Europe is experiencing record high energy prices, and with winter fast approaching, many predict the situation will get worse. Like most of the developed world, European countries have been rushing to adopt “renewable” energy sources like wind. However, when the wind doesn’t blow, there is no power generated. Alex Epstein has been making this point…
Many pundits are claiming that the state’s power problems this week show the failure of fossil fuels. These pundits are guilty of dropping context–of looking at isolated facts. But if we want to make rational policy decisions, we must consider the full context. We must look at all of the relevant facts. And the facts…
The Texas Public Policy Foundation has an excellent article on “green” energy initiatives in Texas. Such initiatives have been pursued in Austin, Georgetown, and San Antonio, all of which have a municipal electricity provider. The article notes that these initiatives are a triple whammy to consumers. First, consumers are forced to purchase their electricity from…
The Trump Administration recently unveiled a proposal that will require utilities to buy power from plants scheduled to be retired. The purported goal of this mandate is to allow coal-fired plants to remain in operation. This comes just a decade after then-candidate Obama vowed to bankrupt coal-fired plants. Through a combination of environmental regulations on…
My second book, The Innovator Versus the Collective, is now available in paperback and Kindle. The Introduction to the book is posted below. At the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain, many textile workers rebelled against the labor-saving machines being introduced. The Luddites—as they were called—believed that this new technology would mean the…
In its never ending quest to expand government power, the Chronicle calls for Texas legislators to re-regulate the state’s electricity providers. Electrical deregulation, the paper tells us, has not been economically beneficial to consumers: Light bills in areas such as Austin and San Antonio, where service continues to be regulated, are lower. In deregulated areas…