July 2008

“Elder Statesmen” Weigh in on Energy

Michael Giberson According to an Associated Press story, “A bipartisan group of 27 elder statesmen is sending an open letter to both presidential candidates and every member of Congress saying the country faces ‘a long-term energy crisis’ that threatens the security and prosperity of future generations if swift action isn’t taken.” More from the article: …

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Wsj: Gerald O’driscoll on Fannie and Freddie

Lynne Kiesling I am not sufficiently expert in financial markets to opine on the current state of affairs in mortgages, mortgage-backed securities, banks, and so on. Hearing the current state of financial affairs at the two quasi-public financial institutions Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as the cacophonous din of those inveighing Congress and …

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Andy Grove: Energy Resilience, Not Energy Independence

Lynne Kiesling Andy Grove, former CEO of Intel, has an interesting article in The American magazine this month entitled “Our Electric Future”. Grove argues that energy independence is a flawed and infeasible objective, particularly in a network of integrated global exchange. He suggests instead that the objective should be energy resilience: What was wrong with …

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Pirrong Explains Why Congressional Scapegoating of Oil Market Speculators Will Harm Consumers

Michael Giberson The “wild assertions about speculation and manipulation are defective and completely unsupported by reliable evidence,” said Craig Pirrong, writing in the WSJ about congressional proposals to scapegoat speculator participation in oil futures trading. Restricting these speculators won’t reduce the price of oil — but they are likely to make consumers and investors worse …

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Many Texans Willing to Pay a Little More to Get Wind Power

From the Houston Chronicle: A majority of Texans would be willing to pay $4 more on their monthly electric bills to create a network of power lines from wind farms, according to a recent poll. The survey, commissioned by a group of wind generation companies, is being released in advance of state utility regulators’ debate …

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Heavy Demand for Wind Power Exposes Weak Links in Supply Chain

Michael Giberson In the booming business of building wind power systems, manufacturers have found a number of critical components to be hard to find. From Renewable Energy World magazine: In recent years component shortages have occurred in a number of key supply chain areas including single main bearings, gearboxes, generators, main shafts, control cabinets, and …

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Superconductor Electric Cables Move from Lab to Market

Lynne Kiesling Over the past six years here at KP I’ve discussed the development of high-temperature superconductor technologies and their application to electric power systems, and today we have reached a milestone in that development: Power executives, engineers, and the media gathered recently to officially throw the switch at the $60 million Holbrook Superconductor project, …

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