Articles by Clark Williams-Derry

Press coverage of climate change is … changing

Am I the only one who senses a remarkable shift -- or, really, three shifts -- in how the press is covering climate change?

California’s per capita GHG emissions are falling

According to this, California's total greenhouse gas emissions rose by about 14 percent from 1990 through 2004.

OK, so that's not exactly good news.

But it's not the worst news in the world either, really. Over the same period, California's population grew by about 20 percent; so, running the numbers, it looks as if per person emissions fell by about, oh, 5 percent. That is, at the same time California's cars and homes got bigger and its economy boomed, the state managed a 5 percent reduction in per-capita GHG emissions.

The truth about ethanol

Harvard environmental science professor Michael B. McElroy takes a sober look at ethanol:

The balance in terms of emission of greenhouse gases is close to a wash for the United States: the reduction in net emissions of carbon dioxide obtained by using corn rather than petroleum as a "feedstock" for motor fuel is largely offset by additional emissions of the several hundredfold more potent greenhouse gas, nitrous oxide, formed as a byproduct of the nitrogen fertilizer used to grow the corn.

I don't know anything about McElroy's potential biases, but he certainly comes off as a serious-minded critic rather than a hit man. So if you're interested in a hype-free view of ethanol production in the U.S., this seems like a good place to start.

A small price to pay

Seems like more and more people -- even conservative economists -- are going on record in support of higher gas taxes.

From an economist's point of view, it's a bit of a no brainer. Like just about any addiction, our gasoline habit carries lots of "externalities" -- costs that fall on everyone rather than just the person who uses the gas. (Think climate change, oil spills, air pollution, security vulnerabilities, international military entanglements, economic risk from oil price shocks, etc.)

If we consumers had to pay those costs every time we filled our tanks, we'd use gas a little more sparingly -- and we'd create fewer externalities as a result. Plus, the taxes could provide a source of revenue to deal with the problems created by energy consumption -- say, a dedicated funding source for ramping up efficiency.

But that begs the question -- just how high should the taxes be?