Michael Giberson The new Jan./Feb. 2011 issue of the Electricity Journal is now available, and it contains the usual range of interesting things to consider. Take, for instance, the article “Rede?ning Renewable Portfolio Standards: The Value of Installed Renewable Capacity.” The article observes, reasonably so, that some sources of renewable power can dependably generate power …
Michael Giberson Among the complications caused by the cold weather last week, short supply of natural gas throughout much of the southwest United States. Reports indicate some gas wells were freezing up and loss of electric power to gas production systems, but more of the problem was loss of power to natural gas pipelines. And, …
The Natural Gas That Didn’t Come in from the Cold Read More »
Michael Giberson In WIRED, Jonah Lehrer reports on how Toronto geological statistician Mohan Srivastava discovered a flaw in a lottery scratch-off game. As a trained statistician with degrees from MIT and Stanford University, Srivastava was intrigued by the technical problem posed by the lottery ticket. In fact, it reminded him a lot of his day …
Better Living Through Applied Statistics: Cracking Scratch-off Lottery Games Read More »
Michael Giberson In other commentary on ERCOT’s rolling blackouts: “Some Companies Made Millions Off the Texas Blackouts.” While Texans suffered rolling blackouts yesterday, some power generators were enjoying windfall profits. Starting around 5 a.m., prices in the wholesale market surged to the market cap, $3,000 per megawatt-hour, and stayed there, off and on, until around …
Texas Observer: Some Companies Made Millions Off the Texas Blackouts Read More »
Michael Giberson Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal included a story on HOT lanes and other ways commuters can buy through congestion, “American Idle: On the Road.” One excerpt: In the early years of the nation, entrepreneurs built toll roads, offering travelers a faster carriage ride in return for money. Now, the concept of the toll road …
Michael Giberson [Note: This item was originally posted at MasterResource as: “Texas Power Outages: A Preliminary Analysis (Cold snap brings failure–isolated ERCOT an issue)“] Wednesday morning, ERCOT, the power grid operator for much of Texas, called upon local distribution companies to cut power to blocks of consumers on a rotating basis. The rolling outages were a …
Cold Snap Brings Rolling Power Outages to Texas; is Ercot Policy of Isolation at Fault? Read More »
Michael Giberson Among the casualties of yesterday’s rolling blackouts in the ERCOT power system was a Texas A&M University conference dedicated to helping solve global energy challenges. Via the Texas A&M News and Information Service: Texas A&M System Gearing Up To Help Solve Global Energy Challenges COLLEGE STATION, Feb. 3, 2011—The Texas A&M University System …
Michael Giberson The Justice Department of the United States has agreed to a $12 million settlement with KeySpan Corporation on a Sherman antitrust act claim. The allegation was that KeySpan manipulated the New York ISO capacity market price in its part of the state from May 2006 through February 2008, reaping an estimated $49 million …
United States V. Keyspan Corporation Antitrust Case Settles for Paltry $12 Million Read More »
Michael Giberson Which of these former elected officials doesn’t love ethanol mandates? Is it former vice president Al Gore, Democrat from Tennessee; former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, Republican from Georgia; or former Senator Rick Santorum, Republican from Pennsylvania? The answer is…
Michael Giberson Ethiopia devalues currency => prices jump => consumers complain => government issues price controls to stop price gouging => goods disappear from market shelves. Yep, no surprises here. From www.voanews.com: Price Controls Cause Chaos in Ethiopian Markets Price controls on many staple food items ordered by Ethiopia’s government early this month have reduced grocery bills …
From the “No Surprises Here Department”: Price Controls Cause Chaos in Ethiopian Markets Read More »
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