About Social Media Today
environmental economics
Water Resources and Climate Change: A Key Area of Concern
Although much of the discussion about climate change impacts has focused on increases in temperature and the rise in sea level, changes that impact our nation’s water resources could have the greatest impact on society. A quick glance at recent newspaper headlines—heavy spring rains leading to massive flooding of the Mississippi River,... [read more]
Contingent valuation critic wins the Nobel Prize*
By Tim Haab, Environmental EconomicsFrom the NYTimes: The 2010 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science was awarded on Monday to Peter A. Diamond, Dale T. Mortensen and Christopher A Pissarides for their work on markets where buyers and sellers have difficulty finding each other, in particular in labor markets. That's all well and... [read more]
New evidence on the job impacts of climate policy: Why now is the right time to cap carbon
This was originally posted on the Huffington Post. Opponents of climate legislation often claim that now is the wrong time to put a price on carbon, with the economy just emerging from a recession. But a must-read study released by the well-respected, nonpartisan Peterson Institute for International Economics shows that the reverse is... [read more]
The case for strong climate policy is simple. A cap on carbon pollution is, too.
Edward L. Glaeser makes the case for simplicity in addressing climate change. I couldn’t agree more with his premise. The basic economics are indeed simple. Climate change might be the largest market failure the world has ever seen. To correct it, put the right incentives in place: correct the fact that we currently treat the atmosphere... [read more]
Why the American Power Act is Not a Corporate Give-Away
In his insightful post, Rob Stavins makes two key points regarding the allocation of emission allowances under climate legislation like that introduced last week by Senators Kerry and Lieberman. First, Stavins addresses head-on the concerns that some progressives have toward the allocation provisions in the bill, asking in the title of... [read more]
Per capita energy consumption has declined in the United States
At the Freakonomics blog, James McWilliams offers a review of sorts of Robert Bryce’s new book Power Hungry: The Myths of “Green” Energy and the Real Fuels of the Future. McWilliams reports that the book is “a sustained attack on our irrational infatuation with wind and solar power.” Part of Bryce’s “sustained attack” is a... [read more]
Electricity generation, New Source Review, and waste
On Friday at Environmental Economics, Tim Haab wrote about the implications of New Source Review for innovation in a regulated industry, and how to represent it in the standard Pigouvian model (do go read the whole post, it’s very useful). The basic question is this: does the stifling of innovation that results from New Source Review... [read more]
On Externalities, regulation and technological improvements
Yesterday, I taught the basics of externalities, Pigouvian taxes and cap'n trade in my principles of micro class. To motivate it, I talk about sulfur dioxide emissions from coal fired utilities (always a thrill for students). The graph to the right depicts SO2 emissions in the U.S. from 1980 to 2008. As you can... [read more]
Estimating the lost recreational fishing value of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill
In 2000, John and I submitted a report to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA, get it?) entitled: The Economic Value of Marine Recreational Fishing in the Southeast United States. In the report, we used the fatally flawed Marine Recreational Fisheries Statistics Survey (1997 data) to estimate the value of... [read more]
But what about damages? BP obligations under the Oil Pollution Act
Under the 1990 Oil Pollution Act, passed a year after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, the company [BP] is required to foot the bill for the cleanup. via www.cnn.com But BP's obligations will go well beyond cleanup: The Oil Pollution Act (OPA) of 1990 was passed in the wake of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. The statute addresses oil... [read more]
Note to Environmentalists Part II
The climate change bill that was supposed to be unveiled in the Senate on Monday is now on indefinite hold. Senator Lindsey Graham, the lone Republican supporter, walked away from the bill because President Obama and the Democratic leadership signaled that immigration reform may come first. Harry Reid responded immediately to Graham’s... [read more]
Advocates for climate mitigation again understate case?
The Center for Climate Strategies is releasing a major study on the Economic Impacts of Comprehensive U.S. Climate and Energy Policy (press release, pdf) (report summary). This study details how 23 strategies, if undertaken as part of a national policy, would result in 2.5 million net new jobs and a $134.3 billion expansion... [read more]
Note to Environmentalists: Economists are on your side
There is a tendency among some environmental writers to dismiss “classical”, “traditional”, “neoliberal”, or “mainstream” economics as somehow inimical to environmental interests. The problem is that more often than not these writers get the facts wrong. It’s almost as if the knee-jerk aversion to economics that exists among many... [read more]
Krugman explains environmental economics
Paul Krugman, a man whose work I admire for its pedagogical value as well as its chance of being the one thing on this planet that makes economics and economists cool, has a long piece in the NY Times about environmental economics. To say it’s worth your time to read the whole thing would be a laughable understatement. So ignore... [read more]
California’s solar hot water initiative
Yesterday the California Public Utilities Commission approved a program to subsidize installation of solar hot water heaters. Green Inc. at nytimes.com provides a description of the solar hot water program. The description emphasizes the goals of the program (reduce use of natural gas and electricity to heat water, primarily... [read more]
-
Baby You Can Drive My (Electric) Car
Posted May 11, 2012 by Scott Edward Anderson
-
Siemens develops ABS plastic alternative
Posted May 9, 2012 by Doris de Guzman
-
Reduce CO2 and Slow Global Warming?
Posted April 30, 2012 by Willem Post
-
Hidroenergia 2012
May 25, 2012, Wroclaw, Poland
-
WGC 2012 - 25th World Gas Conference
June 4, 2012, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
-
Ecwatech 2012
June 4, 2012, Moscow, Russia
The moderated community for energy, policy, and environment professionals
What's New on
Scott Edward Anderson is a consultant, blogger, and media commentator who blogs at The Green Skeptic. More »
Marc Gunther is a writer, speaker and consultant, who focuses on business and the environment. More »
Christine Hertzog is a consultant, author, and a professional explainer focused on Smart Grid. More »
Jesse Jenkins is the director of energy and climate policy at the Breakthrough Institute. More »
Robert Rapier works in the energy industry and writes and speaks about energy and the environment. More »
Geoffrey Styles is Managing Director of GSW Strategy Group, LLC and an award-winning blogger. More »
Dan Yurman is a nuclear energy blogger and writes regularly for Fuel Cycle Week. More »
The Energy Collective
- YOU
- Rod Adams
- Scott Edward Anderson
- Charles Barton
- Barry Brook
- Dick DeBlasio
- Simon Donner
- Big Gav
- Michael Giberson
- James Greenberger
- Lou Grinzo
- Marc Gunther
- Tyler Hamilton
- Christine Hertzog
- David Hone
- Jesse Jenkins
- Lynne Kiesling
- Sonita Lontoh
- Jesse Parent
- Vicky Portwain
- Tom Raftery
- Robert Rapier
- Joseph Romm
- Robert Stavins
- Robert Stowe
- Geoffrey Styles
- Alex Trembath
- Gernot Wagner
- John Whitehead
- Dan Yurman
Global JOJOBAWORLD 2012
When: Fri, 2012-05-25 09:00
Hidroenergia 2012
When: Fri, 2012-05-25 09:00
NESCO Town Hall: Security Risk Management Practices for Electric Utilities
When: Wed, 2012-05-30 13:00
Ecwatech 2012
When: Mon, 2012-06-04 09:00
WGC 2012 - 25th World Gas Conference
When: Mon, 2012-06-04 09:00
2nd CSP Optimisation Summit
When: Tue, 2012-06-05 08:00
“Cities will need to be retrofitted, as a whole. There's much work to be done. Vertical farming and other forms of energy/space/agriculture integration will be necessary to further sustain how humans live on this planet.”
“David,Reserves, potential resources and production are not interchangeable, and apocalyptic statements that depend on conflating them are thus fundamentally flawed. Your cogent analysis makes this crucial distinction well. It just needs a bigger audience.”