In the Pipeline: 3/11/11

  • 03/11/11
  • AEA
  • Blog
Yes my economically illiterate green friends, it’s called the Jevons paradox— greater energy efficiency can actually lead to more energy use overall. Auto Blog (3/10/11) reports: Sweden seems to be experiencing what experts call a backfire effect from the company's rash of green car sales. Swedish car buyers have been snapping up clean diesel and ethanol vehicles in droves thanks to sizable government incentives, but, according to reports, the nation has actually seen its...

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In the Pipeline: 3/10/11

  • 03/10/11
  • AEA
  • Blog
The game is rigged—CA and NY buildings are forced to go green, giving companies like Retroficiency a guaranteed market. Reuters (3/9/11) reports: At the same time, energy efficiency is becoming less of a luxury and more of a requirement in many key markets. New York City will soon require all buildings over 50,000 square feet to benchmark and record their energy use, and the state of California’s new CalGreen building codes, put into effect this year, include a host of...

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In the Pipeline: 3/9/11

  • 03/09/11
  • AEA
  • Blog
Memo to Geithner: The U.S. is one of those major developed economies with substantial oil reserves. Oh, and don’t forget to pay your taxes this year. Bloomberg (3/8/11) reports: Major oil producers and consumers are well-placed to respond to any shortfall in supplies resulting from the crisis in Libya, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner stressed Tuesday…Oil prices have spiked higher recently as a result of the Libyan uprising and fears of...
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In the Pipeline: 3/8/11

  • 03/08/11
  • AEA
  • Blog
Wanna bet the Queen won’t have to change her own behaviour? Financial Post (3/5/11) reports: Electricity consumers in the UK will need to get used to flicking the switch and finding the power unavailable, according to Steve Holliday, CEO of National Grid, the country’s grid operator. Because of a six-fold increase in wind generation, which won’t be available when the wind doesn’t blow, “The grid is going to be a very different system in 2020,...
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In the Pipeline: 3/7/11

  • 03/07/11
  • AEA
  • Blog
IER’s Tom Pyle explains why it makes dollars and sense to resume drilling in the Gulf of Mexico Washington Examiner (3/6/11) reports: Interior Secretary Ken Salazar recently announced that the proposed $12 billion Department of Interior budget would make painful cuts and “do more with less.” While Interior worries about its own internal costs, the department’s leaders continue to lock up significant income, revenue and jobs through the Obama Administration’s...

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In the Pipeline: 3/4/11

  • 03/04/11
  • AEA
  • Blog
Don’t worry, there’s always oil in the reserve and also onshore, offshore, and the 97 percent of federal lands we can’t explore Fuel Fix (3/3/11) reports: U.S. oil prices closed above $100 a barrel Wednesday for the first time in more than two years, and might be higher still if the giant storage tanks in this small prairie town northeast of Oklahoma City weren’t so full…Here, at the nation’s main hub for oil storage and distribution, bulging stockpiles of crude are...
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In the Pipeline: 3/3/11

  • 03/03/11
  • AEA
  • Blog
Sing along! 10,000 Volts on the lot, 10,000 Volts. Take one down, drive it around, 9,999 Volts on the lot Auto Blog (3/2/11) reports: Peruse Chevrolet's February sales release, and you 'll notice one number that's blatantly missing: the number of Chevy Volts sold. The number – a very modest 281 – is available in the company's detailed data (PDF), but it certainly isn't something that GM wants to highlight, apparently. Keeping the number quiet is a bit understandable, since it's...
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In the Pipeline: 3/2/11

  • 03/02/11
  • AEA
  • Blog
Chu wants to grow green energy demand and plans on using your tax dollars as fertilizer CNET (3/1/11) reports: Energy Secretary Steven Chu is drawing on U.S. history in research and development to advocate for policies to encourage clean energy technology innovation for the future…Chu gave the keynote speech at the ARPA-E Summit here today, saying once again that the U.S. is in a race with China, the European Union, and other countries to create energy products expected to grow...
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In the Pipeline: 3/1/11

  • 03/01/11
  • AEA
  • Blog
Phrase of the morning: Political Coincidence — Almost a year goes by with no permits, and then days before a hearing on the Gulf, Bromwich caves and issues a permit to Noble Energy The Hill (3/1/11) reports: The Interior Department’s top offshore drilling regulator is strongly denying that Monday’s approval of the first deepwater drilling permit since last year’s BP oil spill was a political decision…The approval comes ahead of Interior...

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In the Pipeline: 2/28/11

  • 02/28/11
  • AEA
  • Blog
Fools Gold: UK learns from the green energy boom and bust in Spain, but will the Obama Administration? Bloomberg (2/27/11) reports: Cornwall, the poorest county in England, said five months ago it expected a “gold rush” of $1.6 billion in solar energy investments. Now, the U.K. government may get in the way…The central government said this month it’s considering cutting incentives and reducing the size of projects, concerned that the above-market rates it...
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