Michael Giberson I know that Netflix’s recommendation engine has some serious computation behind it, and it often offers up interesting and useful suggestions. But occasionally it puzzles me, and I wonder if it is incredibly deep in its analysis or simply somewhat random. Case in point: Suggested: American Experience: Into the Deep Because you enjoyed: It Might …
Michael Giberson From the Eugene, Oregon Register-Guard, “Critics say BPA drops ball while juggling its power“: So much electricity flooded Pacific Northwest powerlines last spring — thanks to rainy, stormy weather powering hydroelectric and wind turbines — that this spring, a federal agency wants the option of turning off wind turbines to keep the system from …
BPA Still Won’t Pay Negative Prices to Get Wind Power Producers to Curtail Read More »
Michael Giberson ABC News last week tackled the question, “Are Gas Stations Price Gouging?” (2:23 min. video) Surprisingly, I liked this story, though (and probably because) they mostly sidestep their question about price gouging and instead go in pursuit of “the highest priced gasoline in America.” They find it at a convenience store just outside …
Michael Giberson A new blog explores the world of Bleeding Heart Libertarians. Matt Zwolinski created the blog as “a forum for academic philosophers who are attracted both to libertarianism and to ideals of social or distributive justice.” He has attracted a top-notch group of collaborators, and the first two weeks of operation has produced a …
Michael Giberson Rob Harmon gave a TEDx talk last fall in Seattle on a market mechanism that links willing buyers and willing sellers in a way that protects in-stream water flows and helps restore stream ecosystems. Harmon was formerly with the Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF) in Portland, Oregon, where he was a developer of the …
Rob Harmon at Tedxranier: How the Market Can Keep Streams Flowing Read More »
Michael Giberson As previously mentioned here at KP, I cringe when I see Hayek’s “knowledge problem” insight wielded as a rhetorical club. Yet when wielded with subtlety the knowledge problem is, like a rapier, a quite delicate and forceful weapon. Carefully deployed it is the editorialist’s scalpel. So, contrary to the sidebar chatter, I did …
Hayek’s Knowledge Problem Wielded Like a Scalpel Read More »
Michael Giberson The Seaway Pipeline is built to carry crude oil from the Gulf Coast to Cushing, Oklahoma, but with the current price differential between crude oil at the coast and crude oil at Cushing, each barrel delivered on the pipeline loses about $10-15 of value. The Streetwise Professor does a little back of the …
Michael Giberson In February, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission made its eleventh report to the U.S. Congress on the status of efforts to build a natural gas pipeline in Alaska. The twice-annual reports are required by the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Three efforts to bring gas from the North Slope of Alaska to market …
Progress Toward a Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline Thwarted by Shale Gas Read More »
Michael Giberson John Tierney’s column, “When Energy Efficiency Sullies the Environment,” in the New York Times examines the rebound effect and some of the broader consequences of trying to promote conservation through policies inducing energy efficiency. Some of the biggest rebound effects occur when new economic activity results from energy-efficient technologies that reduce the cost …
Michael Giberson The recent New York Times series on natural gas fracking suggested that poorly treated produced water was being discharged into streams and rivers in Pennsylvania, and that disposal of produced water was a larger environmental issue than groundwater contamination from poorly completed wells. A key concern raised in both industry and regulator documents …
Fracking Wastewater Not Causing Radioactivity Issues in Pennsylvia Rivers Read More »
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