Blog

Washington, D.C., July 3, 2014 – Do you want a future in which you have to plug in your username and password on your smart phone to open you refrigerator? Talk about an annoyance. This thought came to me when reading a new report in the June 30 issue of MIT’s Technology Review magazine. Much […]

Washington, D.C., June 30, 2014 – There appears to be a cyclical element to the story of nuclear power in the U.S., an ebb-and-flow that repeats itself over time. There’s no lock-step periodicity, but the tides of hyperbole and deflation occur with some regularity. The most recent case of the binge-and-repent cycle in nuclear comes […]

June 27, 2014 – Iceland, the westernmost country in Europe, is unique. Its geology is entirely volcanic, as it sits on the meeting place of the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates. It has a unique language, with a 32-letter alphabet, based on Scandinavian, Saxon, and Celtic roots. Iceland had the first parliamentary system of […]

This week, the Bonn climate change conference concluded in Germany. During the talks, discussion focused on adaptation and long-term greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals to meet climate targets. These mitigation and adaptation strategies build on international momentum to tackle climate change, such as China’s announcement that by 2016, its first carbon emissions cap will come […]

Along with 3 billion other viewers around the world, I plan to tune in for the month-long World Cup to see whether the 22-year old Neymar can withstand the colossal pressure that has been put upon his shoulders to deliver a win for team Brazil. Every time I turn on my television set, I’m using World Cup-related energy. And […]

  Washington, D.C., June 10, 2014 – How can governments and businesses make investment and policy decisions in the face of enormous uncertainties? That’s a question facing many in the world today as scientists assert that global warming could be an existential crisis, but with great uncertainties attached. The World Bank’s economics team offers some […]

Washington, D.C., June 6, 2014 – Could the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit’s decision vacating the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s demand response rules for organized markets also spill over into the FERC’s controversial rule on regional transmission planning? That thought occurred to me when I read the decision on Order 745, the […]

Washington, D.C., June 3, 2014 – Amid all the hype and hoopla over the Obama administration’s plan, revealed this week, to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants – this will end civilization as we know it, this will create a brave, new world, and so forth from all over the political and ideological […]

Washington, D.C., May 28, 2014 – Norman Bay is the wrong choice to head the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Currently head of FERC’s enforcement office, Bay has demonstrated that he is a skillful and tenacious prosecutor. That may be what FERC needs in its staff enforcement office. It’s not what the agency needs at the […]

Washington, D.C., May 21, 2014 – The Pace University’s School of Law has made a great choice in Karl Rábago to head its groundbreaking Energy and Climate Center. He is among the most measured and thoughtful advocates for renewable energy and sensible energy policies that I have ever had the privilege of covering as a […]