There’s been a sizable number of new visitors to this site recently, thanks to the huge number of hits one recent post received, so let me say a word or three to the newest members of the community:

• Welcome! The more the merrier.
• Don’t be shy. Lurkers are always welcome, of course, but the more you participate the more we’ll all learn from each other and benefit from this blog.
• If you have a minute, check the About page for a site intro. Yes, I know, that should be so obvious that it doesn’t need to be mentioned. If you saw the e-mail I get from readers, you’d know why I’m explicitly pointing you to the About page, especially the Mission Statement and Philosophy sections.
• I’m currently trying to bootstrap a much more interactive discussion board for energy and environmental issues, available here. (Also linked to from the menu in the upper-right corner of this page.) Feel free to stop over, look around, register, and contribute to a topic or start your own. Sorry, but the registration databases for this blog and the discussion board are separate, so you’ll have to re-reg over there. See also the original discussion board announcement.