Lynne Kiesling Speaking of Neal Stephenson, he’s involved in a new, online, serialized novel called The Mongoliad. Set in 1241, it’s an adventure journey story with the Mongol invasions of Europe as a backdrop. There are some stories you can read on the site for free, but to receive the weekly chapters you have to …
Lynne Kiesling I have a Facebook etiquette question to pose. Different people use Facebook differently. My rule is to use Facebook to keep in touch with people I know personally, and only very rarely do I make any exception to that rule. This leaves me with a dilemma when I get friend requests from people …
Michael Giberson A story by Purva Patel in the Houston Chronicle does a reasonably good job explaining the upcoming shift from a zonal to a nodal market design for the ERCOT market in Texas. It is a complicated matter and hard to convey to non-specialist readers. (In fact, even some specialists appear confused about parts …
Nodal Pricing Coming to Texas Wholesale Power Market Read More »
Michael Giberson BP released the report of its internal investigation into the drilling accident in the Gulf of Mexico. Also available is a half-hour video explanation. The Financial Times energysource blog has identified some of the key points from the report and a response from Greenpeace as well: BP oil spill report: “No single factor” to …
BP’s “Deepwater Horizon: Accident Investigation Report” Read More »
Michael Giberson From Politics on the Hudson: Kaplowitz takes on Big Oil, says stronger ban on zone gasoline pricing could create a $1.3 billion “tax break” for New Yorkers. At a news conference today at 12:30 at the Shell Station in Bedford on the corner of Rt. 22 and Rt. 172, State Senate candidate Mike …
New York Assembly Candidate Proposes to *really* Ban Zone Pricing This Time Read More »
Lynne Kiesling Over the past few weeks I’ve been paying some attention to the increasing, and spreading, bedbug infestations in the U.S. I’m not particularly squeamish, but bedbugs are rapacious colony-dwelling critters that can survive for a year without food, feast on the blood of sleeping animals (humans YUM YUM), and colonize easily in mattresses …
Bedbugs, Public Policy, and Relative Risk Assessment Read More »
Michael Giberson Tom Konrad explains, “When it Makes Sense to Worry About Jevons Paradox, and When it Doesn’t.” Konrad highlights the critical point – whether demand for the good in question is elastic or inelastic – and suggests that the demand for electric power is relatively inelastic and therefore the demand for lighting is inelastic, hence …
Michael Giberson From the IEEE Global History Network: With the opening of the Pearl Street station in lower Manhattan at 3 o’clock in the afternoon on 4 September 1882, Thomas Edison publicly presented a complete system of commercial electric lighting and power. The success of the Edison bulb created a demand for a source of power. …
The 128th Anniversary of the Beginning of the Electric Power Industry Read More »
Michael Giberson The title above is a quote from Harold Margolis’s paper, “Are Economists Human?” HT Marginal Revolution. (I wonder if Tyler Cowen laughed when he read it?)
Michael Giberson Are monopoly municipal electric utilities supposed to be treated like piggy banks by city councils? For over 90 years Lubbock Texas has had two electric utilities serving the town – one regional state-regulated investor-owned utility (Xcel) and a municipal utility (LP&L). Both ran wires throughout the city and most customers could switch between the …
The City Council Puts Lubbock’s New Municipal Electric Monopoly to Use Read More »
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