Jump to content

Energy Probe

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Energy Probeis a non-governmental social, economic, andenvironmental policyorganization based inToronto,Canada known recently fordenying man-made climate change.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]

It was founded in 1970 as a sister project ofPollution Probe.[9]In this early period, the focus was on thepublicly ownedOntario Hydro's predictions of energy usage seeing continual growth and their demands to build a huge fleet ofnuclear reactorsto service this demand. They published a number of reports in the late 1970s estimating usage in 2000 would be significantly below that predicted by Hydro, numbers that were matched by those of theOntario Ministry of Energy's own calculations, and eventually, Hydro itself. The organization is well known for its anti-nuclear energy stance, opposingnuclear energyproduction in Canada, especially in the case ofnuclear plantsin Ontario, on the grounds that nuclear power production is uneconomic.[10]

In 1980, the two organizations formally separated and theEnergy Probe Research Foundation(EPRF) was created, describing itself as "one of Canada's largest independent think tanks, with 17 public policy researchers", focusing "on the economic, environmental, and social impacts of the use and production of energy."[11][12][13]After its separation and incorporation, and led from then on byLawrence Solomon,EPRF began to accept funding from theoil and gas industry,and, in 1983, began a campaign "to educate Canadians to the social, environmental and economic benefits ofless regulationin the petroleum field. "[14]In the 1980s, the organization was also responsible for a proposal to dismantle Hydro in favour ofprivatization.[15]

Additional divisions within Energy Probe are theUrban Renaissance Institute,[16]Probe International,[17]Environment Probe, the Environmental Bureau of Investigation, and the Consumer Policy Institute.[18]

Views on global warming and climate change

[edit]

EPRF argues that "the science behind competing theories of global warming is not yet settled",[2]stating that "global cooling" is on the rise,[3]that climate change is surrounded by "clouds of conspiracy",[4]and that climate science is "corrupt" and the "greatestscientific fraudof the century ".[5]EPRF also argues that fossil fuels, especially gasoline, shale oil, natural gas, and coal, are clean and environmentally beneficial choices,[6][7][8]putting it at odds with expected notions ofenvironmental organizations.

Founder (andNational Postcolumnist) Lawrence Solomon published a series of columns and a book in 2008 titled "The Deniers: The World Renowned Scientists Who Stood Up Against Global Warming Hysteria, Political Persecution, and Fraud "naming 37 climate scientists and authors as "climate change skeptics"or" climate deniers ". Several of these scientists and authors published their rejection of this characterization of their views, among themSami Solankiof the Max Planck Institute,[19]Nigel Weissof the University of Cambridge,[20]andCarl Wunschof the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[21]The National Post, on the urging of Professor Nigel Weiss, later issued a retraction and apology for the allegations made in the column.

Founder Lawrence Solomon was a speaker at the conservative and libertarian public policy think tank TheHeartland Institute's 2009 International Conference on Climate Change.[22]The Heartland Institute holds similarly skeptical views about man-made climate change and related global warming, stating that the claims that global warming is a crisis are unscientific and delusional.[23]Solomon remains on the rolls of the Heartland Institute as a policy expert.[24]

EPRF has also been critical of theKyoto Protocol[25]as well as of the Paris Accords.[26]

Funding

[edit]

The EPRF is a registered Canadiancharity.Apart from donated income, it receives all of the profits of its "non-profit"organic coffeecompany and cafe in Toronto, Green Beanery.[27]The cafe opened in 2008 and closed in March 2020; the online business is to continue.[28]In 2012, the EPRF brought in $1.3 million in non-donation revenue.[27]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^"Energy Probe Research Foundation".Energy Probe Research Foundation.Retrieved2017-07-15.
  2. ^ab"Background".Energy Probe Research Foundation.2012-03-19.Retrieved2017-07-15.
  3. ^abSolomon, Lawrence (2016-04-15)."Lawrence Solomon: Why it looks like 'game over' for global warming".Energy Probe.Retrieved2017-07-15.
  4. ^abenergyprbe (2014-02-05)."Clouds of conspiracy".Energy Probe.Retrieved2017-07-15.
  5. ^abSolomon, Lawrence (2017-02-16)."Lawrence Solomon: Finally it's safe for the whistleblowers of corrupted climate science to speak out".Energy Probe.Retrieved2017-07-15.
  6. ^abSolomon, Lawrence (2012-10-01)."Lawrence Solomon: Why gasoline wins".Energy Probe.Retrieved2017-07-15.
  7. ^abSources, Other News (2011-06-01)."Lawrence Solomon: Shale gas emerging as one of world's biggest job creators".Energy Probe.Retrieved2017-07-15.
  8. ^abenergyprbe (2007-12-07)."Coal enters rehab".Energy Probe.Retrieved2017-07-15.
  9. ^ Dewar, E. (1995).Cloak of green: The links between key environmental groups, government and big business.James Lorimer & Company Ltd.ISBN9781550284508.
  10. ^"Nuclear Power".Energy Probe.2010-09-10.Retrieved2017-07-15.
  11. ^EPRF 'About Us' web pageArchived2011-10-11 at theWayback Machine.Retrieved on 18 October 2011.
  12. ^"A Look into Canada's Most Controversial Environmental Organization".Vice.31 January 2017.Retrieved2017-07-15.
  13. ^Paehlke, R(1995).Conservation and Environmentalism: an encyclopaedia.Taylor & Francis.ISBN9780824061012.
  14. ^O'Connor, Ryan (2015-10-15).The First Green Wave: Pollution Probe and the Origins of Environmental Activism in Ontario.UBC Press.ISBN9780774828116.
  15. ^energyprbe (2009-10-05)."Breaking up Ontario's Hydro's Monopoly".Energy Probe.Retrieved2017-07-15.
  16. ^http://urban.probeinternational.org/
  17. ^"Archived copy".Archived fromthe originalon 2012-04-06.Retrieved2021-10-27.{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  18. ^"Our Divisions".Energy Probe Research Foundation.2010-12-10.Retrieved2017-07-15.
  19. ^"Sami Solanki's home (Science)".www2.mps.mpg.de.Retrieved2017-07-15.
  20. ^"Nigel Weiss' home page".damtp.cam.ac.uk.Retrieved2017-07-15.
  21. ^Stammer, Detlef."Carl Wunsch, Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physical Oceanography".ocean.mit.edu.Retrieved2017-07-15.
  22. ^"The Heartland Institute - Confirmed Speakers at the 2009 International Conference on Climate Change".2009-02-18. Archived from the original on 2009-02-18.Retrieved2017-07-15.{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  23. ^Drukala, Keely."Center on Climate and Environmental Policy | Heartland Institute".heartland.org.Retrieved2017-07-15.
  24. ^"Who We Are - Lawrence Solomon | Heartland Institute".heartland.org.Archived fromthe originalon 2017-02-10.Retrieved2017-07-15.
  25. ^energyprbe (2005-04-15)."Kyoto plan criticized for huge costs".Energy Probe.Retrieved2017-07-15.
  26. ^Solomon, Lawrence (2017-06-01)."Lawrence Solomon: The Paris accord always was a sham".Energy Probe.Retrieved2017-07-15.
  27. ^ab"Organic coffee shop Green Beanery funds group that denies man-made climate change | Metro Toronto".metronews.ca.Archived fromthe originalon 2017-07-02.Retrieved2017-07-15.
  28. ^Manzocco, Natalia (2020-04-19)."Green Beanery shuts down permanently".Now.Toronto.Retrieved2020-04-19.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Energy_Probe&oldid=1192403472"