February 3, 2025
The Ivanpah Solar Power Monstrosity Bites the Taxpayers. Again.
It was the future. It would demonstrate how to save the planet. It would produce electricity clean and cheap and immune to the vagaries of international shifts in prices, interest rates, currency exchange values, and the caprice of foreign governments. It was a demonstration of the massive achievements possible from public/private “partnerships,” that is, central…
January 31, 2025
Regional Transmission Organizations as Market Platforms III
As a follow-on to my previous two posts on regional transmission organizations (RTOs) in electricity, I was heading in a direction that relies on you, dear reader, having a foundational understanding of the investor-owned utilities (IOUs) that are the transmission owners (TOs) in RTOs. Many of you do, but lots don’t, especially tech folks who…
January 29, 2025
On the Front Porch with Brent Orrell and Tony Pipa: A Conversation with Benji Backer and Michelle Moore
Event Description The tensions between development and sustainability and production and conservation, combined with the ongoing debate over energy sources, have taken center stage in recent years. Join us for the next installment of the “On the Front Porch” series as AEI’s Brent Orrell and the Brookings Institution’s Tony Pipa talk with Michelle Moore of…
January 27, 2025
The Most Major Hurricanes Ever
Last year the world experienced the most major hurricane landfalls since records are available, tying only 2015, with 11 storms. Does last year indicate that we have reached a new climate-fueled normal? Let’s have a look. More than a decade ago, Jessica Weinkle, Ryan Maue, and I published the first long-period global hurricane landfall dataset using a consistent methodology….
January 24, 2025
Regional Transmission Organizations as Market Platforms II
Whether it’s rising electricity bills, reliability concerns, an impetus for decarbonization, or the related importance of grid modernization, power systems in the U.S. and around the world are struggling with change. In this series on regional transmission organizations (RTOs), I’m digging in to the institutional aspects of these challenges. Last time I started with history….
January 24, 2025
Two Cautions on the Trump Energy/Environment Executive Orders
The Trump “Day One” executive orders on energy and environment policies are worthy of applause because they implement a shift toward market forces in place of central planning as the dominant institution driving resource allocation in the various energy sectors. At the same time, two of the executive orders are problematic: the exit from the Paris climate agreement, and…
January 22, 2025
How Would Changes to Infrastructure Permitting Affect the US Economy?
Event Summary On January 21, AEI’s Michael R. Strain and James W. Coleman welcomed two panels of experts to discuss the policies and regulations for building physical infrastructure in the US. The first panel analyzed the trajectory for when new infrastructure building projects and permitting requirements such as environmental impact surveys will interact in terms…
January 21, 2025
California’s Insurance Crisis
Dave Jones, California’s insurance commissioner from 2011 to 2018, explained California’s growing insurance crisis in 2023: Due to the failure to substantially reduce greenhouse-gas emissions in the U.S. and globally, we are marching steadily to an uninsurable future. Jones sentiment is widely shared — Climate change is causing more and more intense extreme events, which are…
January 13, 2025
EPA Should Reject California’s Locomotive Electrification Regulation
The California Air Resources Board last November requested from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency a waiver under section 209(e) of the Clean Air Act for implementation of its “In-Use Locomotive Regulation,” an effort to electrify the cargo trains operating in California and therefore across the entire country. As of early January, EPA still has not acted, a…
January 10, 2025
Regional Transmission Organizations as Market Platforms I
2025 is already shaping up to be a year of change for many reasons related to the economics and technology of energy. Between the uncertainty arising from a political change in presidential administration and the dynamics of technological change in the economy, the only prediction I’d hazard is that change will happen. Some of these…