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RENNIE_REVIEW

                                                     May-July 2020
One of the things on my list is to
review the progress of wind and
solar to see if how well it's living
up to the claims of the enthusiasts.

It's actually a full time job, and                That's a common problem with
an unpaid amateur like myself can                 public policy issues, and
hardly stay on top of this field.                 the obvious thing to do is
                                                  to look for a trustworthy
I can tell you that whenever I've looked          agency to use as a proxy.
into this in the past I've found the
claims were exaggerated, I can tell you           Identifying good proxies can
about the state of the field several years        be tricky, particularly if
ago, but the renewables enthusiasts play a        you want to convince the
game where they're constantly trumpeting          committed opposition (but
Recent Progress, and they'll accuse me--          then-- good luck with that).
with some justice-- of not being up on the
present day state of the field.                   Rejecting the messenger
                                                  when you don't like the
It is certainly true that there's been            message is a pretty common
*some* progress-- the supporting links the        defense mechanism:
more intelligent enthusiasts come up with
certainly look more impressive than they          Anyone who's pro-nuclear
used to.  There's also no shortage of             "must've been bought"-- the
journalists willing to give them glowing          solar industry on the other
headlines they can circulate...                   hand is run entirely by
                                                  infallible, incorruptible
                                                  angels.
              And that may be my version of      
              the "reject the messenger"      
              move: the enthusiasm of the      
              "rennies" is so extreme, I      
              worry it's infectious and    
              corrupting as much or more as      
              money can be.                
                             



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