October 19, 2009
Economic impacts from the promotion of renewable energies: The German Experience (PDF 358KB)
Washington, DC – Though proponents of so-called government-funded ‘green jobs’ often reference the ‘success’ European countries have enjoyed in their experiments with such regulations and mandates, a study released today in the United States sheds new light on Germany’s experience with renewable energy [...]
October 12, 2009
Fact Sheet
Executive Summary
Full Study
Executive Summary
The massive energy-regulating bill (H.R. 2454) the House of Representatives passed in June 2009 is now before the Senate. Though the cap-and trade program has received most of the media and public attention surrounding Waxman-Markey, the rest of the bill (at least 628 pages) could create economic harm just as great [...]
September 29, 2009
New analysis reveals cap-and-trade would provide windfall profits to politically connected firms, redistribute wealth
Who Benefits From Free Emission Allowances? (PDF 358 KB)
WASHINGTON – With Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.) expected to reveal a draft of the Senate’s climate bill this week, free-market think tank Institute for Energy Research (IER) released a new [...]
June 11, 2009
Statistics
In 2008, solar represented 0.09 percent of all energy consumed in the U.S. [1] and 0.02 percent of all electricity generated in the U.S.[2]
In 2008, solar generating capacity in the U.S. totaled 514 megawatts and generated 843 million kilowatt hours.[3] Solar turbines generated only a percentage of their theoretical maximum output due to [...]
June 1, 2009
PDF (869 KB)
Coal-fired electricity generation is far cleaner today than ever before. The popular misconception that our air quality is getting worse is wrong, as shown by EPA’s air quality data. Modern coal plants, and those retrofitted with modern technologies to reduce pollution, are a success story and are currently providing about 50% of our [...]
May 12, 2009
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The Energy Information Administration (EIA) produces forecasts of energy supply and demand for the next 20 years using the National Energy Modeling System (NEMS)[1]. These forecasts are updated annually and published in the Annual Energy Outlook (AEO). EIA published a preliminary version of the AEO 2009 in December 2008, and updated the forecasts [...]
April 1, 2009
The Siren Song of Wind and Solar Energy
Despite advocates’ claims to the contrary, wind and solar continue to be the most expensive sources of electricity. The New York Times recently reported that “wind power is currently more than 50 percent more expensive than power generated from a traditional coal plant.” [1] Energy Secretary Stephen Chu [...]
March 12, 2009
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The most popular way to regulate carbon dioxide emissions is through a cap and trade program. President Obama and many policymakers support some form of this regulatory policy. Cap and trade aims to cap emissions of carbon dioxide at a politically-determined level and then have the users and producers of oil, coal, and [...]
March 11, 2009
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Energy makes modern society possible. It lights the night, heats our homes, powers our entertainment, and most importantly, it helps us conserve the ultimate non-renewable resource—time. Energy amplifies our ability to do work. Machines help autoworkers assemble cars, power tools help construction workers build our homes, gasoline-powered automobiles help us take care of [...]
February 13, 2009
Robert J. Michaels
I. Compounding the Inefficiencies of Regulation
Erroll Davis, the former CEO of Wisconsin Electric Power (now a unit of WE Energies) was a rare utility executive. As competitive power markets evolved in the 1990s his low-cost company was ready to move aggressively. And well it should, thought Davis. Almost all utilities enjoyed regulated terrritorial [...]