Can we count on A.I. to solve the energy problems it is exacerbating?

Oct 18, 2025 | Blog, Energy Transition Policy & Policymaking, Framing and the Energy Transition Debate

Amid the chaos and constant alarm that is MAGA GOP governance, the news from the World Meteorological Association (WMO) about the large increase in atmospheric carbon didn’t get a lot of press attention. But it is worrying to anyone who understands climate...

Restoring liberal democracy is more important than winning policy fights

Oct 12, 2025 | Blog, Democracy and Transitions to Authoritarianism, Partisanship, Elections and the Energy Transition

Finally, pundits are focusing less on policy victory or convincing voters that their political adversaries are evil, and more on the issue of whether our liberal democracy can be saved, and if so, how. Until recently, those at the forefront of the effort to preserve...

Private vs Public Provision of Energy Services

Oct 6, 2025 | Blog, Energy Transition Policy & Policymaking

U.S. electric customers are facing sharp rate increases, and they are not happy about it. Climate change is part of the problem, but most of it boils down to market forces: too much projected demand for the projected supply. Those supply and demand projections, in...

Where have you gone David Broder? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you.

Sep 30, 2025 | Blog, Energy Transition Policy & Policymaking, Framing and the Energy Transition Debate, Journalism, Bias & Censored News

Charlie Cook, founder of the Cook Political Report (CPR), wrote a column last month for CPR (behind a pay wall) about gerrymandering that began this way: After 47 years at The Washington Post, Dan Balz recently announced he is stepping back from his role as the...

Keeping the lights on: central planning or markets? An explainer for agnostics.

Sep 24, 2025 | Blog, Energy Transition Policy & Policymaking, Framing and the Energy Transition Debate

Recently, two items came across my energy news feed within a few days of one another, each underscoring a different aspect of the ongoing challenge of maintaining a reliable electricity supply on a rapidly changing electric grid. The first item was an a report from...

Merging economic and political leverage in a unique historic moment

Sep 19, 2025 | Blog, Democracy and Transitions to Authoritarianism, Journalism, Bias & Censored News

As we watch the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) use its power to stifle political dissent, we should step back and look at the story of how we got here. It is a story about the simultaneous (re)concentration of economic power, on the one hand, and the...