Archive for February, 2010
« Previous EntriesFlashback: 21 — 27 Feb 2009
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
These posts are still important, so please comment!
BEST: Transparently Dumb — how NOT to manage shortage, courtesy of San Diego, whose water managers get into a Catfight with reporters.
BEST: Insuring against Incompetance… my brilliant idea for keeping monopolies in line.
Environmentalists against Delta Exports — they are still out there! Wonder what water [...]
Macroeconomic bonanza!
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
The dark arts of macroeconomics are getting a lot of coverage recently. (Digression: The recession in the US and other countries has not hit Australia very hard, mostly because Aussies export raw materials to China.)
Russ Roberts has been doing some great stuff on it.
Listen to this podcast with Larry White on business [...]
Water Chat with Lin Crase
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
I enjoyed talking to Lin Crase about water economics and politics in Australia. I was amazed at the number of parallels between Australia and California (too many rights issued for too little water, infrastructure subsidies to farmers, environmental collapse, politicians who don’t tackle the issues, etc.)
We also discussed how water problems (and [...]
End of drought! Abundance restored?
End of drought! Abundance restored?
This article gives the cheery news — the US is in its best shape — in terms of precipitation — since 1999.
Two troubles remain:
We still need to recharge overdrafted aquifers — some will need years or decades to recover.
There is no sign of demand control. Even if supply goes to “normal” [...]
Water chat with Sergei Schreider
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
I was pleased to chat with Sergei Schreider, a hydrological engineer who has turned his talents into modeling hydrological demand systems. Since those models did not match reality very well, he joined forces with economists to add market prices for agricultural products. His team is hoping for better results in the future.
This [...]
Energy pricing bleg
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
GM asks:
Do you know whether power plants in the US are charged marginal rates for water withdrawals and “consumption” (e.g. through evaporation)?
I don’t know, but I guess that they pay little or nothing, since their water either comes from a stream or their own wells, and marginal prices apply to treated water. [...]
Broken Promises from Range Fuels
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
When I first began my career, a wise old-timer gave me a piece of advice that I took to heart. He said “When you are planning and executing a project, it is important for you to do what you say you are going to do. People are going to make investment [...]
Reporters doing a good job
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
An excellent article (via 5 readers!) on agricultural jobs and water.
The west side of Fresno county Westlands is doing badly. The rest of the State is in good shape.
Too bad that Diane Feinstein confuses Westlands with ALL of California.
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]
Politicians doing a good job
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
This article (via DW) reports how San Diego councilmembers asked hard questions about the performance goals that employees of the city water agency were meeting. It turns out that these employees were setting their own targets, based on incorrect or old “competitive” criteria. When they met those targets, they were paid bonuses.
The [...]
Travelblog: The Castle — The Review
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
This 1997 Australian movie tells a David-v.-Goliath story of a man who defends his home — his castle — against a State condemnation that would turn his land over to developers.
The movie’s theme is similar to the Kelo case, but it differs in outcome. In this movie, the little guy wins, defended [...]
Travelblog: Aussie beer accounting
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
It’s harder to buy booze in Australia (or perhaps just in Queensland). Grocery stores don’t sell it; you have to go to a bottle shop. Bottle shops do not (or cannot) keep long hours. Even when you get there, the stuff is expensive. Taxes raise the price of a six-pack of decent [...]
Speed blogging
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
The Atlas of Water reviewed.
“Ethiopia’s Newest Dam Suffers Tunnel Collapse Days After Inauguration” Italians and corruption involved.
This $700 water filter will save you money after two years (of not buying bottled water), but it looks good now. Get out your platinum card!
Cutting invasive trees to decrease demand for water (that can be [...]
Answering Questions on OTEC - Part I
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
Dr. Robert Cohen has been involved in ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) since the early 1970’s. He has posted two guest essays here previously:
Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion
Potential Markets and Benefits from Ocean Thermal Energy
Following both essays, a number of questions and concerns were raised, so I asked Dr. Cohen if he [...]
Another Response to the DARPA Claim
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
Many of my essays here are reprinted at The Energy Collective. Following a reprint of my recent essay examining DARPA’s extraordinary claim on the cost of algal fuel, a reader named Durwood Dugger (this gentleman, I presume) posted some very interesting comments that are worth reproducing here. His original comment can [...]
What Does it Mean to Be Green?
Submitted by PlasticLess.com Blog
Conflicting scientists, greenwashing corporations, self-congratulatory conspicuous consumers of green products… I think the noise to signal ratio is getting a little out of whack. I have less direct connection to nature than I used to. As a child, I used to go fishing along a tributary of the Musquodoboit River. In the [...]
Plastic Waste Kills Wildlife
Submitted by PlasticLess.com Blog
This BBC video provides a look at the plastic items found in stomachs of albatrosses, ingested from the Pacific ocean. The organized collection of objects looks a lot like the stuff that I found on the shores of the Mediterranean. Cheap disposable plastic consumer goods are a worldwide phenomenon. The baby albatross [...]
Flashback: 14 — 20 Feb 2009
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
These posts are still important, so please comment!
Best: Business Cycles — something the government does not understand.
Conservation Pricing for Businesses is simple and effective; RUBing the Wrong Way is about sub-meters for apartments, another missing link in conservation.
Water Markets in Colorado — the only (open) market we have in the States.
Best: Water [...]
Making Work Pay Tax Credit
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
I paid my taxes this morning and realized that I owe $146. Past years have been more painful but this year, what hurt more is my expectation that I had a refund coming. Apparently, the Making Work Pay tax credit lowered withholding levels, but did not change tax rates. The $400 credit [...]
IID finally pays its bill — kinda
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
I was hopeful here, but my fears have (via JWT) turned out to be true — politicians have written the redistricting law — which would make districts less demographically biased and thus make elections more competative — to exclude the citizens who may know more.
The most obvious way they are doing this [...]
Looks Like I Struck a Nerve
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
I started to notice a trend in the comments following my latest Forbes essay about the redundant nature of ethanol subsidies now that mandates are in place. Several comments in a row seemed to be regurgitated talking points that were just red herrings with respect to the point I was making. [...]
Algal Oil for $2 a Gallon?
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
By now I have had at least a dozen people send me the link or ask me to comment on the recent DARPA announcement that they can produce algal oil for $2 a gallon. My fellow blogger Lou Grinzo has already made a few comments, and I share his skepticism. It [...]
Are you tired of mis-spent stimulus money yet?
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
via DW:
The government is spending $40 million in federal stimulus funds to pull water from underground aquifers in drought-stricken California, even as evidence is growing that the well-drilling boom could degrade the quality of water delivered to millions of residents.
Better to have not spent the money at all! (Here’s how I would [...]
Speed blogging
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Chlorine in the water may be dangerous, but this advertorial by a water filter consultant at Scientific American shows that scientific integrity is in even greater danger. Shame!
The economics of ecosystem services.
The economics of wastewater from processing grapes into wine. Insufficient capacity > spills > offers to ship and process waste elsewhere. [...]
Governing the Tap — The Review
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
I wrote this review for h-net:
In Governing the Tap, political scientist Megan Mullin describes and tests her “conditional theory of specialized governance,” i.e., that the effectiveness of special districts providing drinking water, relative to water agencies that are branches of local government, depends on certain conditions (political boundaries, water scarcity, the rate [...]
USACE is hiring
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Here are the required duties in what appear to be 6 different positions:
Serves as technical advisor/subject matter specialist in the specific area or areas of expertise for which recruited, i.e., plan formulation; collaborative planning and public involvement; economic analysis; environmental and ecological evaluation; social impact assessment; civil works policy development; multi-objective water [...]
