Archive for August, 2009
« Previous EntriesFirst Lecture for EEP 100
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
I am teaching environmental economics and policy 100 (intermediate microeconomics) at UC Berkeley.
Here’s the syllabus [PDF].
I gave my first lecture today.
Here’s the audio [27MB MP3].
I am working on getting the video posted.
I am NOT going to post more lectures here. I am posting this one because it gives a good overview of my [...]
DWR as a Fail Organization
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
This presentation [PDF] from California’s Department of Water Resources undermines unintentionally their claim to responsibility, competency and/or adequacy.
First is the fact that 81 taf of 612 taf of water transfers passed through the DWR-managed drought water bank. Thirteen percent isn’t very good, and here’s why they failed (no market solutions). FAIL.
Second is [...]
Today I Start Teaching
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Let’s not have this, shall we?
Complete the analogy:
Robo-student is to robo-citizen as thinking student is to…. __________
If you get the right answer (ask the person in the cubicle next to you to grade your performance), then listen to this mp3. (Permission to bop-around granted!)
Rating 3.00 out of 5
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An E-Fuel MicroFueler Dealer Responds
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
After publishing the previous story, I went back and searched through my Gmail to see when I had first heard about the E-Fuel MicroFueler. It turns out that about a year ago a regular reader of my blog - and someone I had exchanged a number of e-mails with - sent [...]
The Water Framework Directive
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
While I was in Europe, I heard a lot of people talking about the Water Framework Directive:
The WFD is the most substantial piece of water legislation ever produced by the European Commission, and will provide the major driver for achieving sustainable management of water in the UK and other EU Member States [...]
Poll Results — Schools Daze
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Hey! There’s a new poll (water use) to the right —->
Note on the new poll: If you don’t know, look it up (or try… homework!). I want to know how hard it is for you all to figure out those numbers…I am a supporter of the “no” “yes” vote on this one,* [...]
Boldly (Wrong) Politicians
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
People send me some of the water agit/prop from California politicians.
Steve Poizner is running for governor in 2010, and he has a “solution” for our water problems. Here’s one bit:
Utilize The Governor’s Executive Power To Get Water To Where It’s Needed. As Governor, Steve Poizner will exercise his full authority under the [...]
Economic Laws of Scientific Research
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
I am reading Terence Kealey’s “The Economic Laws of Scientific Research” and finding it to be fairly interesting. He skimps a bit here and there on evidence, but one particular part caught my eye - The traditional economic claim regarding pure science and research is that industry won’t invest in science because [...]
The Organization of Inquiry — The Review
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
I read this 1966 book by Gordon Tullock to address the concerns of the referee’s of a paper [PDF] that we were revising for a journal.
Tullock is brilliant, and his discussion of incentives, effort, quality and other important features in the academic ecosystem is not just interesting and diverting — but full [...]
High Five!
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Rating 3.00 out of 5
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Westlands Owns NASA
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Fleck posted this image from NASA, showing the brown spots (fallowed land) in the Central Valley.
I was interested to see that Westlands Water District was outlined in the original. Who asked NASA to outline Westlands?* Seems that politics is interfering with science. [Click here for the original, which zooms to VERY large.]
Oh [...]
The Carbon Footprint of Allowance
Submitted by PlasticLess.com Blog
We give our children a small weekly allowance because we want them to learn some valuable lessons about money. Corporations provide them with goods and services, but they aren’t all that interested in teaching my children valuable lessons.
We do impose some limits on what our kids buy for a number of reasons [...]
Speed Blogging
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Russ Roberts chats with Christopher Hitchens about Orewell. Fascinating discussion of a man opposed to imperialism, fascism and communism — different ways to curtail freedom.
The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity has engaged (actively or passively) in fraud by sending forged letters protesting climate change legislation. Don’t fine them (the customers would [...]
Monday Morning Smile
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
If you hated James Blunt’s “you’re beautiful,” then you HAVE to watch this…
WHOOPS! Deleted because of EMI is enforcing copyright has no sense of humor.
Try this! (the destiny of all those clunkers?)
How not to wash your car
Rating 3.00 out of 5
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Wassergeist
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Check out the twitter widget (keyword “water”) on the right sidebar. People on twitter say some crazy stuff! (Wassergeist is bastardized from Zeitgeist
Rating 3.00 out of 5
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A Few (More) Thoughts on Health Care
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
I posted on this a few months ago, but some people didn’t appear to notice.
(That’s why we still have a broken system…
During the interim, I:
experienced the Dutch healthcare system: Yes, single-payer mandatory universal coverage with competing private health plans works.
reflected on our system: We are not just afraid of dying [...]
Another Journalist Fails Due Diligence 101
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
I have had a number of people ask me about the E-Fuel MicroFueler, so at one point I did a bit of investigating. It is essentially a small still, but apparently has a fermentation capability if the feedstock contains sugar. However, they stress that it works best with wastes that contain [...]
My Point Exactly
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
I missed this story when it came out last week:
Hydrocarbon biofuels’ promise tops that of ethanol, gasoline
John Regalbuto, a chemical engineer at the University of Illinois, Chicago, and director of the NSF catalysis and biocatalysis program, wrote in Science that biomass-derived fuels are not far from being part of the energy [...]
Disruptive Technologies Are So Overrated
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
It’s the end of a very long day, but I couldn’t resist commenting on the recent story from Joule Biotechnologies:
Joule Biotechnologies Introduces Revolutionary Process for Producing Renewable Transportation Fuels
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Joule Biotechnologies, Inc., an innovative bioengineering startup developing game-changing alternative energy solutions, today unveiled its breakthrough Helioculture™ technology—a revolutionary process that [...]
Anarchy! in Amsterdam!
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Bill O’Reilly is so stupid blinded by ideology that he lies about things that anyone can double-check. This bit of Faux News paranoia should help anyone understand that the O’Reilly “factor” (a function that combines the root of -1 and many black holes) almost always cancels out the “reality factor.”
Note: O’Reilly “rebuts” [...]
The Backwardness of the Social Sciences
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Another in a series…
That’s the title of the chapter of Gordon Tullock’s book (The Organization of Inquiry) in which this quotation appears:
A friend of mine in physics once said that he could not understand the social sciences. “You’re always arguing,” he continued. He was, although I do not think he realized it, [...]
Flashback: 16 — 22 Aug 2008
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
These posts are STILL relevant, so please comment (I’ll approve them ASAP.)
BEST: Rationing in Paradise: IID has more water (per capita or per acre) than anywhere else in California BUT they still have a shortage. Why? Water’s too cheap. Would Farmers Do Better with markets? Yes.
BEST: How Many People per AF? covers [...]
Graywater Update
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
The California legislature just made it easier to install graywater systems. That’s cool, because the existing standards were so tough that legal systems cost over $2,500.* That’s pretty steep compared to the $150 cost of illegal systems.
Can anyone guess how conservation-minded people responded? These do-gooders thought of cost and benefits (yay economics!) [...]
A Model of Crisis
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
M. Scott Taylor delivered an incisive, thought-provoking and completely useful keynote address on crises and the factors that drive them at the EAERE conference I attended recently in Amsterdam.
What kinds of crises was he trying to describe? Global warming, collapse of an endangered species, economic meltdown, and so on…
You can read his [...]
Another Nail in the Coffin
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
… of the idea that water conservation technology (e.g., drip irrigation) will reduce overall water use. Read all about it in “Water conservation in irrigation can increase water use” (via RH).
The folks at the Pacific Institute should read this paper. Then they should re-read this post and this post. Then they should [...]
