The time has arrived for the electric power industry, paralyzed for most of a decade anticipating carbon controls, embrace a future where environmental compliance, low cost service, and high reliability are again its most prized qualities. For years, our industry has been besieged with demands to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Our response has been to cancel new fossil projects, co-author or support carbon control legislation, and build high-cost, reduced carbon, renewable projects. Recent events suggest we must seriously re-consider the science that blames anthropomorphic carbon emissions as the principle cause of climate change.

Over the past few months, severe cracks in the foundation of climate science have appeared. Two examples of the latest revelations: hacked emails revealed leading climate scientists massaged or lost data and suppressed scientific dissent and the recent admission by the former director of Britain’s Climate Research Unit that there has been no statistical warming for the past 15 years. On the regulatory side, EPA has been sued to justify their finding that carbon dioxide is a public danger because they built their regulatory house on the same flawed foundation. Further, the Senate is unwilling to debate deeply flawed cap-and-trade legislation passed by the House. This turmoil is likely to continue for some time to come.

POWER remains one of the few media outlets that rejects the position that the “science is settled” about anthropomorphic carbon emissions-driven climate change. I will present the scientific data and research reports that led me to the conclusion that the “science is scuttled” and why controlling our nation’s carbon emissions is a trillion dollar fool’s errand.

About Robert Peltier

Robert spent 18 years with SDG&E, Solar Turbines, and later Stewart & Stevenson Services working on power generation projects around the world. In 1987, he joined the faculty of Arizona State University where he became a tenured professor and taught power-related courses, including gas turbine design, thermodynamics, and power plant design. Captain Peltier was recalled to active duty in the U.S. Navy in late 1999 to serve as a program manager with the Naval Sea Systems Command. He left active duty in September 2002 and completed two more Navy Reserve command tours before retiring in 2007. Robert joined the POWER magazine’s editorial staff in 2002 as senior editor after working as a Contributing Editor for many years. Robert was named Editor-in-Chief of POWER on April 1, 2003. Bob has a BS, MS, and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering and is a registered engineer in California and Arizona.