The Phenomenon of Political Contradictions Energy policy frequently highlights some glaring contradictions among lawmakers. Some politicians who have railed against our dependence on petroleum and who insist we must reduce carbon emissions turn around and […]
Debunking Five Myths about Gas Prices
An Expanded Look at Five Myths about Gas Prices This past week I had an article published in the Washington Post called Five Myths about Gas Prices. I will discuss each particular myth in detail […]
Will Range Anxiety Impact Electric Car Sales?
I have always liked the concept of electric cars. I could imagine a future in which fleets of electric cars are being charged by electricity from clean sources, and where the impact of peak oil […]
Modes of Transportation
Because of my interest in energy, I have a long-standing interest in different modes of transportation. One of the reasons that I am not overly pessimistic about a future in which I foresee even higher […]
Clarifying Misconceptions on Taxpayer-Subsidized Ethanol Exports
Last November, the Financial Times published an article charging that ethanol from the U.S. is collecting U.S. tax credits before being shipped to Europe, where it also qualifies for favorable tax treatment. I wrote an […]
Ethanol and Corrosion Follow-Up
Problem? What Problem? Following my recent post What You Aren’t Being Told About Ethanol and Corrosion, someone made a comment that gets to the root of why many ethanol proponents mistakenly see me as an […]
How Much Are You Willing to Pay to be Nuke-Free?
A Plan to Phase Out “Dirty” Energy After the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico, someone said to me “We have to stop all offshore drilling.” My response was that I could get […]
The Mirage of Fail Safe Engineering
Harsh Reality As I have said many times, all of our energy options require trade-offs. I can’t think of any that don’t have some negative consequences and risks associated with their production and/or use. One […]
What You Aren’t Being Told About Ethanol and Corrosion
Good Ideas Gone Bad History is littered with examples of ideas that seemed to be good for a while, but were later discovered to have unpleasant consequences. The pharmaceutical industry is full of cases of […]
Electric Aviation is the Future of Transport
During an average week, I will see a few ideas that at first glance appear to be a little crazy. On second glance, some of them still seem crazy, but then some of the seemingly […]