Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

Record wind and solar power generation in Germany. No foolin’.

When I think of the places on the planet that seem optimized for solar and wind power generation, I think of deserts like the Sahara and the desert Southwest in the US. And yet Germany is generating a growing share of its electricity through these renewables: “Preliminary data by energy market research group AG Energiebilanzen […]

You can’t fool Mother Nature

Back when we lived in Chapel Hill NC, we made a few trips to the Outer Banks where my wife had an uncle who built fishing boats in Buxton NC. Back then, nobody was talking about sea levels rising because of global warming and yet it was obvious back then (early 1980s) that these sandy […]

King Canute economics comes to Massachusetts

According to legend, King Canute tried to order the tide not to come in. Needless to say, he failed, divine rights of kings nonwithstanding. Back when we lived in North Carolina, we visited the Outer Banks a few times. There were many expensive homes on the shoreline. These were often casualties of hurricanes that would […]

Buy an Electric Vehicle or a Hybrid Electric Vehicle?

Another site has a long article on Toyota of it not going whole hog into electric vehicles in the beginning. Meanwhile domestic US automotive companies are proving out the technology with their models. Beyond mentioning the article, I will not delve into its content. That is other than saying it exists and may be a […]

Renewables 2023, Analysis and forecast to 2028

Renewables 2023, Analysis and forecast to 2028. IEA, Paris Executive Summary I did this before with the IEA. Sent the IEA a few emails establishing what Angry Bear could and could not use. Attributing the analysis I have posted here was one of the requirements. With their permission, I can bring to Angry Bear much […]

Chasing the mosquito man’s truck

Remember chasing the mosquito man’s truck? silive.com, Cassy Sommer  During the fifties and sixties, it was not unusual to see trucks spraying DDT near heavily wooded and swampy areas. I certainly do not recall kids running behind truck spraying the areas. Some claim this was a common practice. My aunts and mom would have had […]

January 2024 consumer inflation: still a tug of war between gas and housing

January 2024 consumer inflation: still a tug of war between gas and housing  – by New Deal democrat As it has been for going on two years, consumer inflation has boiled down to a contest of strength between energy (mainly gasoline), which peaked in June 2022 and roughed in June 2023, and housing, which peaked […]

Fusion power won’t save us

“Using the Joint European Torus (JET) — a huge, donut-shaped machine known as a tokamak — the scientists sustained a record 69 megajoules of fusion energy for five seconds, using just 0.2 milligrams of fuel. That’s enough to power roughly 12,000 households for the same amount of time.” Progress, yes, but incremental. “And myriad challenges […]