Michael Giberson An economist is quoted in Platts’ Megawatt Daily commenting on a proposal within ERCOT to apply the same performance standards to wind farms as apply to other generators: On the one hand, it is desirable to have all market players working under the same rules, but on the other hand, rules are usually …
Lynne Kiesling This Marketplace story from Wednesday does a really good job of explaining the fundamental economics of new oil field discovery. The context for the story is BP’s discovery of a new oil field in the Gulf of Mexico, one of the largest discoveries in the past two decades. Part of the challenge, though, …
Michael Giberson Geoff Styles (“Can Solar Compete?“) observes two reports from MIT’s Technology Review: one from August 2009 that says cost reductions achieved in the solar power industry “have made solar power cheaper than the natural-gas-powered plants used to produce extra electricity to meet demand on hot summer days,” and another from the September/October 2009 …
Solar Makes Financial Sense in Austin, if You Are Subsidized… Read More »
Michael Giberson According to a new paper by Jim Bushnell, Ben Hobbs and Frank Wolak, “the desire of [state] legislatures and state PUCs to protect consumers from wholesale price volatility comes at a cost we believe few consumers would be willing to pay if it were made explicit, higher annual electricity bills.” And it isn’t …
State Legislatures and Pucs Prefer High Annual Electricity Bills for Retail Customers Read More »
Michael Giberson At Rigzone: Governments should consider their strategic petroleum reserves a part of their arsenal to limit speculation in the oil market, according to a report issued Thursday by Rice University’s James A. Baker Institute for Public Policy. If the policy is to sell SPR oil into the market when prices get “too high” …
Should the Federal Government Use the Spr to Counter Speculators? Read More »
Michael Giberson Joe Romm, at Climate Progress, offers a public wager to Michael Lynch, of the recent NYT op-ed opposing peak oil. Romm singles out this line from Lynch’s piece: Oil remains abundant, and the price will likely come down closer to the historical level of $30 a barrel as new supplies come forward…. And …
Joe Romm to Michael Lynch on Peak Oil: Wanna Bet? Read More »
Michael Giberson Here’s wishing a happy 150th birthday to the oil industry! On August 27, 1859, Edwin Drake and his steam engine succeeded, after weeks of work, in drilling a successful oil well. Actually, more like “chipping” than “drilling.” Alex Madrigal has the story and several old stereograph images: A western Pennsylvania river valley seems …
150th Anniversary of Edwin Drake’s First Oil Well in Pennsylvania Read More »
Michael Giberson A few days ago I mentioned Michael Lynch’s op-ed in the New York Times in which he takes a few swings at peak oil. Nate Hagens, at The Oil Drum, offers the beginning of a response: Peak Oil has never been about the amount of hydrocarbon molecules that exist, but flow rates, timing …
Michael Giberson Philip Tetlock – the expert on political expertise – reviews three books on political forecasting for The National Interest, but the problem of selecting a good forecast equally applies in commerce: Reading these three books, it is easy to feel like a frustrated shopper wandering aimlessly down the forecasting aisle in the supermarket …
Michael Giberson Energy consultant Michael Lynch, appearing in the New York Times, says peak oilers don’t know the oil business. “Peak Oil Is a Waste of Energy.” NRG Energy CEO David Crane, in the Washington Post, asserts we need a national energy plan with a regional focus: solar for the Southwest, wind for the Great …
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