May 2008

Price Gouging Laws: Emotions, Economics, and Policy

Michael Giberson Julio J. Rotemberg has a paper out about emotional reactions to prices and their policy implications. (“Behavioral aspects of price setting, and their policy implications.”) I think he is working on some interesting issues, but he comes up with such lousy “policy implications” at the end of the article that it ruined it …

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The L Prize: A Prize for Lighting Innovation

Lynne Kiesling As authorized by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, the U.S. Department of Energy has announced the Bright Tomorrow Lighting competition, the L Prize (here’s the prize website). Cash prizes and other inducements for the development of solid state lighting to replace standard incandescent and fluorescent bulbs. Rather like the Google …

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Ocean Thermal Power Systems Back Under Development

Michael Giberson Geothermal power generators use temperature differences between the surface and areas deeper in the earth to move a gas or liquid through a loop and drive a turbine. (One example is the Chena Geothermal Power Plant in Alaska. See the related project at the Chena Hot Springs Aurora Ice Museum, which uses 165°F …

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September 9: Release Date for Neal Stephenson’s New Book

Lynne Kiesling And it’s called Anathem. It’s an interesting made-up word, reminiscent of both “anthem” and “anathema”. The marketing blurb: Since childhood, Raz has lived behind the walls of a 3,400-year-old monastery, a sanctuary for scientists, philosophers, and mathematicians–sealed off from the illiterate, irrational, unpredictable “saecular” world that is plagued by recurring cycles of booms …

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Real-time Feedback Promotes Efficient Use of Energy

Michael Giberson Tom Igoe, a physical-computing researcher at New York University, said the Prius mpg display is one of the best examples of technology “where green meets information systems.” “For a long time,” he said, “we have known that people will change their habits if they are exposed to feedback in real time.” From “For …

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