Archive of entries posted on September 2008
Today’s Energy Tip: Shorter Showers
Today’s energy tip: low-flow shower heads and shorter showers. Yes, it’s an energy tip, not a water tip.
Water in the Desert: Oak Flat Edition
Oak Flat watering hole Originally uploaded by heinemanfleck. Lissa made a great discovery yesterday morning while we were walking in the woods at Oak Flat, in the Manzano Mountains east of town. The big thing in the background of the picture that looks like a UFO is a big cistern, with a flared top to …
Sticky Changes in U.S. Oil Consumption
The September International Energy Agency’s September global oil market report suggests that the changes in consumption we’ve seen with higher prices this year may stick: Demand in the US may be poised for a more permanent, rather than transient, downward trend. Sustained high prices and sluggish economic activity are arguably likely to reinforce the current …
Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere
In which I whine about the state of the current presidential campaign energy policy debate.
Hubbert Right Again
Peak IP addresses. (Hubbert predicted this would happen. You see those techno-optimistists with their wild claims that IPV6 will fix this. I think we’re condemned to a dystopian future.)
Denver Saves Water, Raises Rates
Not doubt the economists* in the audience can explain this in terms of pricing and efficiency: Colorado’s largest water utility will raise rates 7.5 percent next year as it seeks to offset rising operating costs and soft water sales among its drought-conscious customers. * I’m not being sarcastic here. I genuinely believe economists have some …
Global Food Prices
Global food prices have dropped out of the headlines, lacking the drama of early July, which seems an eternity ago. Today’s Economist food price index sits at 232.2, up just 17 percent from a year ago. Positively tame in comparison.
Glantz Lands at UC
Mickey Glantz, a scholar whose work on societal-climate interactions has informed much of my thinking on these issues, has landed at the University of Colorado after his unfortunate departure from NCAR. Details on Prometheus.
Affixing Blame
WQ: Massive amounts of money flowed into the United States because the Bush administration produced absurd deficits through an utter lack of discipline and ill-advised tax cuts in a time of war. Then we asked foreign investors and governments to buy our debt to finance our lack of discipline. Thomas Friedman has made a convincing …