energy subsidies
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American Enterprise Institute endorses tax credits for super-efficient, furnace-free homes
If the American Enterprise Institute starts acknowledging that residential energy efficiency has a "positive rate of return" -- and advocating federal support to capture the full energy savings possible -- perhaps the world is changing.
Then again, it may just be temporary institutional schizophrenia, since others in AEI continue to assert (without any supporting evidence), "No matter what you've been told, the technology to significantly reduce emissions is decades away and extremely costly."
Kevin Hassett, AEI's director of economic-policy studies, has a Bloomberg News column that I excerpt below, because of its surprising degree of common sense -- and because he cites actual research:
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The VC models are to blame, not the green technologies
It’s worth reviewing this great presentation from the folks at @Ventures: [vodpod id=Video.16097730&w=425&h=350&fv=] If they’re right — as I believe they are — we are soon going to see lots of greentech venture capital funds lose money. Given the potential for that loss to be skewed as “green technologies aren’t profitable” rather than “greentech VCs […]
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Al Gore offers a five-part plan for solving the climate and financial crises
Al Gore has a fantastic op-ed in Sunday’s New York Times. There’s lots of good stuff, but one thing I was particularly pleased to see is this dismissal of the rush lately toward dirty domestic fuel: Some still see this as a problem of domestic production. If we could only increase oil and coal production […]
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Think tank says price on carbon more effective research driver than targeted subsidies
Robert Fri, former deputy administrator of the EPA and the U.S. Energy Research and Development Administration, former president of progressive think tank Resources for the Future, says the government isn’t very good at doing energy research, and that a price on carbon would do more to stimulate productive energy research than targeted grants for specific […]
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The flawed economics of nuclear power
Over the last few years the nuclear industry has used concerns about climate change to argue for a nuclear revival. Although industry representatives may have convinced some political leaders that this is a good idea, there is little evidence of private capital investing in nuclear plants in competitive electricity markets. The reason is simple: nuclear […]
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Grassley calls McCain out for inconsistency on subsidies
I don’t know if everyone else will find this as hilarious as I do, but here’s a story about Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) criticizing McCain’s energy positions as “inconsistent.” You see, McCain opposes ethanol subsidies because he thinks subsidies distort markets. But he supports massive subsidies for nuclear. So, is Grassley’s point that McCain should […]
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We need a price-floor on fossil fuels
As oil prices tumble — now hovering around $65 per barrel — there is growing concern that some of the momentum that was building for renewable energy may be waning. This situation highlights one of the key constraints that we face in moving to a low-carbon society: uncertainty in fossil-fuel prices depresses investments in alternative […]
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Municipal property assessment financing for solar and energy efficiency
The implosion of credit markets could mean severe problems for people looking to finance an investment in energy efficiency or solar. Frankly, financial innovation is as important as technological innovation when it comes to bringing solar into the mainstream. But now you don’t have to take some guy on a blog’s word for it — […]
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The bailout, the war, and renewable energy
While the renewable energy industry in the U.S. celebrates a rare victory — winning an eight-year extension of its federal tax subsidies — no one should forget what we’ve lost. Forget for a moment the recurring costs of an inflated defense budget. Chalmers Johnson has tallied those. Let’s look at the two biggest items, the […]