THE FOCUSED MIND » Energy

Water, Water, Everywhere…

Inferential Focus — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 18:26:11 +0000

Water is obviously a vital resource. Is it too vital for markets to handle its pricing?

In Texas, Allan Ritter, a Republican and chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, proposed bills that would withdraw $2 billion from the state’s Rainy Day Fund to establish a water infrastructure bank that would lend money for projects dedicated to the state’s 50-year water plan. His proposals received support from Republican leaders, the Sierra Club’s Texas chapter and the Texas Association of Business. (read the article)

Texas Republicans’ inclination is to reduce government involvement when markets can be involved, but, in this instance, previously opposing forces are cooperating to deal with what are perceived to be structural challenges. Water is essential to commerce, agriculture, energy and consumers. Current Texas politicians perceive water as too important of a commodity to be left to the markets to allocate and price.

How long will this perspective about water last? Will other states follow?

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Is Going Green Worth the Money?

Inferential Focus — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 15:32:42 +0000

Last year, sales of environmentally friendly products in the U.S. surpassed $40 billion, including $29.2 billion on organic foods and $2 billion on energy-efficient light bulbs. Meanwhile, in a GfK survey, 93 percent of consumers said they had changed their behavior to conserve energy in their household. This all looks good for things going green. Yet, recent surveys suggest that consumers, while interested in environmentally-friendly products, are not willing to pay more for them.

A different study of the U.S. food supply has learned that 40 percent of American food goods are wasted after being brought home – that is, American homeowners let 40 percent of the foods they purchase spoil before they use them or get thrown away as excess.

As attitudes change about the utilization of resources, perhaps, homeowners, while cutting back on energy use, will also start consuming a better part of the 40 percent of the foods they waste.

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Gas Means More than Energy

Inferential Focus — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 19:13:01 +0000

According to the American Chemistry Council, the U.S. industry has plans to construct 30 new chemical refineries in the next five years.

One of the less discussed effects of the recently developed abundance of natural gas is the secondary impact on other industries of abundant and affordable fossil fuels, especially of industrial feed stocks such as ethane. With several companies announcing multi-billion dollar refinery projects, the chemical industry and the related plastics industry could be in for a sizable expansion in employment and exports.

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