What (if anything) to do about California gasoline price spikes
Here we go again. A couple refinery disruptions, a pipeline shutdown, and before you know it gas prices in California have jumped more than 50 cents compared to the rest of the country. Soon...
View ArticleWhat’s Keystone XL got to do with it?
Let’s face it. The opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline isn’t about dirty oil. It’s about oil. James Hansen and the other leading opponents focus on the greenhouse gases is that will be released when...
View ArticlePeak electricity pricing can save you money
Here in California, summer weather is quickly approaching and once again parts of the state are facing potential electricity shortages. This year the biggest concern is in Southern California due...
View ArticlePutting a collar on carbon prices
When it was launched in 2005, the European Union cap and trade program for greenhouse gases (known as the Emissions Trading System or EU-ETS) was a bold and important step in addressing climate change....
View ArticleThe California Solar Initiative is ending. What has it left behind?
Nearly all the money has been spent, and the California Solar Initiative is winding down. The direct CSI subsidy for installing photovoltaic (PV) panels on your house, which started at $2.50 per watt...
View ArticleRate-design wars are the sound of utilities taking residential PV seriously
Imagine walking into your supermarket with a bag of zucchini from your garden and saying that you’d like to trade them straight up for an equal quantity of zucchini next month. The store manager would...
View ArticleIs demonizing ‘big carbon’ a strategy or a cop-out?
Are we really being tricked, bullied or seduced into burning fossil fuels? That seems to be the message behind two arguments made recently by prominent advocates for climate action: we should blame...
View ArticleWhat wood smoke has taught me about fighting climate change
While much of the U.S. has been dealing with severe winter weather, California is experiencing a record dry spell. The clear skies have also brought some cold nights and, with them, wood smoke. What...
View ArticleIn defense of picking winners
Virtually all economists working on climate change agree that we should price greenhouse-gas emissions. Doing so creates an incentive to reduce emissions without the government directing specific...
View ArticleIt’s time to refocus California’s climate strategy
You know this already, but let’s review: Climate change is a global emissions problem. California produces about 1% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Over the next few decades, the majority of...
View ArticleWhat’s a university to do about climate change?
About a year ago, I blogged about the fossil-fuel divestment movement at universities, arguing that it is unlikely to have any effect, and that even if it did it would be to raise fuel prices, which we...
View ArticleKeystone XL, energy policy and the job-creation shuffle
Renewable energy proponents and advocates of the Keystone pipeline finally agree on something: that the right way to count “job creation” is to focus narrowly on the jobs in the industry they want to...
View ArticleIs residential solar really the future of electricity generation?
Renewable energy technologies have made outstanding progress in the last decade. The cost of solar panels has plummeted. Wind turbines have become massively more efficient. In many places some forms...
View ArticleFeeling smug about your solar rooftop? Not so fast
If you installed solar panels on your roof and feel aglow with environmental virtue, you may be in for a rude awakening. There’s a good chance someone else has purchased your halo and is wearing it...
View ArticleThe California Solar Initiative is ending. What has it left behind?
Nearly all the money has been spent, and the California Solar Initiative is winding down. The direct CSI subsidy for installing photovoltaic (PV) panels on your house, which started at $2.50 per watt...
View ArticleRate-design wars are the sound of utilities taking residential PV seriously
Imagine walking into your supermarket with a bag of zucchini from your garden and saying that you’d like to trade them straight up for an equal quantity of zucchini next month. The store manager would...
View ArticleIs demonizing ‘big carbon’ a strategy or a cop-out?
Are we really being tricked, bullied or seduced into burning fossil fuels? That seems to be the message behind two arguments made recently by prominent advocates for climate action: we should blame...
View ArticleWhat wood smoke has taught me about fighting climate change
While much of the U.S. has been dealing with severe winter weather, California is experiencing a record dry spell. The clear skies have also brought some cold nights and, with them, wood smoke. What...
View ArticleIn defense of picking winners
Virtually all economists working on climate change agree that we should price greenhouse-gas emissions. Doing so creates an incentive to reduce emissions without the government directing specific...
View ArticleIt’s time to refocus California’s climate strategy
You know this already, but let’s review: Climate change is a global emissions problem. California produces about 1% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Over the next few decades, the majority of...
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