The state of Rhode Island will subsidize the construction of solar panels on the houses of low- or moderate-income families. Writes Lesa Prevost in Energy News: “The program will offer affordable leases for solar equipment on homes owned by residents with incomes less than or equal to 80% of the area median income. That’s a…
Category: ENVIRONMENT
So, Is the Social Cost of Carbon Infinitely Stretchable?
The EPA recently proposed a new, much higher “social cost of carbon” or SCC—raising it from from $51 to $190 per metric ton of carbon dioxide. In the Trump administration it was between $1 and $7 per ton. I’ll explain just what SCC is, but, first, I note that commentary from economists is generally positive,…
Does Biden Want Minerals But No Mines?
“Biden Wants Minerals, but Mine Permitting Lags,” says a headline in E&E News‘s Greenwire. And the Washington Post asks: “Is Sustainable Mining Possible? The EV Revolution Depends on It.” If the minerals for electric vehicles are to be available, overly strict and lengthy environmental reviews must be curtailed or we must rely on China (and…
How to Protect Eagles from Wind Turbines
A paper by Molly Espey and Eamon Espey says that tradable permits can reduce the killing of eagles and other birds by wind turbines. “By effectively creating a market for eagle take, wind energy producers would be forced to consider the marginal cost of killing an eagle and adjust their behavior accordingly, ” say the…
Regulation Is Holding Back Geothermal Energy
Geothermal energy, which comes from steam hidden beneath the earth’s surface, should be an attractive source of fuel these days because it is carbon-free. But its use right now is tiny. While Iceland gets 65 percent of its energy from geothermal sources, few other places do. That’s because Iceland exists on a fault line that…