Conservation Blog

Why Summer Gasoline Means Higher Prices

admin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 02:34:16 +0000

Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog Spring is approaching, and gasoline prices are once again climbing. But you may not know that this ritual of climbing prices happens almost every year about this time. If you check the history of gasoline prices at the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) website you can see that gasoline prices almost always [...]

Speaking of Other People’s Money

admin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 02:30:49 +0000

Submitted by Aguanomics Blog This exchange among Central Valley farmers got my attention: But the idea of outside regulation doesn’t sit well with growers. Farmers see groundwater as their last resort in a drought, and they are reluctant to relinquish any right to pump it. “Overdraft is here. So who are you going to try and regulate?” asked [...]

Water is money is politics

admin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 02:30:06 +0000

Submitted by Aguanomics Blog Someone forwarded this to me; it’s quoted verbatim below, with some formatting. It’s a good example of how water and money are related. Note that the water may not be used to generate additional jobs. From: Mark M. Borba Sent: Friday, March 05, 2010 10:32 AM To: ‘Thomas W. Birmingham, Esq. (tbirmingham@westlandswater.org)’;'zzCardoza, Dennis’; ‘jimcostamc@mail.house.gov’ Cc: ‘Sarah [...]

Please tell us about new water research

admin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 02:29:26 +0000

Submitted by Aguanomics Blog Gary Libecap, a well-known water economist at UC Santa Barbara writes with this: I have been asked to write up a summary/short survey of recent water research for the NBER Reporter. I want to use this opportunity to advertise what is being done in the area to the broader NBER community that generally [...]

Farm Water Success Stories

admin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 02:28:39 +0000

Submitted by Aguanomics Blog Peter Gleick announced a new Pacific Institute book with that title. I left this comment: Why not publish a book called “Farm animal success stories”? Perhaps because farm animals are grown and sold in markets, with prices and incentives. Water will be used efficiently when and where there are financial incentives. These guys are surely [...]

Flashback: 28 Feb — 6 Mar 2009

admin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 02:27:52 +0000

Submitted by Aguanomics Blog These posts are still relevant (to me :), so please read/comment: Anti-Capitalists — where I take apart Food and Water Watch. DiHydrogenMonoxide — ban this nasty chemical. As Reservoirs Fall, Prices Should Rise — but they aren’t in Las Vegas California and Australia — from what I’ve recently seen, I was about right. Engineers Doing It Right [...]

Electrifying the USPS

admin — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 02:25:00 +0000

Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog I usually scan the energy headlines each morning, but had somehow missed the stories on the recently introduced bills to electrify the U.S. Postal Service fleet: U.S. Postal Service to test a repurposed electric vehicle fleet Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.) introduced a bill Friday that would pay for 109,500 electric vehicles, though [...]

Will Solar Prices Fall into Grid Parity?

admin — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 02:23:48 +0000

Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog The following is a guest post written by Dan Harding. Dan has written numerous articles on the solar industry, and is a regular contributing author to CalFinder. ———————————- Will Solar Prices Fall into Grid Parity? By Dan Harding The Holy Grail…in solar-speak, it translates roughly to Grid Parity. It is a goal either mythical or [...]

TNC wants answers!

admin — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 02:21:26 +0000

Submitted by Aguanomics Blog The Nature Conservancy is spending $140,000 [pdf] to find good ideas on how to manage water (including markets and prices) in Arizona’s Verde Valley. Deadlines at 5 and 17 March. Great!

Free water and Father Christmas

admin — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 02:20:35 +0000

Submitted by Aguanomics Blog Loved this post. Here’s an excerpt: This sense of a “water crisis” is really about the political realisation in many parts of the world that we cannot continue to live as if water availability were not a restraint on our activities. It is a bit like coming to terms with the fact that [...]

Water innovation event — March 11

admin — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 02:18:29 +0000

Submitted by Aguanomics Blog Imagine H2O is invites you [$$] to “Meet the Winners of Imagine H2O’s Prize for Best Water Startup, and World Leaders in Water Innovation”… next week in SF. Here are the ten finalists.

Speed blogging

admin — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 02:17:34 +0000

Submitted by Aguanomics Blog An introduction to Integrated Water Resources Management The straight dope on air quality and hot air hand dryers (yes, it matters, and no, they aren’t better at reducing disease transmission). Yemen continues to drink its future dry — 90 percent of water goes to ag, and a good chunk of that goes to qat [...]

Rational religion?

admin — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 02:16:46 +0000

Submitted by Aguanomics Blog Jaakko Ojala asks: Could You explain the following claims made traditionally by Christians… using economic analysis: Heaven is a free gift. Heaven is not earned or deserved. Man is a sinner. Man cannot save himself. God is merciful - therefore doesn’t want to punish man. God is just - therefore must punish sin. Christ is both God and man. Christ died [...]

Who is responsible? A moral question

admin — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 02:15:51 +0000

Submitted by Aguanomics Blog I met a nice family of church-going Christians in the campgrounds the other day. The father, mother and four kids were on vacation from his work at Boeing. He works on aircraft maintenance for the C-17, a cargo plane that the Australian (and US) airforces use in Afghanistan. I’ve long thought about the role [...]

Poll Results — Whose Government?

admin — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 02:14:58 +0000

Submitted by Aguanomics Blog Hey! There’s a new poll (know your neighbor) to the right —> My national government serves (choose 1+)… the People 12 votes special interests/businesses 58 votes its own people (bureaucrats and politicians) 28 votes the ruling party 5 votes the majority race/religion 4 votes These results indicate that government (in many places?) has lost the confidence of citizens. That’s not a good thing, as [...]