Michael Giberson New York is about to find out whether zone pricing in gasoline markets is as bad for consumers as some people believe. Zone pricing is “a gasoline industry practice of selling the same brands and grades of fuel to retail sellers at different prices depending on the ‘price zone’ in which the retail …
Michael Giberson An excellent look at ExxonMobil in the Sunday New York Times. The article makes a strong case for the view that ExxonMobil is one of the best run large international corporations in the world. The article observes that the company has reacted to recent record profits by, among other things, increasing dividends and …
“Exxon is a Cash Machine, and They Could Be Using That Cash to …” Read More »
Chris Masse at Midas Oracle links to “How Companies Are Using IT To Spot Innovative Ideas,” an article at Information Week. Among the examples cited: …Starbucks uses the same voting platform, at MyStarbucksIdea.com, and took an online suggestion posted Oct. 7 by BillMac to offer a free cup of coffee Nov. 4 to anyone in …
Crowdsourcing Can Produce New Ideas, but Run Them by Legal First… Read More »
Michael Giberson From the Star-Tribune in Minnesota, “Xcel looks to harness wind energy for use even when there’s no wind “: Next spring Xcel Energy Inc., the state of Minnesota and a Virginia-based technology firm will test the first battery in the country capable of storing wind energy. Well, that’s a bit wrong. Any battery …
The First Battery in the Country Capable of Storing Wind Energy? Read More »
Michael Giberson Jeffrey Ball at the WSJ’s Environmental Capital blog describes Xcel Energy’s first steps in bringing Vehicle-to-grid power into its SmartGridCity effort in Boulder, Colorado: So far, it’s pretty small potatoes, involving exactly one car and one plug. But boosters say it has the potential to revolutionize – and revitalize — our aging power …
Not the Only Car-of-the-future Looking for a Handout Read More »
Michael Giberson The post title is drawn from the conclusion of Roland Horne’s essay, “The future of petroleum — and of petroleum education.” The essay runs through a peak oil explanation – citing advocates and critics of the concept – and offers a sort of mild endorsement of peak oil theories. However, Horne suggests that …
Students of Energy in Universities Today Will Find Themselves in a New World Tomorrow Read More »
Michael Giberson Recently Southwestern Public Service (SPS), a local utility affiliated with Xcel Energy, issued two RFPs seeking wind power and dispatchable power resources. Among the language in both RFPs, an assertion that in evaluating the proposals “SPS seeks to diversify and minimize the development risk in its selected portfolio.” But, ideally, they should aim …
Financial Theories Can Aid in Improving a Utility’s Fuel Mix Diversity Read More »
Michael Giberson “Both voting and not voting are motivated by the thought that you are better than other people.” — Tyler Cowen Or maybe you’d prefer to have Gordon Tullock’s views on voting: Here is a link to a short video called “Voting Schmoting“. [HT to Frederic Sautet.]
Michael Giberson Texas, 33 yet Texas Tech, 39 Autumn weekend game Also see column by Ivan Maisel at ESPN.com. More.
Michael Giberson Ray Fisman writes in Slate about recent research showing stock price movements before CIA-sponsored political coups that suggest insiders in the intelligence community were trading on classified information: A recent study by economists Arindrajit Dube, Ethan Kaplan, and Suresh Naidu argues that those in on the planning process also profited handsomely. By tracking …
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