Energy
Is King Coal in Decline?
This revealing graph from Wonkblog has some important lessons. First, power plants last a long time. Most of the generation fleet is twenty to sixty years old. Second, at this point, coal is basically a legacy fuel. It exists because it pays to keep old plants open. They are grandfathered and don’t have to use …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Ryan Consumption Tax and the Environment
One of the interesting elements of Paul Ryan’s budget plan is the proposal for an 8.5% consumption tax to replace the corporate income tax. Consumption taxes, like the European VAT, have well-known pluses and minuses, described in a Brookings discussion. They are appealing to economists because they encourage saving. As the European example shows, they …
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CONTINUE READINGPublic Health and the Changing Electicity Mix
The electricity mix has changed dramatically, as discussed by my colleagues from the Haas School recently. The following chart tells the tale: Notice that the blue line (coal) is diving, while the orange line (natural gas) is picking up the slack. The change seems to be due to the rapid decline in gas prices. The …
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CONTINUE READINGStanding Doctrine Undercuts Industry Challenges – A “Man Bites Dog” Story
According to an old saying, “dog bites man” isn’t newsworthy, but “man bites dog” is worth a headline. Similarly, it’s not especially newsworthy when standing doctrine is used to toss environmentalists out of court. It’s much more so when it’s used against industry. Yet in two recent cases, that’s exactly what the D.C. Circuit was …
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CONTINUE READINGDrive a Stake Through Ethanol’s Heart!
Okay, that’s even worse than a mixed metaphor: that’s a Friedmanism. But it still applies today. Reuters reports: Two U.S. governors asked the United States government on Tuesday to waive this year’s mandate for making ethanol from corn, adding pressure on it to relieve meat producers from high corn prices spurred by the worst drought …
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CONTINUE READINGInterior, Defense and Energy Departments Team Up to Advance Renewable Energy on Public Lands
The renewable energy side of President Obama’s “all-of-the-above” energy strategy received a significant boost in the past two weeks, with a veritable relay of Department of Energy, Interior and Defense actions on clean energy. On July 24, the Department of Energy (DOE) and Department of the Interior (DOI) released the Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement …
CONTINUE READINGEnergy Forecasts, Accuracy and Climate Change
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) provides very important forecasts of energy prices, consumption, efficiency and so forth. The EIA produces short, long term and annual outlooks that are widely regarded as among the best and most independent forecasts of the state of the nation’s energy use. The agency even has statutory authority to operate …
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CONTINUE READINGCruz, Fischer and Mourdock: Three Tea Party Senate Candidates Versus the Environment.
Tea Party candidates defeated less extreme conservatives in three GOP Senate nominating contests. Their environmental views are ultra-Right Wing. These candidates should be right on your wavelength — if you think that there’s a plan for U.N. world domination, that EPA should be gutted or abolished, and that climate change is a deliberate hoax by …
CONTINUE READINGPaul Ryan, Big Oil, and the Environment
Now that Romney has announced his choice of Paul Ryan as his running mate, I thought it would be worth taking a quick look at his environmental positions. Environment and energy haven’t been signature issues for him, but he’s consistently been a good friend of the oil industry. On general environmental issues, apart from his …
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CONTINUE READINGBREAKING NEWS: Another West Coast Win for PACE Energy Financing
Almost a year later, California wins again in the effort to reverse a federal agency’s 2010 decision that decimated PACE, a promising financing program for residential energy efficiency and renewable investments. Federal District Court Judge Claudia Wilken ruled today that the Federal Housing Finance Authority (FHFA) violated the Administrative Procedure Act’s (APA) notice-and-comment requirement when …
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