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It Takes a Crisis: Climate Change and Energy Policy
Some environmentalists and alternative energy advocates have expressed disappointment with the Obama administration. Though the president has talked about the need for action on climate change and has touted a national Clean Energy Standard, there...
Energy Price Volatility and the Energy Security Trust
Do politicians understand anything about energy markets? Even things like facts?In a speech at the Argonne National Lab President Obama declared that we need the $2 billion Energy Security Trust, "… to really break this cycle of spiking gas prices,...
Defining Success Downward?
In his letter of resignation as Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu pointedly rebutted those who have focused attention on the bankruptcies of Solyndra and several other companies given large loans by the Department of Energy. He wrote: “While critics...
Renewable Energy Portfolio Standards Mandates: What Gives?
The basic question for proponents of Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) is this: What exactly are you trying to accomplish? ...
Getting It Wrong: A Brief History of Energy Forecasts
Recent forecasts argue the U.S. will be energy independent in the next decade or maybe two. Or at least North America will be energy independent, with the U.S. taking the place of Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest oil producer. The U.S. will...
Would a North American Energy Pact Lead to Energy Independence?
“Screw the Canadians and be good to the Venezuelans.”So Richard Nixon advised his aides in 1970. This was about oil; the Canadians were not doing what U.S. officials wanted. So screw them.Forty-two years later, the situation is quite different...
Is Energy Independence Undesirable?
According to Mitt Romney, the United States will become energy independent when it no longer imports oil from unfriendly and unstable countries such as Venezuela and Middle Eastern kingdoms; in a Romney presidency we will only import oil from Canada...
