Sustainability Science

This is a great general overview of oil pricing fluctuations.  It does not prove a curb-notes version or overly simplify this important dynamic.

Wow.  I mean wow.  Read this opinions.  We solve everything so we therefore should do nothing?  

The argument that individual action won't move the needle is clothed in both an incorrect understanding of the facts AND a disregard of the actual map accompanying this article: there is an emerging patchwork of responses to carbon emissions simply because THERE IS NO UNITED APPROACH.  But the whole conversation is moving because of the northern Europes and Californias of the world.  They are showing the way.

I am sorry but the factually incorrect trope that job growth only comes from staying on dirty energy sources is pathetic and wrong.  Spoken like a person who 1) knows nothing about the energy industry 2) doesn't live along a low-lying coast, and 3) is ignorant of externalities.  

I have heard the same exact line from oil lobbyists about it being just "too costly right now" to ditch fossil fuels.  Representatives said the exact same words to my students a few weeks ago.  And those were the same EXACT words that I heard espoused in 1976.  Apparently 40 years has changed nothing and we can only stick to 1800s technology to power the world of the 21st century.  How fallacious and how pessimistic about our creativity and ingenuity.

 At the risk of an ad hominem attack, I don't think the author of such volumes as The False Promise of Green Energy and Creating Cayman as an Offshore Financial Center: Structure and Strategy since 1960 is the best expert the Wall Street Journal could have found to comment on the technical issues related to decarbonizing our energy infrastructure.

There is nothing new about this analyses, but it is an updating of older efforts with the most recent numbers out there.  It is true that using coal-fired power to juice your your car is problematic, but for most of the county (e.g. coastal areas) most of us would be better off switching to electric transportation systems.  Also, the best possible solution is to power our vehicles with locally-generated power, such as roof top or garage-top solar panels.  

The trick is getting this into everyone's hands in an easy, turn-key manner.  I think the tone of this piece misses that key point.  This is an evolving conversation and new technology.  It also needs to be one part of a broad spectrum of approaches to de-carbonizing our energy markets.  Falling back onto the old mantra of "it doesn't work everywhere all the time" is a bit ho-hum and overly simplistic.  Kind of the way some folks feel it is necessary to write an op-ed about their research to get increased attention for it.

For those interested in the actual study, you can find it here:

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~mansur/papers/GraffZivin_Kotchen_Mansur_MargEmit.pdf

There is also an interesting story, in a similar vein, from the LA Times about faltering gas-electric hybrid vehicles at this week's LA Auto show:

http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-hy-la-auto-show-no-hybrids-20141121-story.html

Great!  Now we can buy more SUVs!