 10 years before they were previously scheduled to retire. However, it would be nothing short of a disaster for Minnesota’s mining industry, both present and future, if Minnesota Power pursued a similar path by closing the coal-fired Boswell Energy Center at a time when China and India are greatly expanding their use of coal. Mining requires an enormous amount of energy. In fact, the MinnTac mine in Mountain Iron reportedly...

Continue reading
0 Comments
on June 13, 2019
Print
Sticky

Global CO2 Emissions To Skyrocket As India Plans To Build 42 Shercos in the Coming Years

Written by Isaac Orr
in Climate, Energy, Environment

During the legislative session, we heard Governor Walz, House DFL members, and liberal environmentalists call climate change an "existential crisis," several times (give or take a million). This so-called crisis was used as justification for trying to pass radical Green New Deal-style legislation in Minnesota in an attempt to dramatically reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Absent from these discussions, however, was any context for global carbon dioxide emissions and the impact they will have on future temperatures. This seems like a massive oversight. It's called global warming, after all. The most likely reason this discussion never occurred is because it would undermine the Governor's case...

Continue reading
0 Comments
on January 16, 2019
Print
Sticky

China: No Wind Or Solar If It Can’t Beat Coal On Price

Written by Isaac Orr
in Energy, Environment, Minnesota Economy

Solar advocates often emphasize the fact that the cost of solar panels has fallen about 80 percent in the last ten years, and use this cost decline to project even steeper cost declines in the future. However, this is a problematic assumption because the recent decrease is only partially due to improvements in the solar panels. The other reason the cost of solar panels fell is because China became a major producer of solar panels, lowering the cost of production. One reason why China became a major producer of solar panels is because it subsidizes many of its industries, including steel...

Continue reading