Consumption & Demand

New thinking on BP spill: Declare a holiday!

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The BP spill demands a far more significant response than ongoing cleanups, unsuccessful attempts to plug the gushing oil, and desperate efforts to mitigate the multitude of impacts from the biggest oil catastrophe in U.S. history. The BP spill demands a paradigm shift in how we run our economy and carry out our governance. Historians will one day look back on this spill as the nadir of governmental regulatory performance, in which oil companies commandeered and corrupted the Interior Department oil leasing program. So what’s the response we need to get the paradigm shift going? How about declaring a new holiday?

How not to fry: Keeping cool without air conditioning

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The northeast is having its first heatwave of the year, and I thought it was a good time to re-run a piece I wrote about what to do in extreme heat if you don’t have air conditioning. Because we all know what heatwaves mean – not just physical stress, health crises and unnecessary deaths from heat, but also blackouts and brownouts as everyone charges up their a/c. So what do you do when the power is out and the heat is on? These suggestions include, I think, the most important strategy – be aware of other people.

Steady staters, futbol fever, and NASCAR nonsense

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I am entirely addicted to watching World Cup soccer. It’s the greatest sporting event on the planet – each match is a high-stakes struggle with international intrigue and unpredictable endings. It’s hard to top the build-up and excitement of a last minute goal that means the difference between going home and moving on to the next round…Ok, so I’m a fan of the World Cup, but what does that have to do with a steady state economy?

EIA’s first Peak Oil statement—how was their vision a decade ago?

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Back in 2000, the EIA developed their first power-point presentation covering the topic of peak oil. A version of it was presented by EIA Administrator Jay Hakes to the American Association of Petroleum Geologists…What was the EIA’s rationale at the time? How has their view held up a decade later?