Lynne Kiesling … or he’s being fatuous; I prefer to think he’s trying too hard. Bryan Caplan’s got a challenge to come up with an example of radical ignorance/Knightian uncertainty that’s better than the Trojan horse example. Arnold Kling’s got a response for him, as does Tyler Cowen. They are all focused on the important …
Radical Ignorance and Knightian Uncertainty: Bryan’s Thinking Too Hard … Read More »
Lynne Kiesling Did the Reason article from the Kiesling/Bailey/Smith carbon policy panel that I linked to earlier this week just whet your appetite? Then this Reason Roundtable on Climate Change is for you! There has been much discussion in free market circles about market-based solutions to global warming that minimize the threat that big government …
Lynne Kiesling On Wednesday Toyota announced that they would release a plug-in hybrid vehicle by 2010, and that they will manufacture hybrid versions of all vehicles over the next 20 years. The battery in the PHEV will be lithium ion, but Toyota is working on developing nickel metal hydride batteries, as well as other battery …
Toyota’s Long-term Vehicle Strategy: Move Beyond Petroleum Read More »
Lynne Kiesling Another rollercoaster day on oil markets … here’s an interesting observation from a Bloomberg article on the topic: “Refiners are managing the crude supply they have on hand because they are worried about weak product demand,” said Tim Evans, an energy analyst for Citi Futures Perspective in New York. “Both gasoline and distillate …
The Demand for Gasoline is Downward Sloping, How About That? Read More »
Lynne Kiesling The Economist has an article this week on the energy efficiency and reliability-enhancing characteristics of intelligent appliances, with the catchy title of “fridges of the world, unite!”. They discuss the GridWise Olympic Peninsula Testbed project in which I participated, although they focus on the frequency control aspect of the project and not on …
Economist on Intelligent Appliances and Energy Efficiency Read More »
Lynne Kiesling Here’s an online edited version of the transcript, and a link to the video of a discussion panel that Ron Bailey, Fred Smith, and I did at a Reason in DC event in October 2007. It was a very lively conversation! The transcript is in the July 2008 print edition of Reason.
Lynne Kiesling Check out this cool Financial Times article on Dutch use of operations research to optimize their train network and timetable. Imagine trying to create a system detailing the precise movements of 5,500 daily train services, thousands of pieces of rolling stock and all the personnel needed to run a railway network (a typical …
Use Operations Research to Maximize Value in a Train Network Read More »
Lynne Kiesling There are a couple of very interesting recent solar developments that have substantial economic implications. First, the blue sky stuff: courtesy of Slashdot, a team of researchers in the Netherlands have demonstrated avalanche effects in semiconductors that can be used in solar cells (here’s the original article). Avalanche effects mean that instead of …
Lynne Kiesling I seriously gave myself an injury yesterday morning when I saw the Wall Street Journal article on the Congressional bill to nationalize hurricane reinsurance. Have we learned nothing about moral hazard from flood insurance, from the savings and loan fiasco, and so on? So I’m glad that Tim Haab’s on the case, pointing …
Government Hurricane Reinsurance :headdesk: :headdesk: Read More »
Lynne Kiesling One of the things I like about publication is that I don’t ever seem to lose that childlike fascination that Steve Martin had in The Jerk when he saw his name in the phone book and declared “I’m somebody!” With that same childlike fascination I am pleased to announce that you can now …
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