Economics

Donald Trump has laid out his vision for both energy and economics and independent assessments of his policy positions suggest that he is either profoundly ignorant or a bold faced liar. His energy policy seeks to expand dirty energy and while that would benefit the fossil fuel industry it would condemn the planet to a climate apocalypse. In a policy speech to the Detroit Economic Club, on Monday, Aug. 8, 2016, Trump said that his presidency would deliver "a complete rethinking of our energy policy." This translates to unmitigated expansion of domestic fossil fuel extraction. If the US were to...

Even though we have seen a recent uptick in oil prices the outlook in the short and medium term is anything but bullish. According to a number of energy pundits, there is little reason to believe that oil prices will keep their current value. First, despite the agreement to reduce production from Saudi Arabia and Russia, there is no agreement from other producers to curb production and secondly Iran’s oil shipment to Europe will rise sharply by May. In a March 29th Seeking Alpha article titled, "Big Trouble For Oil Prices Could Be Brewing," Daniel Jones says that despite the...

Sustainability is an expansive concept that applies widely. The definition of sustainability is commonly narrowly defined particularly by entrepreneurs and some members of the business community.  The Brundtland commission definition from 1987 definition defines sustainability as follows, "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet its needs". Many focus exclusively on profitability, at the expense of the other dimensions of sustainability. However, profitability is only one of the three pillars of the so called three legged stool of sustainability (people, planet and profits).  While no one can deny the importance of...

No matter how you slice it, oil's price volatility is bad for business and bad for the economy. At the start of this decade headlines were commenting about the high cost of oil now they are awash with remarks about price declines. Unpredictable oil prices hurt everyone. The problem of oil's price volatility was made apparent during the OPEC oil embargo of 1974. Since then we have seen a number of radical fluctuations including a sudden price spike in the summer of 2008 when a barrel of crude hit more than $130 only to fall to $40 per barrel a...

With oil prices at a 5-year low, renewable energy and the green economy are being hit with some serious headwinds. Low oil prices are not only detrimental to the growth of renewable energy it is also decreases demand for hybrid and electric cars as well as cleantech in general. High oil prices buoy interest in renewables, while low oil prices put downward pressure on the growth of the low carbon economy. For more than a quarter century we have been exploring the ways in which oil prices are related to renewable energy. A 1989 World Bank study showed how renewable...