3 August 2016 | By Steve Heins, The Word Merchant Many have probably heard a lot about Tesla lately, including the latest dust up with the “Autopilot” accidents. Beneath the headlines, the recently announced Tesla and Solar City merger will be an interesting experiment: Can massive government spending stimulate its own economy, without the usual worry [...]
Originally posted in Energy Central March 4th, 2016 | By Stephen Heins Funding bias is by definition biased! Consequently, there should be full disclosure for all parties involved in regulatory and political issues, so that all researchers and research can be judged for their objectivity about environmental, economic and energy information being provided by grants and other funding sources--public and [...]
Originally posted in Energy Central February 11, 2016 | By Stephen Heins [Given the fact that I wrote this presentation 10 years ago for WREC Conference in Italy, I find little of it that I am embarrassed about. The names and the companies have changed, but many of the issues are still the same. Foremost, the continuing importance of [...]
Originally posted in Energy Central 9 February 2016 | By Steve Heins, The Word Merchant “The EPA and The Clean Power Plan: The Climate Science is Far from Settled,” (…and the EPA hasn’t yet addressed any of the important issues surrounding the energy, technology and telecommunication convergence.) While many of us actively try to follow the broad-based scientific discussions [...]
Originally posted in Energy Central Posted on October 16, 2015 Posted By: Stephen Heins Topic: Environmental, Emissions & Carbon Management For decades the EPA, with its piercing scrutiny, complex regulations, and ruthless punishment of polluters, has ruled through fear and intimidation. But with a growing list of recent debacles, scandal, and regulatory snafus, the tables may [...]
For decades the EPA, with its piercing scrutiny, complex regulations, and ruthless punishment of polluters, has ruled through fear and intimidation. But with a growing list of recent debacles, scandal, and regulatory snafus, the tables may be turning, and the EPA itself may have good reason to feel afraid, especially after triggering a second wastewater spill [...]
Originally posted in Fortnightly's SPARK 29 Sept 2015 | By Stephen Heins, The Word Merchant Let’s have full disclosure on Harvard’s new health study (And why it so closely defends the EPA that helped to fund it.) As the saying goes, you get what you pay for. That’s the lesson one might well draw from [...]
13 Jun 2015 | by Stephen Heins State utility commissioners in all 50 states are under a lot of stress. First, they must formulate and plan for the future of their states’ electrical grids and at the same time, keep their eyes on the developments in Washington and on the EPA whose Clean Power Plan (CPP) [...]
Originally posted in Forbes/Opinion 4 Mar 2015 | By Stephen Heins The idea of “cooperative federalism” began with the New Deal in the 1930s when it came to include a division of responsibilities among the states and the federal government agencies of electric power and distribution. By the passage of the Clean Air Act of 1970, the EPA set [...]
Originally posted in Forbes/Opinion 23 Dec 2014 | By Stephen Heins The world of energy (oil, pipelines, OPEC, fracking, gasoline prices, peak oil, tar sands and natural gas, to mention the most overly discussed) has entered a new phase, while reasserting its place in the world headlines. In the meantime, another very important American energy story—electricity for the present [...]
