Environmental policy

Another Waxman-markey Blemish: Reinforcing the Obsolete Utility Business Model

6 Comments / Economics, Electricity, Energy markets, Environmental policy / By

Lynne Kiesling Over the past few days Josh Blonz at Common Tragedies had a couple of posts (here and here) about the permit allocation issues in the Waxman-Markey bill, and yesterday Tim Haab picked up the conversation thread. They are both focusing on the welfare and efficiency implications of the proposal to allocate permits to …

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Water Footprint As the Next Big Thing

8 Comments / Economics, Environmental policy / By

Lynne Kiesling Wednesday’s Christian Science Monitor had an interesting article about burgeoning water scarcity issues: Move over, carbon, the next shoe to drop in the popular awareness of eco-issues is the “water footprint.” That’s the word in environmental circles these days. Just as the image of a heavy carbon foot made it possible for the …

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What Does Waxman-markey Have to Say About Kites?

2 Comments / Energy markets, Environmental policy, Politics / By

Michael Giberson The answer to the title question is “nothing,” according to Marc Gunther (though he admits of the difficulty of being certain when the bill is 932 pages and still in process). The kind of kites he has in mind are high-altitude solar power collectors, under development by the Makani Power company. That Waxman-Markey …

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Waxman-markey is Really a Command-and-control Energy Bill? No, Say It Ain’t So!

3 Comments / Economics, Environmental policy, Politics / By

Lynne Kiesling While we’re on a carbon note … [sarcasm] yeah, I’m shocked, really, totally shocked that, as Virginia Postrel notes, the 946-page Waxman-Markey House energy bill proposal is really a piece of command-and-control legislation.[/sarcasm] The WaPost notes that the “cap-and-trade” bill sponsored by Henry Waxman and Edward Markey is, in fact, loaded with all …

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KP Convergence in Chicago

2 Comments / Economics, Electricity, Energy markets, Environmental policy / By

Lynne Kiesling For once, both erstwhile KP authors are in the same place! I’ve organized a research roundtable at the Searle Center on Law, Regulation, and Economic Growth at Northwestern University, and Mike’s in town to attend. The event’s called Energy, Technology, and Institutions, and you can read the working papers to be discussed if …

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Solar Power: Policies Should Encourage Thoughtful Development

10 Comments / Electricity, Environmental policy / By

Michael Giberson Tom Konrad, writing at Alternative Energy Stocks, notes that “current incentives for Solar photovoltaics are good for encouraging more solar, but they are less effective at encouraging better solar.” (Emphasis added.) His quick review of policy options touches on renewable energy credits, feed-in tariffs, net metering, time-of-use rates, carbon pricing and other tools. …

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Bootleggers and Baptists and Carbon Policy

6 Comments / Economics, Environmental policy / By

Lynne Kiesling In today’s Wall Street Journal, Bjorn Lomborg has one of the clearest articulations of the bootleggers and Baptists dynamic in carbon policy, and nails one of the fundamental reasons why the Waxman-Markey bill is bad policy: Naturally, many CEOs are genuinely concerned about global warming. But many of the most vocal stand to …

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The Bicycle Paved the Road for Automobiles

5 Comments / Economic history, Environmental policy, Technology / By

Michael Giberson From Inventing Green, where WIRED writer Alexis Madrigal is blogging his research notes for a forthcoming book The History of Our Future, a discussion of how bicycling may have given the internal combustion engine an early leg up in its competition against steam and electric-powered automobiles (and eventually made the roads unsafe for …

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Administration Abandons Airport Landing Slot Auction

1 Comment / Economics, Environmental policy / By

Michael Giberson From the New York Times City Room, “U.S. Won’t Auction Airport Landing Slots“: The United States Department of Transportation has canceled a plan to auction landing slots at New York City’s three airports, officials announced on Wednesday, bringing an end to a widely criticized effort by the Bush administration to use market incentives …

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