Energy and climate policy, science, technology, and so forth.
The EPA is fixin to make a policy they say will combat “secret science” and increase transparency in government. I’m here to tell you WTF is up with that, and why this is not about transparency. It’s about resisting efforts to combat climate change in policy. Key context: The Clean Air Act requires the EPA […]
The terms of the TPP have been negotiated over many years, presumably in ill-lit hotel ballrooms and dungeon-like conference rooms. The Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) and various advisory committees have hammered this agreement out with 11 other nations over what has to be, like, 11,000 pots of weak coffee? And it’s finally […]
Should you get paid for NOT using electricity at the same rate you pay to use electricity? The answer is more important than you think.
Last week, you may have noticed that the House passed a flurry of bills slamming the EPA. Why does the House hate science and nature so hard? I’ll give you my take on what’s going on here. As far as I can tell, this all begins with air quality standards set by the EPA. The Clean […]
President Obama is inking up his ‘veto’ stamp and practicing his WTF face this week. Some of that was for the utterly useless Keystone XL bill, of course, but he’s also staying in veto-ready shape for the three EPA bills currently making their way through the House. One has passed the House already, HR 4012, also […]
The House voted today in favor of a bill that would eliminate the permitting process for the Keystone XL pipeline (H.R. 3). Why is Jen cranky about this? 1. It waives all permitting requirements for a foreign company’s project. We don’t do legislation-level permit-waivers for domestic companies. In short, we don’t do legislation “about” single corporations […]
If you’ve been following the past few posts about how energy markets work, you’re probably asking the following Deep Question: So what? If it’s true that markets are a complex information-gathering system, and that information is key to accurate price discovery for energy… what does that mean for you, Average Energy Consumer? One thing this […]
Libertarians, listen up! I’m preachin’ to y’all today. Renewable energy sources are not competitive with fossil fuels in the US. This is undeniable, but also batshit crazy. I want to talk about one way that government policy discourages the development of renewable technology. And it’s not subsidies for fossil fuels, so don’t roll your eyes […]
I have questions for you! Please weigh in. In 1865, W.S. Jevons wrote about the eventual depletion of coal in England. Here’s the quote: “This question concerning the duration of our present cheap supplies of coal cannot but excite deep interest and anxiety wherever or whenever it is mentioned. For a little reflection will show […]
In Parts 1 and 2, we learned about commodities and derivative markets. Today, we’ll talk about a different kind of natural gas trading, and, as promised, we’ll talk about the crack spread and why you love it. Hedging Further: OTC trading and commodity swaps Another type of risk-hedging is achieved through OTC (over-the-counter) trading. These are trades […]
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