You probably didn’t notice that I didn’t write an article last week. I just needed a break. But in the last two weeks, the news has not stopped. So this week, I am simply going to recap some headlines of what has occurred recently. These headlines, and maybe one brief passage from the article, cover a broad swath of the…
Almost a year ago, May 2020, I wrote the following article. How Many Fingers Do You Have? https://franklytalking.com/how-many-fingers-do-you-have/ The point I was making, and have been predicting all along for many years if you’ve been paying attention, is that our transition from a world reliant on fossil fuels to one that has essentially eliminated the emission of CO2, methane and…
I received some great feedback on the post I sent out last week about the possibility of a fee on carbon. The following is a great summary of what I heard. Just flagging that a carbon tax unless set extraordinarily high – likely drives little progress outside of the power sector, e.g. in bldgs, transport and industry. And with coal only 20%…
I can’t remember how long ago people started asking me what I thought would be the best way to wean ourselves off of fossil fuels. I always said it would be with a fee on carbon. Economists have been saying this for a long time as well. There has been one truism in American politics that the third rail has…
You all know the story about the frog and the boiling pot of water. If you threw a frog into a pot of hot water it would immediately jump out. But if it were in a pot of water that was at a temperature that it found normal and gradually turned up the heat it would slowly boil to death.…
Above: Michael Greenstone of the University of Chicago testifies before Congress on the Social Cost of Carbon In the past I have alerted you to how seemingly little insignificant things can actually have enormous impact. I’ve written several times about NSR, New Source Review, which has a huge impact on many things but especially on whether a coal fired power…
Today is Valentine’s Day. It’s a time to think about and appreciate all those in your life that you love. Those that know me know that my wife and family are the core of my life. Thus, today’s message is about the future…their future. I have been, and still am, terrified about the planet that my kids and their kids…
There’s been several articles this week that describe how we are inexorably headed for a carbon free, mostly, electric future in transportation. There have been, and still are, skeptics that don’t believe that we will get to the point by 2030, or 2035 at the latest, when every mass produced car in the US will be fully electric much less light duty…
It is impossible for me to write a post today without saying anything about the insurrection/coup attempt at the Capital Building on Wednesday. Debbie and I have been talking and worrying for a very long time about if there would be violence in the streets if Trump lost the election. While we did not foresee the assault on our nation’s Capital Building, with ALL…
I hope you had a wonderful holiday however you may celebrate. And let’s hope that we survive until noon on January 20th and that after that 2021 is a better year than this one. As we end 2020 I am astounded and delighted by the change that has occurred since the 2018 midterm election. The change in the public’s…