Hot or Cold? How Best To Save Energy Dollars

By Peter Elstrom on June 8

Interesting story in the New York Times today. It explains that the federal government is changing its emphasis in weatherizing homes. It is allocating a greater share of the stimulus…

Smart Grids: More Tolstoy, less Dickens

By Stephen Baker on June 1

I was talking with Jeffrey Taft, the lead architect for smart grids at Accenture. He came up with a literary description for the digital data pouring through electrical networks. In…

Millions For New Biofuels: Wasted?

By Peter Elstrom on May 7

As part of the stimulus effort, the Obama Administration is intent on investing more in green energy to reduce the use of traditional fossil fuels. Just this week, Secretary of…

Biofuels: Is it a bubble?

By Stephen Baker on April 20

I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised. If you look at the promise of biofuels, it seems too good to be true, at least in the short term. The idea…

Cash for clunkers

By Stephen Baker on January 14

How about having the government buy back lots of gas-guzzling cars and SUVs—and then destroying them? Dean Baker suggests it in a post chock-full of interesting stimulus spending ideas. (Thanks…

Retrofitting: An oil well for every American

By Stephen Baker on December 17

Obama and his team have made it clear that insulating and patching up buildings will make up part of the stimulus spending. It makes sense. It creates jobs, reduces monthly…

Of Stimulus and Green Jobs

By Peter Elstrom on December 12

Does investing in green energy really an effective way to create jobs? The Obama Administration certainly seems convinced that that’s the case. They’ve got support from a number of think…