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« Previous EntriesWhy Summer Gasoline Means Higher Prices
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
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
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
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
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
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
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?
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!
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!
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Free water and Father Christmas
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
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.
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Speed blogging
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?
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
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?
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 [...]
More time to tell the Feds what to do!
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
JD found that the comment period on federal guidelines is extended to April 5, 2010.
Go for it!
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Water Calendar
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Kaveh Madani, a post-doc at UC Riverside’s Water Science and Policy Center and the founder of Water SISWEB, created this neat calendar of water-related web sites [PDF] that’s based on the water year.
Aguanomics is in November 2009, when it started to rain. You can thank me later
Take down that Pirelli [...]
Self-interest and community
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Economists spend a lot of time discussing the conflict between actions that serve an individual and actions that serve the community. (The Invisible Hand refers to actions that directly serve the individual and indirectly serve society.)
Take water use, for example. People who use more than their “fair share” serve themselves while leaving [...]
Range Responds
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
I just became aware that BiofuelsDigest wrote a story on my recent blog on Range Fuels, and got some comments back from Range Fuels’ CEO David Aldous:
Battle of the Falling Timbers
Aldous said pretty much what I would expect the CEO of Range Fuels to say. He defended his company, and complained [...]
A Day Late on the Bloom Box
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
I wasn’t going to write anything on the Bloom Box, but people keep writing to ask what I think. My initial reactions were “What a lot of hype” and “I have seen this all before.” I also wondered why it is that people keep falling for these kinds of stories.
But fuel [...]
Speed blogging — Corruption Edition
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
The US government subsidizes nuclear power. Get ready for stupid results.
The US government is increasingly incompetent because bureaucrats are tangled in their own org chart, get appointed for political reasons or hired and promoted for the wrong reasons, and lack accountability
Westlands is “a coyote with its leg in a steel-jawed trap,” says [...]
Bill to Stop Farmers from Selling Water
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
This article discusses the issue. My favorite line is:
“Very few of these sales are voluntary,” said Don Mills, chairman of the Kings County Water Commission. “The economics are forcing the farmers to sell the water.”
I’m at a loss for words with that statement.
The bill text is here. Essentially, it would prevent DWR [...]
Trade is good for us! All of us?
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Russ Roberts explains, and I agree, with two caveats:
For more on the pain involved in creative destruction, consider the case in Malaysia, where capital did well but labor did not. This pain is important in societies dominated by agriculture, where free trade may hurt the majority.
Russ missed a VERY important point — [...]
Last days to comment on federal water guidelines
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Go here and click on the “submit comment” on the left sidebar.
Deadline is March 5.
Here’s my comment.
Here’s an interesting commentary from a former Corps engineer:
Revising the Principles and Guidelines: What all Water Organizations Should Know
Mr. Fred Caver, former Deputy Director of Civil Works for the Army Corps of Engineers prior to his [...]
Minimizing individual water consumption
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
As many of you know, I am not keen on command and control regulations of water use. I advocate higher prices to give people an incentive to use less. (I will cover the role of customs, norms and self-control in the next few days.)
A central problem with my proposal — some water [...]
