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economic growth

Market Forces Give (Carbon Reduction); Market Forces and Flawed Policy Take Away

By Energy Rant No Comments
What is the purpose of the Clean Power Plan? To reduce emissions to 30% below 2005 levels by 2030? No. It has major flaws for actual, as in reducing tons of carbon dioxide release to the atmosphere, but I will come back to that later. As reported in Clean Power Plan Coma Phase, the country is already half way to the CPP goal, and it hasn’t even taken hold yet. Instead, it has begun the decades long legal battles with an initial vote of confidence handed down by the Supreme Court. How did we achieve 50% of the progress already?…
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Clean Power Plan (CPP) – The Next Layer

By Energy Rant No Comments
Last week, we scratched the surface of demons in the Clean Power Plan (CPP) details.  Let’s see what lies on the second layer below. There are two methods for counting, scoring, and achieving compliance in the plan: mass based and rate-based plans.  To recap, mass based is the simpler of the two. For starters, it includes one metric: tons of CO2 emissions from stationary power suppliers.  The second is, I believe, far more complicated.  Why?  Glad you asked. The rate based approach would appear to be an itty bit more complicated, like steaming broccoli versus steaming carrots.  The only difference…
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f(x) where x = Energy Cost

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant, Government One Comment
It has been a while since I’ve picked on an economist for his or her seemingly foolish statements and theories (other than the Ben Bernanke but I’ll get back to him later). Ed Dolan, university / government wonk, states in an interview that there is no lock-step relationship between economic growth and energy cost.  Rather, the world’s best performing economies have substantially increased their energy efficiency in terms of energy consumption per gross domestic product (GDP).  He states while the OECD countries (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) - about 35 mostly free countries – increased efficiency by an average…
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Need Not Miracles

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant, Renewable Energy, Sustainability No Comments
Thousands, make that millions of people, including some smart people and congress people, when talking solutions for our energy efficiency low-carbon future are continuously babbling about “technology” that will save us all.  Bill Gates says we need Miracles.  Whadahyou talking about man?  The White House announces $130 million for a new building energy efficiency effort - “a multi-agency initiative to spur regional economic growth while making buildings more energy efficient.”  It will be “an Energy Innovation Hub focused on developing new technologies to improve the design of energy-efficient building systems”.  Get ready for cold fusion to reemerge. Let me tell…
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