Michael Giberson Joshua Keating, in Foreign Policy, offers a photo essay on lithium extraction in Bolivia. Keating said: Bolivia hopes its lithium treasure can pull it up from the bottom rungs of the global economy, but as countries throughout the developing world have learned the hard way, resource wealth can just as easily lead to …
Michael Giberson On Marc Gunther’s blog, a guest post by John Harrell of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance argues that the “last thing renewable energy needs right now are new transmission lines.” The view is not, he admits, shared by folks in the renewable energy business. The ILSR has a second edition out of a …
New Transmission Lines Are the Last Thing Renewable Power Needs, Says John Harrell Read More »
Michael Giberson Power consumers in New York and New England markets rely on imports from Canada, so they may be interested in discussions between Quebec and New Brunswick that would give Quebec more control over power delivered from Eastern Canada into the Northeastern United States. The Globe and Mail reports: Quebec and New Brunswick are …
Power Consumers in New York and New England Markets Rely on Imports from Canada Read More »
Michael Giberson Regular readers of Knowledge Problem will know that both Lynne and I are enthusiastic about the potential for smart meters and the smart grid to benefit consumers. (The difference between us on this topic is that she knows much much more than I do. Examples: One, two, three, and four.) But, as Lynne …
Smart Meter Benefits Mostly Going to Utilities So Far Read More »
Michael Giberson More thoughts on economic issues related to the Tres Amigas project, an ambitious proposal to connect the Western, Eastern, and Texas electric grids via a three-way high tech transmission link located in eastern New Mexico. (Earlier: Tres Amigas intro and Economics for …). Europeans have had several years of experience connecting separate national …
Market Designs for Tres Amigas: How About Trilateral Market Coupling? Read More »
Michael Giberson NewsWatch:Energy puts together a pretty good list of energy links, today noting the National Research Council’s new “Hidden costs of energy: Unpriced consequences of energy production and use.” (Surprise: coal looks bad. But note that much of the harm arises from a small number of coal-fueled generators. The rest of the coal-burners are …
External Costs of Energy Production, Auditing the Energy Star Program, and More Read More »
Michael Giberson Tres Amigas is a proposed project to link the Eastern Interconnection, Western Interconnection, and the Texas Interconnection (ERCOT) by means of a high-tech three-way superconducting AC-DC-AC connection. You might wonder what economics has to say about such an unprecedented and innovative proposal. Consider this summary from Ralph Turvey, “Interconnector Economics,” Energy Policy, 34 …
Michael Giberson In a previous post I was complaining that the entrenched regulated utility industry makes the electric power business resistant to entrepreneurial efforts to shake things up, even when those entrepreneurs want to do things that regulators, utilities, and consumers say they want. (Like environmentally-friendly cogeneration projects, as The New Republic story mentioned.) A …
An Illustration of the Problem Discussed in an Earlier Post Read More »
Michael Giberson The New Republic has an excellent article by Bradford Plumer about the current state of the electric power industry and the prospects of the industry achieving what diverse interests expect of it. (Yes, in TNR, who’d a thunk it?) The article highlights the political economy of regulated electric utilities and their immense lobbying …
Private Wires and the Electric Power Industry You Want Read More »
Michael Giberson A high-profile, high-technology power project is making waves well beyond the small town of Clovis, New Mexico, where it has secured land for development. I’ve been telling my students and anyone else I can induce to listen to me for a few minutes (i.e., mostly just my students) that my new hometown of …
Tres Amigas Project Proposes to Connect Eastern, Western, and Texas Power Grids Read More »
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