The Bias In the News Favors Monopoly Energy Production Over Energy Efficiency
We’re told to consume, not conserve energy
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Just about every week, there is some new headline about fusion power. We’re getting close, ever so close to cheap, clean, unlimited energy with fusion.
On the flip side, there is a new headline every day about Ukraine, Russia, and natural gas pipelines. I can’t throw a stick without hitting a story about how Europe is being squeezed for energy prices.
All of that news promotes and supports the energy monopolies that run our world.
In the beginning, we just wanted someone else to do the work. We had slaves. Then we began to figure out how to get carbon fuels to do the work. Then we discovered electricity and how to light our world. We began to electrify everything. And some of us noticed that electricity doesn’t care about inputs. It only cares about moving electrons.
We’re building robots that won’t run on anything but electricity. Eventually, robots will do the work that humans don’t want to do, or shouldn’t do. And every story about robots is still about energy consumption.
Everywhere I look, the bias in our news is about monopoly energy production. Oil, gas, and coal are monopolies. They come from the ground, a common resource for humans, but only our government can permit mining, drilling, and pumping.
Someone will have to sell the right of way for the pipeline. Ukraine makes $7 billion every year from Russia’s gas pipelines that run through it. Some lucky fellow will get to sell access to that resource. Some other lucky fellows will sell the products down to the consumers with commissions all along the way.
That’s a huge business with an enormous influence on our governments. Every politician at every level wants to be on the good side of that business.
My power company is Rocky Mountain Power. On their website, they talk about renewable energy, but in their illustrations of our neighborhoods, with houses and businesses, not a single house or business has solar panels on their roof. Not one. That bias is on monopoly, not free markets.
