Comparing Coal Plants and Wind Turbines

Let’s begin with Poe’s law, which is an “adage of Internet culture stating that, without a clear indicator of the author’s intent, it is impossible to create a parody of extreme views so obviously exaggerated that it cannot be mistaken by some readers for a sincere expression of the views being parodied.” In other words, unless the author does something that specifically indicates that he’s being sarcastic, e.g., a smiley face at the end of the piece, some readers will think he’s being sincere.

Take as an example Michael Barnard’s article in Cleantechnica: Replacing A Coal Plant Takes An Infinite Number Of Wind Turbines, in which he seems to be arguing that, because of capacity factor and CO2 production, no finite number of wind turbines can replace a single coal plant.

I hope readers will enjoy this very instructive, not to mention crafty, piece of writing.