David Henderson on energy independence: [T]he case for being “dependent” on other countries for oil is the same as the case for being dependent on other countries for bananas or coffee. At some tariff-protected price, the United States could be self-sufficient in bananas or coffee. If the price were high enough, someone would grow bananas …
Continue reading ‘The Rhetorical Attractiveness of “Energy Independence”’ »
On the cost of nuclear power.
I was annoyed at the McCain campaign for not answering my energy policy questions. Turns out I am not alone.
I totally made Env-Econ today! So I quote Whitehead, he links to me, then I link back to him. Will the totally bogus circular linkage chain be broken? Your move, John….
An AP story a couple of days ago is a reminder of why I’m so pessimistic about the possibility of effective climate change mitigation. People want energy, and they want it cheap. The story opens with a young Welsh man, whose father and grandfather worked the mines: “I couldn’t believe it when I heard there …
I took a crack this morning at explaining, by example, three things that are currently going on in our U.S. energy economy. The first is the way gasoline consumption has remained depressed, even as prices dropped. The second is the way the drop in consumption has been disproportionately carried out by people near the bottom …
South African firm Sasol and Exxon Mobil were among a group of firms fined last week by the European Union for running a wax cartel, trying to control the global price of wax. Really. I am not making this up: “There is probably not a household or company in Europe that has not bought products …
Back in July, when the price of gasoline was screaming upwards, people would regularly quote the highest price they saw on a pump. They were noticing not any sort of average, but the high side outlier. Lately, I hear people doing the opposite – the lowest price they see anywhere.
Today’s energy tip: low-flow shower heads and shorter showers. Yes, it’s an energy tip, not a water tip.