Energy Policy Analyst William Yeatman tells the story of how the EPA is forcing a power plant in New Mexico to install $370 million worth of equipment to improve visibility in a nearby park. Peer-reviewed research says the visibility improvement has a 35 percent chance of being perceptible to the human eye. New Mexican electricity consumers, meanwhile, will be able to perceive their bills going up by an average of $82 per year.
Comments Off on CEI Podcast for August 18, 2011: How the EPA Makes Electricity Less Affordable
Posted in CEI Podcast, regulation, The New Religion
Tagged clean air act, electricity, electricity regulation, epa, New Mexico
Earlier this week, GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt gave a speech at a conference on free enterprise. Energy Policy Analyst William Yeatman points out the irony of a career rent-seeker extolling free markets. GE spent $47 million in 2007 lobbying for an incandescent light bulb ban, cap-and-trade carbon regulations, and other government policies that would tilt the playing field in GE’s favor; its compact fluorescent and LED bulbs offer a higher profit margin.Yeatman also discusses a bill currently winding through Congress that would repeal the lightbulb ban.
Posted in CEI Podcast, The New Religion
Tagged brian williams, free enterprise, jeffrey immelt, light bulb ban, nbc, rent seeking, rep. joe barton, William Yeatman
Bunker fuel is a heavy fuel used by large ships around the world. Oil tankers, container ships, and more rely on bunker fuel because it’s cheaper than other kinds of fuel. Land Use and Transportation Policy Analyst Marc Scribner takes a look at new environmental regulations in California intended to reduce bunker fuel usage. The rules are actually causing many ships to use more bunker fuel, not less. If proposed fixes succeed, the result would essentially be a tariff on most global trade — a $16 trillion industry.
Comments Off on CEI Podcast for June 23, 2011: Bunker Fuel
Posted in CEI Podcast, The New Religion, Trade
Tagged bunker fuel, california, carb, containter ships, environmental regulations, marc scribner, oil tankers, shipping
Comments Off on Headline of the Day
Posted in The New Religion
This is quite possibly the least subtle chart I have ever seen. See the original here. Expect OSHA and HHS to issue new regulations in 3… 2…
Comments Off on Sitting Down: Mankind’s Doom!
Posted in General Foolishness, Mankind's Doom
An article at Time explains “How the Ice in Your Drink is Imperiling the Planet,” and what regulators are doing about it:
NIST is thus urging refrigerator manufacturers to look closely at the design of their icemakers, insisting that there are “substantial opportunities for efficiency improvements merely by optimizing the operations of the heaters.”
That appeal to reason, NIST officials hope, will be enough. But just in case it isn’t, the Department of Energy has announced that it intends to add 84 kilowatt hours to the efficiency rating of every refrigerator equipped with an icemaker. Consumers will feel that fact in the wallet—and if manufacturers don’t scramble to improve their numbers, they soon will too.
Comments Off on Icemakers: Mankind’s Doom
Posted in regulation, The New Religion
Tagged carbon footprint, climate change, environmentalism, global warming, ice, icemakers, nist, refrigerators, time
Sometimes the green part of green regulations isn’t the environment. It’s money.
Economics says that people act according to their incentives. Public choice theorists say that politicians and regulators also act according to their incentives — just like the rest of us. Those incentives include maximizing agency budgets and winning elections.
This short video from Reason.tv shows public choice theory in action:
Comments Off on The Environmental-Industrial Complex
Posted in Economics, The New Religion
Tagged california, Economics, environmental regulations, incentives, Public Choice, public choice theory, reason, reason tv, regulations
Human Achievement Hour founder Michelle Minton talks about the annual celebration of human creativity and innovation that happens at the same time every year as Earth Hour. Ecology and economy are quite compatible. One definition of progress, after all, is doing more with less. When people are left free to achieve and innovate, that is exactly what happens, to the environment’s benefit — and mankind’s.
Comments Off on CEI Podcast for March 28, 2011: Human Achievement Hour
Posted in CEI Podcast, Technology, The New Religion
Tagged accomplishment, achievement, Earth Hour, ecology, economy, environment, environmentalism, Human Achievement Hour, innovation, michelle minton, optimism, progress
CEI General Counsel Sam Kazman talks about how ever-stricter energy efficiency regulations are making washing machines more expensive and less effective than they used to be. Sam recently wrote about the issue for The Wall Street Journal; you can read his article here.
Comments Off on CEI Podcast for March 21, 2011: How Washington Ruined Your Washing Machine
Posted in CEI Podcast, regulation, The New Religion
Tagged "Sam Kazman", energy efficiency, energy efficient washers, energy efficient washing machines, environmental regulations, wall street journal, wsj
Brian McGraw, a Policy Analyst for CEI’s Center for Energy & Environment, talks about the coming incandescent light bulb ban, who it benefits (bulb manufacturers), and who it hurts (consumers who no longer have a choice). Brian also touches on the important distinction between pro-business and pro-market thought. Pro-business thinkers would tend to support an incandescent ban, given what it could do for bulb manufacturer’s bottom lines. Pro-market thinkers prefer an open, competitive market process where consumers decide which type of bulb is best, not lobbyists and politicians.
Comments Off on CEI Podcast for February 17, 2011: Let the Best Bulb Win
Posted in CEI Podcast, regulation, The New Religion
Tagged brian mcgraw, cei, cfl, compact fluorescent bulbs, light bulb ban, light bulbs, pro-business, pro-market
Inertia Wins! 