Michael Giberson Have you noticed images of wind turbines appearing in ads for everything from cars to banks to university programs? For many people, wind turbines have a kind of stately grace, a beauty, a high-tech glamour. In the Wall Street Journal, Virginia Postrel claimed that wind power (and high-speed rail) gets a public-policy boost from the …
Glamour and Policy – Virginia Postrel in the Wsj Read More »
Michael Giberson Last night CBS News show 60 Minutes ran a piece on shale gas development (video link, text link). The consensus among folks who have been following the issue is that while the story didn’t break new ground, it presumably raised the profile of the issue a bit. The Times-Leader (Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania) story presents a good …
Reactions to the 60 Minutes Program “Shaleionaires” Read More »
Michael Giberson At PERC Reports, Shawn Regan argues that rules preventing direct participation by environmentalists in federal land lease auctions leaves few options available to such groups other than lobbying for political protection (or worse): Under current federal leasing rules, leases cannot be held by environmental groups for non-consumptive use. Even if they are the …
Who Should Be Able to Bid for Oil and Gas Leases on Federal Land? Read More »
Michael Giberson The High Country News reports that Portland General Electric is considering shutting down its Boardman, OR, coal-fired power plant, with costs of Clean Air Act compliance cited as the cause. However, another option under consideration is conversion of the plant to biomass, more specifically converted to use a torrefied Asian cane that would …
Michael Giberson The Houston Chronicle reports the growing interest in Texas in still-expensive solar power: Surely some wiseacre is on record observing that there are two things Texas has plenty of: hot air and hot sun. But Texas may eventually have the last laugh. The state, which already leads the nation in turning wind into …
Michael Giberson Some news reports are suggesting the U.S. is now less likely to pass climate change legislation, but prospects for policies boosting renewable power may have improved slightly. Ever more timely, then, is this 2008 analysis of proposed national renewable portfolio standards by Jay Apt, Lester Lave, and Sompop Pattanariyankool: “A national renewable portfolio …
National Renewable Power Standards? Still Not Practical Read More »
Michael Giberson The Environmental Defense Fund’s Scott Anderson and Southwestern Energy EVP Mark Boling have been working together on proposed environmental rules to govern the use of hydraulic fracturing, a key technique in the development of shale gas resources. The Houston Chronicle reports: Energy companies and environmental groups have more often been adversaries than allies …
Industry, Environmental Group Working on Shale Gas Drilling Rules Read More »
Michael Giberson National Geographic takes an in-depth look at changes being brought to Pennsylvania courtesy of the development of the Marcellus shale for natural gas. They give us many different viewpoints through which to see the changes – landowners for and against, job-seekers, small business owner, environmentalist – all in all excellent work. About the …
Shale Gas in Pennsylvania, Illustrated & Explained Read More »
Michael Giberson At Master Resource, Daren Bakst and Carlo Stagnaro take apart a report by the North Carolina Waste Awareness & Reduction Network (NC WARN) that concluded that solar power was now cheaper than nuclear power. The short version of the story is that NC WARN’s analysis treated federal and state subsidies as reducing the cost of …
Michael Giberson Last week scholars from the American Enterprise Institute, the Brookings Institutions, and the Breakthrough Institute joined together to release “Post-Partisan Power,” (more here) a paper advocating substantial increases in federal spending on energy research and development in pursuit of goals including American economic growth, national security, and health and safety. They lost me at …
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