Blog

19Jun

A Legal Approach to Emissions Reduction, An Eye Towards a Global Challenge

The EPA rolled out the final version of its long-anticipated Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule this morning. The rule is the replacement for the so-called Clean Power Plan (CPP), which the previous administration claimed as its crowning environmental achievement. Quite an achievement it was. Along with never being implemented due to an unprecedented stay from […]
12Jun

A Roll of the Dice

Jerry Jones, the enigmatic, billionaire, oil-man owner of the Dallas Cowboys just made a big bet on the future of natural gas. His gamble is a timely reminder that low prices and cheap energy don’t tend to stay that way. Predicting just when natural gas prices rise is anyone’s guess, but Jerry is rolling the […]
05Jun

Driving Up the Cost of Power for Consumers

Making an apples to apples comparison of new weather-dependent renewables against existing coal or nuclear power plants cannot be done – at least not with our existing tools. Not only are you trying to compare one source of variable power to dispatchable, baseload generation that’s available 24-7, but you’re also attempting to compare a facility […]
29May

The Real Energy Story in the U.K.

From the tone of the coverage announcing that the U.K. has gone more than 10 days without generating any electricity using coal, one would think Britain had singlehandedly turned the tide against rising global emissions. Renewable boosters and climate hawks have fallen over themselves in praise of this “accomplishment.” But what this fawning coverage has […]
22May

The ACE Rule is Right on Target

The final Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule is reportedly coming in June. It will replace the Clean Power Plan (CPP), bringing much-needed regulatory certainty and an approach to reducing emissions that, notably, doesn’t torpedo the economy. Any analysis of the ACE rule requires a comparison with the rule it’s replacing; or rather, the problems it’s […]
15May

American Infrastructure Requires American Mining

Sound the trumpets, it’s infrastructure week again. While it remains anyone’s guess whether or not a bipartisan compromise can be brokered for a deal, the urgency for action on the nation’s crumbling infrastructure is greater than ever. The clock continues to tick. In 2017, the American Society for Civil Engineering released its most recent infrastructure […]
08May

Affordability and Reliability First

In a nation that holds polarizing views on nearly everything, it’s telling when a poll returns decisive, bipartisan consensus on an issue. That’s precisely the case in a new poll from Morning Consult which asked Americans how they believe the current transformation of the grid should be approached. Asked if they would like to transition […]
01May

Subsidizing Grid Unreliability

As the share of coal power on the Texas grid continues to decline and as greater reliance is placed on renewable sources of generation, Texans are crossing their fingers that they don’t face rolling outages this summer. There’s ample reason for concern. ERCOT, the state’s grid operator, is working with a razor-thin reserve margin of generating […]
24Apr

Mandating Higher Electricity Prices

The suspicion for some time has been that renewable portfolio standards are an incredibly costly and inefficient energy policy. Yet, they have grown in popularity and ambition with 29 states and the District of Columbia employing these mandates and policymakers from time to time flirting with a national standard. Suspicion has now been replaced by […]
17Apr

Batteries: Great Promise, Even Greater Hype

Lithium-ion batteries are everywhere. From our smartphones, computers and tablets to electric vehicles, we are in the midst of a battery revolution. But for all the promise of batteries, there are limitations. There are physics problems that dictate how batteries can be used, or should be used, that need to inform our energy policy. Unfortunately, […]