Category: Energy Economics

November 13, 2018

When Donald Trump ran for the presidency on the slogan of “America First,” he either failed to consider or failed to convey the global realities in which we live: free trade is integral to global commerce, especially for U.S. oil […]

November 8, 2018

Democrats have claimed the House of Representatives in the 2018 midterm elections. It gives the party powerful new oversight authority. But will it translate to meaningful action on climate and clean energy? Several moderate Republicans were voted out of Congress […]

October 25, 2018

The two most-populous states, California and Texas, are home to one in five Americans. More alike than different in many aspects—diverse population and economy, abundant natural resources—the two states differ in one important respect: policy. With some exceptions, California is […]

October 23, 2018

US oil majors are still pouring funds into a fierce referendum scrap in Washington state over proposed a carbon “fee”, even though the prospect of a US environmental levy on fossil fuel consumption appears even more distant under the Trump […]

October 22, 2018

It is a cliché to say the United States has no energy policy, and in the formal sense, it’s true. The federal government has never passed sweeping legislation aimed at advancing U.S. energy security that addresses both supply and demand. […]

October 11, 2018

The prospect of an abrupt supply shock in the energy market is making investors increasingly nervous about the possibility of oil prices soaring above $100 a barrel before year-end. Oil prices have surged more than 25 percent this year, prompting […]

October 3, 2018

President Donald Trump’s trade war won’t wreck the U.S. wind industry, but it will raise the cost of power. Tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese imports, as well as on metals from Europe and elsewhere, could raise the cost of […]

September 7, 2018

The term “market disruptor” is seemingly thrown around for every new technology with promise, but it will be quite prescient when it comes to energy storage and U.S. power markets. New energy storage projects in the U.S. are making solar […]

September 6, 2018

Bank of America Merrill Lynch is getting less optimistic on Chevron shares due to rising competition over energy deals. The firm lowered its rating to neutral from buy for Chevron shares, saying the renewals for the company’s key Asian projects […]

August 23, 2018

FirstEnergy Solutions’ coal and nuclear power plants are facing serious economic challenges, along with the workers and communities that depend on them, and are hoping for a billion-dollar annual bailout from the Trump Administration. The company filed a deactivation notice […]

July 18, 2018

Many consumers want more of their electricity to come from clean energy sour1ces like wind and solar. And many regulated utilities have responded, adding a record number of renewable energy projects to their portfolios, relying, in part, on federal tax […]

July 17, 2018

The electricity sector attracted the largest share of energy investments in 2017, sustained by robust spending on grids, exceeding the oil and gas industry for the second year in row, as the energy sector moves toward greater electrification, according to […]

June 18, 2018

President Donald Trump’s latest batch of proposed tariffs includes a familiar target — solar. Buried as an obscure-sounding item in a 10-page Trump administration list of Chinese products that are set to be taxed at an additional 25 percent are […]

May 21, 2018

The Trump administration may try to resuscitate the coal industry by using laws that, in effect, conclude that national security is at stake because the reliability of the electric grid is at risk. That is a hard case to make […]

May 18, 2018

The timing and magnitude of adding wind- and solar-powered electricity generators to the U.S. grid are sensitive to federal policies, especially federal tax credits that are currently scheduled to expire or diminish by 2022. In addition to the Reference case […]