I attended an excellent briefing  today on “Creating a low-carbon future” by Michael Howard of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI).  The event  was hosted by the U. S. Energy Association and its executive director, Barry Worthington.   EPRI has done a lot of work on how the electricity sector could meet the greenhouse gas emissions target in the Waxman-Markey energy-rationing bill.  That target is economy-wide emissions 83% below 2005 levels by 2050.

Howard said that EPRI wanted to identify a strategy…

Read the full story

The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing Tuesday on how to divvy up the booty (that is, allocate the ration coupons) under a cap-and-trade system.  John Stephenson, testifying on behalf of the U. S. Government Accountability Office, noted the obvious: cap-and-trade works by increasing energy prices and that poor people feel the most pain because they spend a higher proportion of their incomes on energy than wealthier people.  Stephenson testified: “According to economic literature, in the absence of compensatory measures by…

Read the full story