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on April 04, 2019
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Doubling Down on Failure Installment Four: Renewable Energy Fails Cost/Benefit Analysis Using Minnesota Public Utilities Commission Social Cost of Carbon

Written by Isaac Orr
in Uncategorized

This article is the fourth installment explaining the findings of our new study entitled Doubling Down on Failure, How a 50 percent by 2030 Renewable Energy Standard Would Cost Minnesota $80.2 Billion. This installment explains how the cost of reducing carbon dioxide emissions under the Renewable, Short-Term Nuclear, and Long-Term Nuclear would exceed the Social Cost of Carbon (SCC) established by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC). The Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) scenario, is the only scenario that passes this cost-benefit analysis. This post is pretty in the weeds, so the main takeaway is that the costs of reducing our carbon dioxide emissions...

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on April 02, 2019
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MN House Energy and Climate Finance Committee Modeling Should Include Future Wind Speeds

Written by Isaac Orr
in Climate, Energy, Environment, Minnesota Economy

The Minnesota House of Representatives has proposed spending $550,000 on a study to be conducted by the University of Minnesota exploring the impacts of climate change in Minnesota. What's unique about the study is that it would require the University to conduct a study producing climate model projections through the rest of this century for 10-square mile blocks covering the entire state. The study would be required to develop a series of projections of temperature, precipitation, snow cover, and a variety of other climate parameters over the rest of this century. This morning I testified in front of the Committee instructing them to add another requirement to...

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on April 01, 2019
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Doubling Down On Failure Installment Three: Carbon Dioxide Emissions

Written by Isaac Orr
in Climate, Energy, Environment

This article is the third installment explaining the findings of our new study entitled Doubling Down on Failure, How a 50 percent by 2030 Renewable Energy Standard Would Cost Minnesota $80.2 Billion. This installment explains how carbon dioxide emissions would be affected in each of the four scenarios we examine, Renewable, Short-Term Nuclear, Long-Term Nuclear, and Affordable Clean Energy (ACE). While the Renewable, Short-Term Nuclear, and Long-Term Nuclear scenarios would impose significant yearly financial burdens on Minnesota households, they all would reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. Emissions would eventually rise under the ACE plan as existing wind turbines reach the end of their useful lives. The graph...

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on March 14, 2019
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Two Answers I’d Like on Xcel Energy’s Carbon Report

Written by Isaac Orr
in Climate, Energy, Environment, Minnesota Economy

Xcel Energy made headlines by announcing they would be the first electric utility to derive 100 percent of their electricity from sources that don't emit carbon dioxide by 2050. Earlier this month, the government-approved monopoly utility company released a 28-page report outlining their plan for "Building a Carbon-free Future." After reading the document, I was left with two nagging questions that should have been answered in the report: what would it cost, and how much future warming would it prevent?...

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on November 28, 2018
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Canadians Revolt Against Trudeau’s Carbon Taxes

Written by Isaac Orr
in Climate, Energy, Environment, Minnesota Economy

In Canada, pressure against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's carbon tax is mounting, as Manitoba did a sudden about-face on its intention to impose a $25-per-tonne carbon price this fall. The Canadian federal government in Ottawa passed legislation last spring to give it authority to impose a carbon price on any province that did not implement its own tax beginning Jan. 1, 2019. It is starting at a minimum of $20 per tonne, rising $10 per year until 2022. Although, Trudeau says Canadians gave his government a mandate to implement a national carbon price in the last election, the blowback in provincial governments is...

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