Stay strong, Canada. I'm ashamed of how this administration has treated our closest friends. Some of us are doing what we can to push back against the cruelty and abuse. Apologies that America let this happen. www.wsj.com/world/americ...

Not an energy post, but FT has a very funny "page not found" message: answers to why the page wasn't found based on economic concepts. And you don't need a subscription to read it. www.ft.com/content/1095...

Canary media correct that MA elec rate is way above MC, bc much of price pays for infrastructure that is not constrained except at peak hour, so high price distorts customer behavior. So true for heat pumps. Also for excessive incentive to install rooftop solar. www.canarymedia.com/articles/hea...

Kinder Morgan talking about building a new pipeline from TX to CA through AZ. Seems like a big bet CA won't respond to declining refinery capacity by increasing capacity to receive tanker imports. Will KM get enough subscribers to build it? www.azcentral.com/story/news/l...

In EI blog, Lucas Davis and Paige Weber explain their new paper finds regulated IOUs are less responsive to wholesale prices than merchant generators in their decisions to close a plant. That leads to important inefficiencies in the generation fleet. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/11/03/d... 💡🔌

Well said, Tyler.

Excellent long read about Texas' love/hate history with wind power and attempts by trump and his minions to argue (without evidence, as usual) that wind development has hurt the state. www.houstonchronicle.com/business/ene... 💡🔌

US ethanol exports on the rise. Very discouraging bc it continues to be sold as low-GHG. Lots of evidence that it is not. Also worth noting that CA recently started allowing 15% ethanol blend. Other states already *allow*, but most retailerscontinue to sell E-10 instead. www.eia.gov/todayinenerg...

In Energy Institue blog, Jim Bushnell unpacks whether a bubble in AI/data centers would leave us with valuable infrastructure as happened with railroads and fiber optics. Important differences are being overlooked. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/10/13/i... 💡🔌

Not sure how this got past the administration's communication controls, but EIA had a nice piece last Friday on the increasing role of solar/wind/batteries in Texas. www.eia.gov/todayinenerg... 🔌💡

Meredith Fowlie's insightful Energy Institute blog post yesterday about the permitting issues and local NIMBY barriers to EV charging stations. Neighbors need to be heard, but whether it is housing or EV charging, they can't have a complete veto. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/10/27/t...

Fascinating WSJ on recent geothermal power developments, much due to fed govt support. To me, an economist with no technical knowledge on this, super exciting. Hope they can get the economics to work very soon. www.wsj.com/business/ene... CA sends mixed signals www.utilitydive.com/news/newsom-... 🔌💡

Resources Radio (from RFF) today dropped their podcast episode w Daniel Raimi talking to me about my research on "Energy Hog" households, who are mostly just homes in hot climates, with many occupants and w/out rooftop solar. www.resources.org/resources-ra... haas.berkeley.edu/energy-insti... 💡🔌

I'm back from vacation (and the huge Oakland No Kings protest). Lots to catch up on posting. In the EI blog today, Jim Sallee has an excellent analysis of the poorly designed, but good direction, of proposed international shipping GHG regulations. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/10/20/c...

My EI blog post today on how data center demand growth may drive up elec prices in near term, but managed well, should help lower retail price. Regulators must assure data centers reduce demand when grid is strained and pay fair share of system fixed costs. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/09/29/w...

Outstanding episode of Shift Key. Jesse Jenkins & Rob Meyer explain transmission & distribution remain regulated monopolies and challenges regulating them. Only quibble with idea incentive regulation substantially improves outcomes. It creates its own distortions. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/u...

In the Energy Institute blog, Meredith Fowlie is out today with an important analysis of California's legislative accomplishments on electricity affordability as the session wrapped up last week. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/09/15/r... 💡🔌

Lots of balcony solar discussion these days. Interesting idea but price in US is still much higher than grid scale. At 3% discount rate and 15% cap fac, the 200W system mentioned has LCOE of $0.13 if it last 25 years, $0.22 if it lasts 10 years. www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

I've been asking questions about the low natural gas prices in the Pacific Northwest. Today, EIA has a great piece with many answers. It's the imports from Western Canada, where prices are even lower. Gotta love those benefits of international trade...while they last. www.eia.gov/todayinenerg...

EI resident energy effic label expert, Lucas Davis, has great post today on fuel effic labels for EVs. I think he is too easy on them: annual cost estimate is based on US avg elec price, but they vary far more across states (3x+) than gas prices do. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/09/08/a...

Yes! energyathaas.wordpress.com/2015/01/20/o...

Two useful RTO Insider articles on dynamic pricing in California. The CPUC wants IOUs to step up commitment to it, but the biggest municipal utilities are backing away from it. www.rtoinsider.com/113929-cpuc-... www.rtoinsider.com/112563-calif... 💡🔌

As the operations of Phillips 66's Southern California refinery wind down and the fall refinery turnaround season quickly approaches, the LA spot price has increased to $0.60 above NY/Gulf, about $0.40 more than normal. Buckle up. www.eia.gov/todayinenerg...

Given the trump administrations killing of 11 alleged Venezuelan drug dealers at sea today, now might be a good time to recall his pardon of a American drug dealer actually convicted of running a large drug operation and soliciting murders for higher. www.bbc.com/news/article...

I signed an open letter from economists supporting Fed independence & Gov. Lisa Cook. Letter: docs.google.com/document/d/1... Add your name by Monday: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Isn't it time for a constitutional amendment eliminating presidential pardons? In theory, they could be used to the benefit of society, but in practice they are a giant open door to corruption and authoritarianism.

If I am reading correctly the California Energy Commission's agenda for Friday's meeting, it looks like they are officially backing off the idea of a refinery margin penalty/tax. A wise move. It is impractical and doesn't target the true downstream problem. efiling.energy.ca.gov/GetDocument....

Very interesting extended piece on the increasing flexing of France's nuc power to accommodate renewables', primarily solar, output variation. Sounds like can flex much faster than people generally acknowledge in US, but "thermal stress and corrosion remain concerns". www.ft.com/content/22a5...

Andy Campbell in this week's Energy Institute blog points out that it isn't just the existence of chargers that is needed to spur EV adoption, but also real-time information about location and availability. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/08/25/r...

EIA data lag BLS on electricity, but through May 2025 not much sign of residential affordability crisis outside of CA in EIA data, CPI-adjusted. Many recent reports of rate increases and capacity price increases, so that could change, but non-CA May 2025 real elec price lower than 2014.💡🔌

After rebuilding its electricity system following hurricane Maria in 2017, Puerto Rico continues to be plagued by unreliable service that will undermine economic growth. www.eia.gov/todayinenerg...

My Energy Institute blog post today reviews California's options for dealing with impending refinery closures. There's really only one sustainable approach: the state must plan today for the import capacity that can smooth the transition off of gasoline. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/08/18/c... 💡🔌

Continuing Meredith's theme from last week (tariffs on solar panels), Lucas Davis this week looks at the evidence from the 2018 tariffs on washing machines. How many ways can one say "really bad idea"? energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/08/11/t...

@tnorris.bsky.social is one of the most insightful and creative people thinking about the impact of data centers on the grid these days. His work suggests that this is a very solvable problem, primarily through demand flexibility. www.powerpolicy.net/p/the-puzzle...

Data centers are driving up wholesale electricity prices. But surprisingly little coverage of potentially offsetting impact: spreading T&D and other system fixed costs over more kWh could lower retail prices. Wondering about net outcome from these two effects. 💡🔌 www.ft.com/content/f1bc...

Despite the tilted opening, this is actually a pretty balanced and informative piece on the state of California's legislation towards western electricity market regional cooperation. calmatters.org/politics/202... 💡🔌

@noahqkaufman.bsky.social has a very interesting, and certainly controversial, take on trump administration abandoning the SCC. I strongly agree with many of his SCC critiques, but the alternative is also unclear, and very well could be worse. 💡🔌 www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/the-social-c...

Very exciting to see Google step up on load flexibility of data centers. Hope we'll see other hyperscalers do the same. Critical for developing AI while maintaining reliable grids and reasonable electricity prices. (my blog: energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/04/14/c...) 🔌💡 blog.google/inside-googl...

I am back from vacation and catching up on the energy news. First off, Meredith Fowlie's EI blog post this morning unpacks what history tells us about the impact of tariffs on solar panel costs and US production, based on a detailed new working paper. 💡🔌 energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/08/04/t...

Jim Bushnell's insightful blog post today on what the (mostly) repealed IRA would have done. Unlike nearly all other such analyses, his research (with Aaron Smith) focuses on the uncertainty. And yields some important insights. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/07/21/n... 💡🔌

The Netherlands seems to be becoming a cautionary tale for issues that can arise when electrification policy is not accompanied by sufficient supply planning or demand flexibility. Would love to see the low duration curve. Wonder if real crunch is < 40 hours per year. www.ft.com/content/9c75... 💡🔌

My blog post today explains the simple math of why all electricity demand reductions cause a cost shift, and why that is not a moral judgment. The question is which demand reductions are actually worth the cost. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/07/14/e...

The UK seems to be deciding to pursue equity and climate policies by maintaining mispricing in the wholesale market. Hard to see how that will work out well. www.ft.com/content/765a... 💡🔌

Another reminder that when trump says the US will develop natural resource supplies in another country – Ukraine, DRC, Greenland, etc – what he is really saying is that a private company of his choosing will get to develop the resources. Recipe for corruption. www.ft.com/content/91a6...

Some really strong reporting from the Financial Times last month on datacenter growth and electricity demand, though lacking recognition of the uncertainty in demand growth (like nearly all such reporting). www.ft.com/content/051f... www.ft.com/content/028a...

Detailed and disturbing round up of what oil and gas industry got in OBBBA. Among other things, delays IRA's methane fee until 2035. (sidenote: refers to "Gulf of Mexico". Even O&G industry isn't buying that nonsense.) [BTW, the EI blog is on vacation this week) www.energyintel.com/00000197-d1f...

Lucas Davis in EI blog documents AC expansion in Mexico, which has occurred even faster than predicted a few years ago. Paper w Paul Gertler shows falling elec prices and incr AC efficiency making it more affordable. Reality check on climate and energy use. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/06/30/w...

In this week's Energy Institute blog, Meredith Fowlie unpacks Trump administration's EPA attempt to repeal GHG regulations of power plants. A disturbing step away from taking climate change seriously and away from taking cost benefit analysis seriously.💡🔌 energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/06/23/w...

EIA today reports the spot price of natural gas in the Northwest as $0.00. www.eia.gov/todayinenerg...

In the Energy Institute blog today, Max Auffhammer discusses a new paper on winners and losers if we were to switch from a gas tax to a VMT tax to finance roads and related infrastructure. Very interesting set of results. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/06/16/t...