On Wednesday, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) quietly released their annual report on air quality trends.  You would never know it from picking up a newspaper or reading news websites, but the report contains great news. Air quality in the United States has dramatically improved and, according to all indicators, it will continue to improve.
The [...]

Congress is considering various proposals to mandate energy efficiency improvements in appliances, air conditioners, heat pumps, dishwashers, clothes washers, and other items that use electricity. At first blush, it would appear that there is no downside to improving energy efficiency. After all, energy efficiency saves us money right?
The problem is that energy efficiency is not [...]

Electric utilities are constructing expensive and inefficient solar plants because of subsidies and mandates from federal and state governments. The subsidies are not free–they come from the American taxpayer. And once the subsidies expire, consumers will pay higher electricity rates. So, either as taxpayers or as consumers, the American public is paying for these facilities. [...]

The Center for American Progress has released a new study [.pdf] to much fanfare from the usual suspects. The study’s title says it all: “Out of the Running? How Germany, Spain, and China Are Seizing the Energy Opportunity and Why the United States Risks Getting Left Behind.”

In this context, of course, “seizing the energy opportunity” [...]

In January, the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) completed a two-and-a-half year study[i] of the technical, operational, and economic requirements for integrating 20 to 30 percent wind power into the electrical grid that serves more than 70 percent of the U.S. population. The portion of the U.S. covered in this study is [...]

The Obama Administration’s recently released “Economic Report of the President” devoted an entire chapter to “Transforming the Energy Sector and Addressing Climate Change” [.pdf]. Whenever the government promises to transform an entire sector of the economy, we know to watch out. Upon a simple reading it is obvious that the president’s fancy economic rhetoric doesn’t [...]

The Obama administration is dragging its feet regarding oil drilling in areas previously under moratoria. Because of high gasoline prices during the summer of 2008, the Bush administration reversed the Executive Order prohibiting offshore drilling in areas under moratoria, and Congress let the ban against such drilling expire. The Bush administration then set its Department [...]

Source: USGS
Some people argue that we must reduce our use of oil because some oil is produced by dictators and countries with interests contrary to the United States. They argue we need to switch to different technology such as hybrids and renewables to reduce power these dictators could exert on the United States.[i]
But, as with [...]

Two of the biggest issues in national politics over the past few years have been health care policy and energy policy. The reason is simple—health care policy impacts us in very personal ways. When we get sick or injured, we want to get better at a reasonable price. Energy use is equally as personal. All [...]

One of the most disappointing aspects of the Obama Administration’s domestic policy has been the way it has dealt with domestic energy production – in particular new offshore energy production. It took oil prices reaching $147 a barrel for President Bush to tear up the moratorium on offshore energy production, but at least when he [...]