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Hans De Keulenaer's Library tagged economics →  View Popular

01 Nov 09

Natural Resources Aren't Finite | Julian Simon | Cato Institute: Daily Commentary

  • Incredible as it may seem, the term "finite"
    is not only inappropriate, it is downright misleading
    when applied to natural resources. The mathematical
    definition of "finite" is quite different from
    a useful economic definition.
01 Sep 09

FT.com | FT Energy Source | Comment: Searching in vain for the oil shock effect

  • Do high oil prices cause recessions? The US economist James Hamilton is famous for his 1983 finding that oil price spikes had preceded all but one post-war US recessions[1]. Hamilton recently claimed that the current recession can be fully accounted for by the high oil prices of 2007-08. But while oil prices are certainly an important macroeconomic variable, it is just not plausible that they have anything like the impact that Hamilton suggests.
21 Aug 09

Research

  • We examine the potential economic implications of
    using vehicle batteries to store grid electricity generated at off-peak
    hours for off-vehicle use during peak hours. Hourly electricity prices in
    three U.S. cities were used to arrive at daily profit values, while the
    economic losses associated with battery degradation were calculated based
    on data collected from A123 Systems LiFePO4/Graphite cells tested under
    combined driving and off-vehicle electricity utilization. For a 16 kWh
    vehicle battery pack, the maximum annual profit with perfect market
    information and no battery degradation cost ranged from ~$140 to $250 in
    the three cities. If the measured battery degradation is applied, however,
    the maximum annual profit (if battery pack replacement costs fall to
    $5,000 for a 16 kWh battery) decreases to ~$10-$120. It appears unlikely
    that these profits alone will provide sufficient incentive to the vehicle
    owner to use the battery pack for electricity storage and later
    off-vehicle use. We also estimate grid net social welfare benefits from
    avoiding the construction and use of peaking generators that may accrue to
    the owner, finding that these are similar in magnitude to the energy
    arbitrage profit.
04 Jan 09

Blackouts and Cascading Failures of the Global Markets: Scientific American

  • Cascading failures are an emergent phenomenon of a network, rather than the independent and coincidental failures of its individual components. Although it is true that many banks in the U.S. and Europe simultaneously overinvested in mortgage-backed securities (MBSs) to their peril, positive feedbacks in the global economic system amplified those errors. Bank regulators and macroeconomic policymakers have focused too much attention on the individual nodes of the network (that is, on each bank, and each national economy) without proper regard for the system-wide amplification.
12 Sep 08

Pioneer Speaker - S-LX70W

  • They cost around $1100 and are available at Pioneerelectronics. They use 6% less electricity that standard models. The Power consumption is 90Watts when running and just 1 Watt when not. The driver has a 30cm bass driver, the frequency is 25 to 4000Hz.
11 Jun 08

Germany's Solar Cell Promotion: Dark Clouds on the Horizon | Leonardo ENERGY

  • This article demonstrates that the large feed-in tariffs currently guaranteed for solar electricity in Germany constitute a subsidization regime that, if extended to 2020, threatens to reach a level comparable to that of German hard coal production, a notoriously outstanding example of misguided political intervention. Yet, as a consequence of the coexistence of the German Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) and theEUEmissions Trading Scheme (ETS), the increased use of renewable energy technologies does not imply any additional emission reductions beyond those already achieved by ETS alone. Similarly disappointing is the net employment balance, which is likely to be negative if one takes into account the opportunity cost of this form of solar photovoltaic support. Along the lines of the International Energy Agency (IEA 2007:77), we therefore recommend the immediate and drastic reduction of the magnitude of the feed-in tariffs granted for solar-based electricity. Ultimately, producing electricity on this basis is among the most expensive greenhouse gas abatement options.
02 Jun 08

: Sonnenenergie verbrennt Geld - Region - Rhein-Main-Zeitung - FAZ.NET

  • Die drei RWI-Ökonomen ziehen in einer mutigen, aber nicht unplausiblen Rechnung den Schluss, dass 2006 jeder der - nach Verbandsangaben - 35 000 in der deutschen Photovoltaik Beschäftigten mit 205 000 Euro subventioniert wird.
28 May 08

The Oil Drum: Europe | Why oil costs over $120 per barrel

  • With oil reaching $135 / barrel, Oil Drum readership exceeding 30,000 unique visitors per day and many wild stories circulating in the MSM as to why oil prices are so high this post strives to explain why oil prices are rising exponentially.
25 May 08

Will nuclear-produced electricity be low carbon? - AutoblogGreen

  • Nuclear energy is often touted by its supporters as being cheap, clean and plentiful. It's often stated in articles on the subject that Patrick Moore, purported co-founder of Greenpeace, is in favor of increased nuclear plants. In fact, there are about 30 new American nuclear plants currently on the drawing board. So, does nuclear live up to the claims of its supporters? Well, for one, it might not be as cheap as we've been told. Two reactors planned for Levy County, Florida may clock in at more than twice their original estimate at $10 billion. You can install a lot of distributed solar capacity for that kind of money. In fact Moody's Investor Services gave an estimate in October of $6,000 per kilowatt that Jim Hempstead (a senior credit officer at Moody's) stated in a recent article in the Wall Street Journal has been "blown by" after reviewing recent estimates from a handful of "experienced different nuclear operators".
11 Apr 08

Environmental Capital - WSJ.com : When Cheap Housing Isn't: How Transportation Changes the Equation

  • Ballooning gasoline prices aren’t just changing how people drive—they may soon change where people live. With gas stuck above $3.00 a gallon, those cheaper houses in the suburbs can be a money-losing proposition in the end.
26 Jan 08

How Would a Recession Affect the Solar Industry?

  • Mr. Lynch, I have two questions: 1. What do you think about all this talk about recession in the media? And 2. What effect could a recession have on the solar industry and solar stocks? Thanks. -- J. Walker, New York.

Ecological Economics: Exclusively Renewable Energy by 2050: Germany Says Yes!

  • The problem is at least recognised, instead of declaring it a myth. But the video remains a concept. The numbers are not worked out, nor the economics. And while variability can be reduced by combining different renewables, nobody knows whether we will get it right 95, 99 or the current 99.9% of the time. 30 minutes of outage per year does not leave much margin for error. - keulenae on 2008-01-26
  • Germany is looking to integrate wind, solar, and biofuel natural gas to supply 100% of its power generation needs by 2050 (40% by 2020). Germany plans to phase out both Nuclear and Coal-fired power generation.
13 Jan 08

Electric grid meets Web 2.0, savings results

  • The Department of Energy has just wrapped up a fascinating experiment in Washington State in which it provided both homeowners and their appliances with tools that can sense stress on the power grid. Homeowners who made use of the tools saved money—approximately 10 percent on their electric bills—and the grid was more stable, too.
12 Jan 08

Energy Outlook

  • An article in today's Washington Post compared the recent rise in oil prices to a $150 billion dollar-per-year tax on the US economy, enough to negate the various economic stimulus plans being discussed by the Congress and White House. It's a shocking figure, and it helps feed the forecasts of recession, which tend to be at least partially self-fulfilling. But before we accept that $150 million figure at face value--despite its impressive pedigree--it's worth spending a moment on a few ballpark validations. Above all, we should remind ourselves that if high oil prices are a tax, they tax producers, not consumers, who rarely purchase crude oil to use in our homes or vehicles.
24 Dec 07

TED | Talks | Amory Lovins: We must win the oil endgame (video)

  • Energy guru Amory Lovins lays out his plan for weaning the US off oil and revitalizing the economy in the process. It's the subject of his book Winning the Oil Endgame, and he makes it sound fairly simple: On one hand, the deadly risks of continued dependency, and on the other, some win-win solutions.
07 Nov 07

Energy Roundup - WSJ.com : No Alternatives to $100 Oil

  • The demand-driven surge in commodity prices of all kinds — whether oil, metals or grains — means blockbuster profits have been matched by soaring costs, particularly for new projects using cutting-edge technologies. Meanwhile, aging plants and fields are proving less reliable, making core businesses less profitable even as oil prices hit new highs.
27 Sep 07

INTERVIEW-FPL sees renewables soon competitive with coal | Markets | Reuters

  • Power generation from
    low-carbon energy sources like wind, solar and nuclear should
    soon become competitive with electricity generated by coal, the
    cheapest of fossil fuels, the chief executive of FPL Group Inc.
    (FPL.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Wednesday.
26 Sep 07

Planet2025 News Network - ntext

  • Companies that have switched to renewable energy are reporting a number of bottom line advantages, including reduced corporate greenhouse gas emissions, diversification of energy sources to hedge against fluctuating fossil fuel prices, as well as strengthening customer relationships and brand differentiation.
20 Sep 07

Keynes on why competition in electricity and other network industries doesnot work

  • Keynes goes further, to explain how economists move from simplifying assumptions to abandonment of the actual facts, and to conclude that reality is what their model says.
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