Category Archives: Energy Policy & Economics

Discussion of energy policy and why the debate about energy and prices is so flawed

In Chicago, Bill Clinton calls for national grid to boost renewable energy (repost from Midwest Energy News)

  By Cyrus | December 14, 2012 - 12:47 am | Energy Policy & Economics
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In Chicago, Bill Clinton calls for national grid to boost renewable energy | Midwest Energy News. CHICAGO — Former President Bill Clinton invoked the ancient Sumerians, campaign stops at wind-blown Texas border towns, the looming budgetary fiscal cliff and an eclectic assortment of other concepts while proselytizing for more investments in the grid and clean energy, during his speech at the Wind on the Wires gala in Chicago Wednesday night. Veering between big picture philosophical conclusions and wonkish descents into policy details and proposals, Clinton made the case that renewable energy is symbolic of a struggle central to human nature: “a constant … Continue reading this post →

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The World Energy Report’s scariest findings – Salon.com

  By Cyrus | December 2, 2012 - 12:32 pm | Energy Policy & Economics
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Editor’s Note: Buried deep in this Salon.com article is this very disturbing point:  Even if governments take vigorous steps to curb greenhouse gas emissions, the report concluded, the continuing increase in fossil fuel consumption will result in “a long-term average global temperature increase of 3.6 degrees C.” This should stop everyone in their tracks. Most scientists believe that an increase of 2 degrees Celsius is about all the planet can accommodate without unimaginably catastrophic consequences: sea-level increases that will wipe out many coastal cities, persistent droughts that will destroy farmland on which hundreds of millions of people depend for their … Continue reading this post →

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First 15 years of renewables subsidies small fraction of first 15 years of fossil/nuclear subsidies

  By Cyrus | November 28, 2012 - 12:43 pm | Energy Policy & Economics
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An excellent report released in September 2011 by private equity firm DBL Investors sheds new light on the history of federal subsidies for various energy sources and technologies.  One unique finding was particularly instructive in today’s debate about renewable energy tax credits and other investments in renewables: The below graph shows investment in various technologies as a percentage of the federal budget in the first 15 years of subsidies for each technology, allowing for a comparison of subsidies for renewables in the first 15 years of renewable subsidies with subsidies for other energy sources in the first 15 years of those … Continue reading this post →

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Iowa scientists: Drought a sign of climate change

  By Cyrus | November 20, 2012 - 12:48 pm | Energy Policy & Economics
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Note: As I’ve outlined in an essay you can find here, the huge and mounting costs of climate change and global warming are external costs that would be included in the market for oil & gas if those markets were actually functioning correctly.  This is a great example of unpriced consequences of fossil fuels and why it’s factually wrong to say things like “coal is cheaper than wind” because the market price for coal power electricity isn’t reflecting the true cost, an example of market failure. Posted on November 20, 2012 at 6:41 am by Associated Press in Climate Change, global warming DES MOINES, Iowa … Continue reading this post →

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Fossil Fuels & Nuclear Lion’s Share of DOE R&D Subsidies

  By Cyrus | October 11, 2012 - 1:14 pm | Energy Policy & Economics
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Opponents of renewable energy (it’s hard to believe they exist) claim that renewables cannot compete economically with oil, gas, and nuclear power.  I have discussed the fallacy in this argument from an economic theory point of view here, but it is also important to point out that the subsidies for renewables are a tiny fraction of those for coal, oil, and gas.  Many reports on this topic focus on the comparison of overall subsidies to fossils and nuclear vs. oil & gas, but in the context of all the criticism that the Department of Energy (DOE) has gotten after one … Continue reading this post →

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Hidden Costs of Energy: Unpriced Consequences of Energy Production and Use

  By Cyrus | September 26, 2012 - 6:02 am | Energy Policy & Economics
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This report by the National Academies examining the externalized/societal costs of energy production was originally requested by Congress  in the 2005 Energy Bill.  It offers the most thorough attempt I have seen to try to quantify the costs we incur in addition to the price we pay for energy (I have written extensively on the topic of externalized/socialized  costs in my Framework Series article on the topic of Market Failure. One key takeaway: looking only at the non-global warming costs of electricity production from coal, society pays 3.2 cents per kWh in hidden costs in addition to the price we pay on our … Continue reading this post →

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