The Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) and the Institute for Humane Studies (IHS) were crucial in my intellectual development. Back in the 1970s, when I attended my first FEE and IHS seminars, there were few such gatherings on the political economy of liberty. For some of us students, the timing was just about right for receiving during the summer what we missing at our colleges and universities.
So it was with interest that I read about Cato University 2012. The July 29–August 3 seminar is a great opportunity for students of liberty. The redone, spacious Cato Institute at 1000 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, will be the venue for the first time in many years.
“In a time of political turbulence, a presidential election, ideological posturing, and so much more,” the announcement reads, “our nation’s capital is the perfect setting for examining the roots of our commitment to liberty and limited government and for exploring the ideas and values on which the American republic was founded.”…
Continue Reading“Regulators who don’t approve smart stuff are by elimination reducing themselves to certificators of dumb stuff. When nuclear optimism peaked, backers said that its power would be “too cheap to meter.” The bill for the smart grid is turning out to be too confusing to meter, but like in the nuclear heyday, the momentum is irresistible.”
I have some kind words for the California Public Utilities Commission’s Division of Ratepayer Advocates (DRA), its in-house department charged with representing small consumers in rate proceedings.
DRA has long been agnostic about the benefits of smart meters. But with the release of “Case Study of Smart Meter System Deployment: Recommendations for Ensuring Ratepayer Benefits,” the issue of high costs relative to benefits is on the table.
Better late than never.
Complexity Unbound
DRA’s lightly redacted public version analyzes the gap between anticipation and reality in Southern California Edison’s “Advanced Metering Infrastructure” (AMI or SmartConnect) rollout program.…
Continue ReadingWhether it is a new fuel efficiency standard for cars, bans on incandescent light-bulbs, or those commercials touting businesses’ commitment to lowering their carbon footprint, the idea that we can reduce carbon emissions by using energy more efficiently is a mantra of our age.
In fact, energy efficiency is considered to be so important that it is sometimes said to be a “fifth fuel” along with coal, petroleum, nuclear, and “alternative” energy. And who can forget Amory Lovins’s term negawatt in this regard?
But as New Yorker staff writer David Owen details in his new book The Conundrum, the idea that we can reduce our energy use by buying the right products is based on flawed economic reasoning.
Background
Improving efficiency and related conservation are not unique to energy but all resources.…
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