Sunday Papers

Seeing lots of signs opposing fracking has got me to thinking about energy lately. I’m hard pressed to articulate our current energy policy beyond tiny investments in renewable energy and small subsidies to the purchasers of hybrid cars. This seems misguided given the geopolitics of the Middle East and the current explosion of natural gas production in the US. The Times helps out today with an editorial, as well as an Op-ed piece by Daniel Yergin, whose book I’ve considered reading. The editorial cites a recent report from the International Energy Agency, which concludes that fracking is preferable to coal from an environmental standpoint (a gas-fired plant admits half as much carbon dioxide as a coal-fired one). Yergin shows how the balance of oil production is shifting home, and suggests that the Administration is starting to embrace the benefits of this boom.

All of this suggests a better future, where cleaner power plants produce all of our energy and electric and gas-powered vehicles turn us into a net oil exporter again. With Dallas returning to the airwaves, this seems like a viable scenario, unless JR’s scheme to crush the competition succeeds, as it usually does.


Also noted

Kristof on the tragedies in Sudan and Syria. It seems morally wrong to sit idly, even if the history of intervention is not looking so great right now.

Animals get breast cancer too, like to get high and suffer from neuroses. We can learn from this.

Friedman on the choices offered young Egyptians in the upcoming presidential election; 622 or 1952?

The significance of Exxon Mobil in the world. Echoes of the East India Company.