Archive for October, 2009
« Previous EntriesInterview With an Algae CEO
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
So I am finally back home for the next 10 days, and slowly catching up. I had a good trip to Panama and then to Stanford. I had my luggage sniffed by dogs when I connected in El Salvador, and then when connecting in LAX Gwen Stefani and her husband walked [...]
The Future of Energy
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
I am back in Hawaii, and over the next couple of days I will climb out from under an avalanche of correspondence. I have a couple of essays to get out, including an interview that I conducted with the CEO from an algae company. What he said may surprise you.
Until then, [...]
Catching Up
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
Folks, I know it has been almost a week since I posted anything new, and it will still be a couple more days. I have had a productive trip to Central America, and am at Stanford this morning to give a talk on sustainability. It will be the first time I [...]
Field Guide to Bags
Submitted by PlasticLess.com Blog
These two blue bags are both quite thin and flimsy. They also both contain a small amount of collected rainwater which may be of benefit to the local mosquito population. Plastic containers in the environment have been noted for containing the standing water required to support the growth and maturation of mosquito [...]
Field Guide to Bags
Submitted by PlasticLess.com Blog
The White Supermarket Shopping Bag has a very wide range and can be seen year round nesting in fruit trees, evergreens, even tall grasses…
Suprisingly, these feral bags do not breed in the wild. They have a lifespan of several hundred years.
Rating 3.00 out of 5
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Weekend Discussion — Good Water Managers?
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
NOTE: This post will stay here until Sunday night. Posts for Saturday and Sunday morning go below this post.
Dear Aguanauts,
Discussion posts allow you to discuss a topic among yourselves — exchanging views, learning and teaching. (I only read the comments.)
If you are interested, take a moment to check out (and add to!) [...]
What would you do with your $500,000?
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
This [unedited] guest post is by a student in my EEP100 class (background post).
Please praise/critique/comment on its economic quality and importance to you.
Hak Ryul Kim says:
Nowadays, ‘studying abroad’ became one of the most concerned educational issues in South Korea. The competition in the education of Korean high schools led students to seek [...]
Poor people need trees too!
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
This [unedited] guest post is by a student in my EEP100 class (background post).
Please praise/critique/comment on its economic quality and importance to you.
Annelisa Luong says:
In the average Californian urban landscape, most of the street trees are located in relatively affluent areas as opposed to low-income housing areas. Street trees are trees that [...]
Speed Blogging
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Russ Roberts and Mike Munger discuss the importance of “price” in our decisions, e.g., they think that vaccines should NOT be given away.
A very good discussion paper [pdf] on consumer perceptions of water, how to price it and how to present (sell) expensive and annoying reforms to water management — by Black [...]
Saving Capitalism from the Capitalists…
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
In response to your preferences (and mine!), I sent this out tonight:
Dear Professors Reich, Johnson, Rajan and Besley,
I have met all of you at one time, if only as a listener and appreciative economist.
Each of you has spoken out against the abuses of capitalism:
Professor Rajan — your book (which I have read) [...]
Economics for reality or theory?
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Andrew sent this:
I found your lecture today about the theoretical/mathematical vs. the practical application of economics very interesting, and very much along the lines of my own observations. I have noticed that there are two schools of thought in the field, that there seems to be animosity between them, and that we [...]
Why do rich people live in the hills?
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
This [unedited] guest post is by a student in my EEP100 class (background post).
Please praise/critique/comment on its economic quality and importance to you.
Emmeline Sun says:
It’s common to drive through an average suburban or metropolitan city and find yourself driving toward the “rich neighborhoods” the higher up you go. Take an urban setting [...]
Do we still need diamonds as the symbol of love?
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
This [unedited] guest post is by a student in my EEP100 class (background post).
Please praise/critique/comment on its economic quality and importance to you.
Soo Park says:
What drives men to splurge on the perfect diamond when proposing to an attractive girl? For what purpose?
Diamond is so expensive than other jewels because diamond’s has scarcity [...]
Prophet of Innovation — The Review
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Thomas McCraw’s biography of Joseph Schumpeter is fluid, interesting, well paced, and evenly weighted between his private and professional lives.
Schumpter is known for the phrase “creative destruction,” and he lived a life with lots of both. His mother “married up” to give him access to a better education (and higher social status) [...]
Schwarzenegger flips off the legislature
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Here’s the backstory to this signing statement:
Bottom Line: He may be overfond of dams, but he’s pretty damn funny sometimes. (Oh, and California’s legislature really does FAIL when it comes to “fixing” the policy problems that they’ve made…)
Rating 3.00 out of 5
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Midterm update on my class
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
My EEP100 students just took their midterm, and their median score was 10.5/15 (70 percent).
If you think you can do better, go here for the test and answer key (no peeking!)
That link also goes to the audio and video recordings of my first 16 lectures, but you can skip straight to the [...]
This [unedited] guest post is by a student in my EEP100 class (background post).
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
This [unedited] guest post is by a student in my EEP100 class (background post).
Please praise/critique/comment on its economic quality and importance to you.
Shelley Woo says:
The crazy thing is that fresh healthy and delicious produce costs so much less than processed unhealthy packaged food. Now, how does that make sense? Don’t we usually [...]
Catching Up
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
Folks, I know it has been almost a week since I posted anything new, and it will still be a couple more days. I have had a productive trip to Central America, and am at Stanford this morning to give a talk on sustainability. It will be the first time I [...]
Live Better
Submitted by PlasticLess.com Blog
Walmart is a phenomenal success story and it has a huge impact on the retail landscape wherever it spreads. The largest retail corporation in the world has a lot of detractors from various segments of society, some of which overlap. But they sell reusable shopping bags to their customers for 50 cents, [...]
Crossroads: Adverse Selection Eliminator
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
This [unedited] guest post is by a student in my EEP100 class (background post).
Please praise/critique/comment on its economic quality and importance to you.
Korina Cassidy says:
For those of you that don’t know, Crossroads Trading Company is a store down on Shattuck that buys used brand name clothes in good condition and resells them [...]
The Law Speaks. Will Mulroy Listen?
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
via RW, we have this bad news sensible decision from a Nevada judge:
Judge Norman Robison ruled that State Engineer Tracy Taylor “abused his discretion” and “acted arbitrarily, capriciously and oppressively” when he cleared the [Southern Nevada Water] Authority to pump more than 6 billion gallons of groundwater a year from Cave, Delamar [...]
Meters matter and smart automation matters more
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Shahram Janvey is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur whose company, Aquacue, makes it easy for water consumers to conserve and manage their water consumption on-line through a hardware and software solution that re-defines the concept of automated water monitoring.
I have met him and think that his product has great promise:
He used his technology background to [...]
Feinstein’s Kool-Aide
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
She wants dams, a peripheral canal, water trades and infrastructure… and the environment.
I don’t think she’s being honest about that last bit, and I said so.
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]
US healthcare and unrestrained demand
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
This [unedited] guest post is by a student in my EEP100 class (background post).
Please praise/critique/comment on its economic quality and importance to you.
Siu Lai Chow says:
Healthcare cost tops 2.5 Trillion dollars this year in the USA. With a population of 305 million people, that is $8,200 per person. In SF Bay Area, [...]
America’s favorite passtime: a booming business
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
This [unedited] guest post is by a student in my EEP100 class (background post).
Please praise/critique/comment on its economic quality and importance to you.
Jessica Olivia says:
Sports were a large part of my childhood, it set the agenda for family bonding, but never did I stop and realize the profit the sports industry was [...]
