Most of the EU is heavily reliant on Russian natural gas
02 Apr 2015 Leave a comment
in energy economics Tags: European Union, Russia, Ukraine crisis
Air quality has improved in the countries that use the most fossil fuels
27 Mar 2015 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics Tags: air pollution, Fossil Fuels, The Great Escape
Source: U.S. EPA National Emissions Inventory Air Pollutant Emissions Trends Data
via via 9 Graphs That Prove Using Fossil Fuels Hasn’t Harmed The Planet | The Daily Caller.
How Costa Rica went 75 days without using fossil fuels for electricity
26 Mar 2015 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, global warming Tags: green hypocrisy, hydroelectricity, renewable energy, renewable resources
The New Zealand Greens happily retweeted that Costa Rica had not used a drop of fossil fuels for 75 days.
My first experiences with the environmental movement was through their opposition to the building of dams in south-west Tasmania. Maybe they have rehabilitated dams as a permissible energy source?
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via How Costa Rica went 75 days without using fossil fuels for electricity – Vox.
European residential electricity prices increasing faster than prices in United States
25 Mar 2015 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, economic history, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming Tags: energy prices
Still more evidence of mass kidnappings of environmental activists
25 Mar 2015 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming Tags: activists, Big Wind, bootleggers and baptists, do gooders, green hypocrisy, green rent seeking, trade-offs, world heritage areas
The numbers behind any shift to a lower carbon economy simply don’t add up
24 Mar 2015 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, global warming Tags: carbon trading, climate alarmism, expressive voting, global warming, Kyoto Protocol, power prices, rational ignorance, rational irrationality
It is not smart to subsidise electric cars
23 Mar 2015 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, transport economics Tags: carbon credits, carbon trading, electic cars
Why masterly inactivity will be the American response to global warming
20 Mar 2015 1 Comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, Public Choice Tags: climate alarmism, global warming, green rent seeking, opinion polls, voting
The Moral Case For Investing, Not Divesting, In Fossil Fuels
19 Mar 2015 Leave a comment
in development economics, energy economics, environmental economics Tags: fossil fuel disinvestment
Why the global economy is growing, but CO2 emissions aren’t – The Washington Post
17 Mar 2015 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA Tags: global warming
Maybe the future is not solar and wind, so those mass layoffs of climate alarmists are cancelled
16 Mar 2015 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA Tags: Big Solar, Big Wind, climate alarmists, green rentseeking, solar power, wind power
via eia.gov
The relationship between energy use & GDP
Technology is getting much more efficient
(Source bit.ly/1Anl8AJ) http://t.co/7zYDhXv2lu—
Max Roser (@MaxCRoser) March 15, 2015
Ed Miliband’s crimes against the climate continue
15 Mar 2015 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics
Frankly, how can you sign up to action on climate change while freezing the energy bills of households?
HT: Ed Miliband targets energy firms with proposed price-cut powers for Ofgem | Business | The Guardian.
Many more birds to be incinerated as solar energy becomes cost competitive; climate alarmists face mass layoffs
13 Mar 2015 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, global warming Tags: climate alarmism, creative destruction, global warming, killer green technologies, solar power
Unsubsidized rooftop solar electricity costs anywhere between $0.13 and $0.23/kWh today, well below retail price of electricity in many markets globally.
The economics of solar have improved significantly due to the reduction in solar panel costs, financing costs and balance of system costs. We expect solar system costs to decrease 5-15% annually over the next 3+ years which could result in grid parity within ~50% of the target markets.
If global electricity prices were to increase at 3% per year and cost reduction occurred at 5-15% CAGR, solar would achieve grid parity in an additional ~30% of target markets globally. We believe the cumulative incremental total available market for solar is currently around ~140GW/year and could potentially increase to ~260GW/year over the next 5 years as solar achieves grid parity in more markets globally and electric capacity needs increase…
solar system costs have declined at ~15% CAGR over the past 8 years and we expect 40% cost reduction over the next 4-5 years as a solar module costs continue to decline, panel efficiencies gradually improve, balance of system costs decline due to scale and competition, global financing costs decline due to development of new business models and customer acquisition costs decline as a result of increasing customer awareness and more seamless technology adoption enabled by storage solutions…
oil represents only about 5% of global electricity production and in some of the important solar markets such as US, China, oil based electricity generation is less than 5% of the total. Moreover, the cost of oil based electricity generation even at $50 oil prices is the 7-9c/kWh range and as shown in the note, the marginal cost is higher than solar in many regions worldwide. Bottom line is that oil prices do not have a material impact on solar demand.
About the only losers from this creative destruction in energy production, aside from the tens of thousands of public officials, academics and NGO employees who jobs and research grants depend up climate alarmism, are the birds that happen to fly past these solar power stations and are incinerated.
via Deutsche Bank’s 2015 solar outlook: accelerating investment and cost competitiveness – Deutsche Bank Responsibility and Deutsche Bank report: Solar grid parity in a low oil price era – Deutsche Bank Responsibility.
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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