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 »
Michael Giberson The current issue of The Economist reports on research that concluded “making lighting more efficient could increase energy use, not decrease it.” SOLID-STATE lighting, the latest idea to brighten up the world while saving the planet, promises illumination for a fraction of the energy used by incandescent or fluorescent bulbs. A win all …
The Economist: Making Lighting More Efficient Could Increase Energy Use Read More »
Michael Giberson 1. Existing models are fairly poor predictors of future oil production. 2. “Organized Wholesale Markets Are Competitive And Delivering Benefits To Consumers” says the Electric Power Supply Association in this summary of market monitors’ analyses of RTO/ISO power markets in the United States. 3. The Cultural and Political Economy of Reconstruction by Emily …
Michael Giberson The Texas Tribune offers an up-to-date overview of the Tres Amigas project. Here is the intro: Texas has always operated its own energy grid, separate from the two other grids that span the rest of the nation. But a project quietly emerging in eastern New Mexico would curb that independence — and affect …
Michael Giberson From the “Things that make you go Hmmmm” file, note things take an interesting turn in paragraph 4: W2 Energy, Inc. is pleased to announce that it has become a research affiliate of the Arizona Research Institute for Solar Energy (AzRISE). AzRISE (www.azrise.org) is a global institute at the University of Arizona in …
Michael Giberson I suppose it is still true that, as Raymond de Roover wrote in 1958, “The history of price regulation remains to be written….” The full sentence and several more (emphasis added): The history of price regulation remains to be written, but we know it to be a tale of woe. In the absence …
The History of Price Regulation is a Tale of Woe Read More »
Michael Giberson It is harder to hand out subsidies than you think, or at least hard to do it well. The Arizona Republic explains some of the difficulties utilities in the state are having with their renewable energy subsidy programs. For example, when Salt River Project announced it was going to cut it’s subsidy for …
Michael Giberson In a post that actually isn’t about the “question marks swirling around high speed rail,” Eric Morris quotes approvingly a remark from Randal O’Toole, a big fan of trains and also a big critic of public subsidies for trains: “I don’t expect taxpayers to subsidize these preferences any more than if I liked …
A Post Which Isn’t About the Question Marks Swirling Around High Speed Rail Read More »
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