Michael Giberson Have you been keeping up with the news out of Albany, New York? On Monday, with the support of two Democratic state senators the minority Republicans voted themselves back into the leadership positions. Democrats tried to prevent the maneuver by, among other things, turning off the lights in the Senate chamber, and having …
Michael Giberson The Full Goods Building at the Pearl Brewery in San Antonio has installed a solar power system, apparently the largest in Texas. You can find real time information on the system’s power output, current building load, and power consumption from the local utility from the online information kiosk (click the “Current Status” button). …
Michael Giberson From the inbox comes word that Paul Devlin’s documentary, Power Trip, will be aired this weekend on BBC World and in the PBS World Voices program. The film tells the story of the efforts of AES Corporation to succeed as the owners of the newly privatized (in January 1999) electric utility in Tbilisi, …
Michael Giberson Here are a couple of quick-and-dirty wind power forecasts for the ERCOT market for Summer 2009: Estimate 1 – Total 4,832,900 MWh June – 1,980,600 MWh July – 1,529,600 MWh August – 1,322,700 MWh Estimate 2 – Total 4,572,500 MWh June – 1,873,900 MWh July – 1,447,200 MWh August – 1,251,400 MWh By …
Estimated Wind Power Output in Ercot for Summer 2009 Read More »
Michael Giberson The answer to the title question is “nothing,” according to Marc Gunther (though he admits of the difficulty of being certain when the bill is 932 pages and still in process). The kind of kites he has in mind are high-altitude solar power collectors, under development by the Makani Power company. That Waxman-Markey …
What Does Waxman-markey Have to Say About Kites? Read More »
Michael Giberson A few years ago I attended a free concert in the park in Arlington, Virginia by The Grandsons. Between songs lead guitarist Alan MacEwen observed that the bass player had a gig in Atlantic City, New Jersey the night before and had barely arrived at the park moments before the concert was to …
Michael Giberson Robert Rapier explains a few ins and outs of ethanol. For example, he observes that ethanol producers like to claim that it is the oil company which blends ethanol into gasoline that is subsidized, not the ethanol producer itself (since the blender gets a credit against federal taxes — in fact, I just …
Michael Giberson Mankiw speculates on the differences between Econ department economists and business school economists. Among his suggestions, self-selection by the faculty member, the kind of research rewarded in each place, and this remark about the focus of students: Faculty who teach PhD students are used to being asked, “How did you derive that first-order …
Michael Giberson West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin released a statement last Thursday indicating his disappointment with Marathon Oil’s decision to temporarily halt sales to independent gasoline retailers in a part of the state affected by flooding and a May 9 declaration of emergency. The May 9 emergency declaration triggered the state’s price gouging law, and …
Predictable Consequences of Anti-price Gouging Laws Read More »
Michael Giberson From David Byrne’s review in the New York Times of Jeff Mapes book, Pedaling Revolution: [Mapes] argues that cycling promotion can raise society’s level of general fitness, since people exercise more when it seems less like exercise and more like something mostly enjoyable that also performs a function, like getting to work. “Bike …
About “Something Mostly Enjoyable That Also Performs a Function” Read More »
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