Institute for Energy Research

Greenpeace Still Tilting at Windmills in Spain

Gabriel Calzada is Associate Professor of Economics at the King Juan Carlos University in Spain and Founder-President of the Instituto Juan de Mariana. Just in time for President Obama's new budget with a large increase in spending on 'clean energy' (renewables), and the coincidental hearing in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Green Jobs and Trade, Greenpeace is weighing in to try and rehabilitate President Obama's erstwhile model for these schemes: Spain.

Countries Worry about Rare Earth Metal Supplies

China controls 97 percent of the world's supplies of rare earth metals used in weapon systems and in many modern technological devices, including wind turbines, hybrid cars, and electronics.(i) China views itself as the OPEC of rare earth metals because the country can affect the supply by limiting its exports to countries dependent on its rare earth metal resources. China controls the world's market for rare earth elements, not because China has the vast majority of rare earth reserves (in fact, China only has 36 percent of identified rare earth reserves[ii]), but because China does not impose the regulations on mining rare earths that other countries do. China can control the market at lower cost, putting other competition out of business. It has cut export quotas, increased export taxes and even banned exports of rare earths to Japan due to a maritime territorial dispute.[iii] As a result, countries are concerned about supplies of rare earth elements.

The True Energy Threat to the United States National Security?

H. Sterling Burnett, is a Senior Fellow with the National Center for Policy Analysis, a non-partisan, non-profit research institute with offices in Dallas, Texas and Washington, D.C. President Obama continues to tout his support for moving to a “clean” energy economy, confidently asserting in his State of the Union Address and subsequent speeches around the country, that his administration’s program of subsidies, government grants and tax breaks for green energy technologies will, reduce our dependence on foreign oil and thus improve the United States’ national security.

Annual U.S. Production and Import of Crude Oil

Secure Oil Resources: Where Can We Get Them?

The turmoil in Egypt has made many worry about our oil supply, seeing prices rise due to the conflict. The issue raises the question of where we should be getting oil to ensure the security of its supply. Obviously the first place is at home. But with the Obama Administration placing a moratorium on offshore drilling in the Gulf followed by a de facto ban, withholding the final stages of a permit from Shell to drill offshore in Arctic waters of the Beaufort Sea in Alaska(1), and withdrawing leases on Federal lands that contain vast resources of shale oil[ii], the only choice for the United States is to turn to oil imports for its supply.

EPA Will Destroy Jobs, Not Create Them

One of the hot political debates raging in Washington is the effect the EPA--and specifically, its plans to regulate greenhouse gas emissions--is having on businesses. According to the WSJ, trade associations and businesses single out the EPA as the #1 target when they complain about stifling federal burdens.

High Speed Tax Payer Money Pit

Today, President Obama called for a $53 billion government 'investment' in high-speed rail over the next six years.

War on Affordable Energy Continues

Gas prices were already ticking upward before Egypt disintegrated into political turmoil, but the Obama Administration is accelerating that trend by not issuing permits for domestic energy development and exploration. Today, Royal Dutch Shell announced that they would postpone their arctic drilling project in the Beaufort Sea--a region estimated to have billions of barrels of oil--because they cannot secure the necessary permits. We can add this company to the list of those wishing to do business in the United States, but cannot as a result of regulatory green tape.

Will Unrest in Middle East Finally Awaken Washington to Impacts of its American Energy Embargo?

The tumult in the streets of Cairo sent shock waves throughout world. Oil prices rose in response to fears that further unrest could result in the closure of the Suez Canal, through which more than 600,000 barrels of oil is shipped every day on its way to the United States and other nations.

Blinder Understates the Cost of a Carbon Tax

In a recent article (“The Carbon Tax Miracle Cure,” Jan. 31) Alan Blinder listed numerous alleged benefits of a phased-in carbon tax. His main argument is that it would stimulate job creation in new technologies and techniques. Out of his entire column, he devoted a single sentence to the possible downside of his plan when he wrote, “No one likes to pay higher taxes.” A more balanced assessment shows that a carbon tax presents very real dangers, even if we rely on the same economic analysis that so enthralled Blinder.

Levelized Cost of New Electricity Generating Technologies

Download PDF: Levelized Cost of New Electricity Generating Technologies The Energy Information Administration (EIA) produces forecasts of energy supply and demand for the next 20 years using the National Energy Modeling System (NEMS)(1). These forecasts are updated annually and published in the Annual Energy Outlook (AEO).[2] All sectors of the energy system are represented in NEMS, including the electric power generation, transmission, and distribution system.

Peak Not: Running Into Oil and Gas

"Resources are highly dynamic functional concepts; they are not, they become, they evolve out of the triune interaction of nature, man, and culture."[0] So said the institutional economist Erich Zimmermann, explaining why so-called fixed, depletable resources expand rather than deplete in free market settings. Julian Simon similarly stated: "Human beings create more than they destroy."[2]

Wind Finishes 2010 with Poor Showing in Capacity Increases

The wind industry would like you to believe that windmills are now cost competitive with natural gas units for electricity generation[0], but in 2010, natural gas fired units added twice the capacity that wind units added through most of the year.[ii] Why? There are several reasons. The recession lowered the demand for electricity, natural gas prices are low due to production and reserves of shale gas, and one of wind’s federal subsidies was expiring at the end of 2010.

The Apollo Program and Making Renewables Affordable: Two Completely Different Goals

Senator John Kerry encouraged President Obama to call for an Apollo program for energy at the State of the Union. The problem is that the goal of the Apollo program is far different, and far more easily achieved than making renewables affordable.

Obama on Energy: Fancy New Rhetoric, Same Failed Policies

WASHINGTON – Inthe State of the Union address, President Obama missed a prime-time opportunity to truly usher our nation into a secure energy future. He changed his rhetoric and his tone, but not his harmful policies or misinformed ideology. Institute for Energy Research President Thomas J. Pyle issued the following statement:

Washington Logic: It hasn’t worked in the States, Let’s take it National

WASHINGTON -- The Institute for Energy Research (IER) today released a comprehensive new study, The Status of Renewable Electricity Mandates in the States, which examines the status and impacts of state-based renewable electricity mandates. IER's study found that in states with renewable energy mandates, the deadlines are frequently not being met, they are expensive to consumers, and hostile to job creation. To view an interactive map that illustrates the study's findings, visit this link.

Optimism vs. Pessimism on Oil

U.C. Berkeley economist Brad DeLong has a recurring series on his popular blog where he nominates people for being the "stupidest person alive." DeLong's fans think this is quite amusing, whereas his critics might disagree. Recently DeLong nominated a trio of people who thought the world was in store for an "energy cornucopia."

For China, Coal is Still King

"The U.S. needs to maintain its lead on innovation in the energy sector given the rise of China's growing energy needs and its commitment to clean technology, according to Secretary of Energy Steven Chu. Chu likened the energy race to the "Sputnik" movement..."[0] Introduction China is currently the largest producer and consumer of coal in the world, outstripping the United States by a factor of more than 3[ii]. In fact China's growth in coal consumption is so great that it needs to import coal to satisfy its demand even though it ranks third in coal reserves in the world[iii]. China became a net importer of coal in 2009, buying almost 151 million tons[iv] from coal exporting countries, including the United States and Australia. That number is expected to increase substantially in the years to come. The Chinese use coal, the primary fuel spurring its economic growth, in most sectors of the economy, but particularly in the electric power and industrial sectors. China's economic growth is so phenomenal that it expects to have 350 million people, more than the entire population in the United States,[v] living in cities that do not yet exist within the next 15 years,[vi] which will require additional electrical capacity of an amount almost equal to the total electrical capacity of the United States.[vii]

You Can’t Make This Stuff Up

According to its web site, Range Fuels, a privately held Colorado-based company, says they "convert biomass that cannot be used for food into low carbon biofuels and clean renewable energy using emerging clean energy technologies."

A few notes on Energy Policy of the past and present Congressional Sessions

Dr. H. Sterling Burnett is a guest blogger and a senior fellow with the NCPA. With the advent of the new Congress, it seems a good time to assess the good, the bad and the ugly that occurred in the waning days of the previous Congress and to look forward, to the most pressing issue that faces the 112th Congress.