Research that Informs Business and Public Policy- Creative Pie Slicing To Address Climate Policy Opposition Severin Borenstein
- Coal Mining: Jobs to Die For? Maximilian Auffhammer
- Stop Blaming Drivers for Mexico City’s Smog Lucas Davis
- The Developing World Is Connecting to the Power Grid, but Reliability Lags Catherine Wolfram
Tag Archives: natural gas
King Coal is Dethroned in the US – and That’s Good News for the Environment
This is the worst year in decades for U.S. coal. During the first six months of 2016, U.S. coal production was down a staggering 28 percent compared to 2015, and down 33 percent compared to 2014. For the first time … Continue reading
Coal is too Cheap
Two weeks ago on this blog, Max drew our attention to the fact that gas is too darn cheap. To underscore this point, he noted that the average American is purchasing gasoline at half of its true social cost. … Continue reading
Better Ways to Stop Natural Gas Pipeline Leaks
Carbon dioxide has received the bulk of policymakers’ attention as the villain of climate change. Now, its henchman methane is facing scrutiny. Methane is an attractive target. It is much nastier than carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Over one hundred … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged greenhouse gas emissions, methane, natural gas, pollution
11 Comments
On the meaning of existence
Here at the EI blog, we don’t shy away from addressing the deep questions in energy and environmental economics. With this week’s blog, we tackle the very meaning of existence (with respect to power plants regulated under proposed greenhouse gas … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Clean Power Plan, CO2 emissions, greenhouse gas (GHG), natural gas
1 Comment
Will coal exports abroad offset hard-won carbon reductions at home?
When President Barack Obama took office in 2009, he set a goal of cutting U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent of 2005 levels by 2020. The graph below shows that we appear to be making progress towards meeting this … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged carbon, carbon emissions, carbon pollution, coal, greenhouse gas emissions, natural gas
5 Comments
Natural gas: Not all it’s fracked up to be?
Natural gas is being touted as a “game changer” and a “bridge to a low carbon economy.” It is an abundant, made-in-America energy source. It is about half as carbon intensive as coal when burned. The figure below suggests that … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged carbon, fracking/hydraulic fracturing, greenhouse gas (GHG), natural gas
12 Comments
“We’re for Import free trade, just not Export free trade”
• For much of the last 40 years US politicians have railed against the countries of OPEC for restricting exports of oil for their own economic gain. Just 7 years ago, more than a dozen Senators, from both parties, introduced … Continue reading
In Praise of Deregulation
The American Economic Association held their annual meeting this weekend in San Diego. There were many excellent presentations on energy, but one of my favorites was by Paul Joskow on the history of deregulation in the natural gas industry.[1] Joskow’s … Continue reading
Natural Gas Shortages in Mexico
Whereas in the United States there are thousands of natural gas producers, in Mexico there is only one, Petróleos Mexicanos, also known as PEMEX. And, as is the case for many state-owned companies, the prices charged by PEMEX are government … Continue reading
N(Fracking)IMBY
The natural gas fracking debate has given rise to another interesting issue. On the one hand we like the cheap natural gas. The switch to natural gas for producing power has partially contributed to decreased emissions of global warming gases … Continue reading
