“Kindness don’t ask for much but an open mind”

Sep 25, 2024 | Blog, Energy Transition Policy & Policymaking, Framing and the Energy Transition Debate

For some people, complex ideas resonate more when conveyed through artistic expression than through narratives or numbers. Many readers will have heard of energy historian Daniel Yergin’s book, The Prize. Fewer will know his sequel, The Quest. In the latter book...

Climate Change and The Electric Grid — Wildfires

Aug 30, 2024 | Blog, Energy Transition Policy & Policymaking

We have known for some time that climate change can increase the intensity and frequency of wildfires. And in recent years wildfires sparked by electric utility infrastructure have become more common. California, Hawaii and Texas have experienced particularly...

Climate Change and the Electric Grid — Severe Weather

Aug 25, 2024 | Blog, Energy Transition Policy & Policymaking

Dangerous heat, more frequent and intense flooding and wildfires, and more violent hurricanes are constantly in the news cycle. What we know about the relationship between climate change and severe weather is worrying enough. We need not embellish reality with the...

Where to Get the Full Story About Energy Transition Tradeoffs

Jun 15, 2024 | Blog, Energy Transition Policy & Policymaking

Modern information flows shield the good news about the energy transition from conservatives, and the bad news from liberals. Our insulated realities make us too certain too quickly that our preferred truth is THE truth. In fact, we don’t know how technology will...

Why My Book’s Political Predictions Might Turn Out To Be Wrong — “The Inflation Reduction Act will transform climate politics”

Jun 5, 2024 | Blog, Energy Transition Policy & Policymaking, Partisanship, Elections and the Energy Transition

[Note: This is the second in a series of posts looking at how the political analysis (and corresponding prescription) in Climate of Contempt could turn out to be wrong. The first post was here.] Some people, particularly those at the ideological poles of each party,...

The Chasm Between Invention and Commercialization

May 15, 2024 | Blog, Energy Transition Policy & Policymaking, Journalism, Bias & Censored News

Steve Levine’s 2015 book, Powerhouse: Inside the Invention of a Battery to Save the World, tells the story of one of the laboratories competing for  federal (2009 ARRA) stimulus money targeting battery development. Along the way the book illustrates the...