Wednesday, October 4, 2023
EnergyGovernmentUtilities

Southeast Michigan Dreams of Public Power

Municipalization of public utilities, transportation systems, and distribution systems for gas and electricity was all the rage about a century ago. Is it time to bring it back into vogue? A symposium looked at this question.

Read More
AutomotiveLaborMovements & Organizing

UAW: What We Stand To Gain, Vs. Lose, From The Threat Of A Strike.

Why do we always talk about strikes in terms of the bad it would do to the economy? What if instead we talked about the benefits and economic growth that would result from companies meeting labor demands?

Read More
CyclingPublic Safety

Drivers: Please Don’t Honk At Cyclists. Ever.

Car horns are dangerously loud, and dangerously loud sounds are not only deleterious to health, they’re also scary for cyclists– who are already occupying a precarious position on the streets of American cities.

Read More
Economic DevelopmentGovernment

City of Detroit: Just Kidding, We Do Have A Secret MOU With The Ilitches and Morouns.

The City of Detroit responded to a long-outstanding FOIA request and conceded that, yes, they do have a secret memorandum of understanding with a couple of the city’s most delinquent landowners. It’s not surprising. It’s just obnoxious that they told me the exact opposite before.

Read More
HistoryScience & Research

Hydrogen: The Water-Stuff Of To-day, Yesterday, and To-Morrow

Hydrogen has an interesting and complex past– as a fuel source, as a major component of other fuel sources, and as a primary constituent of the universe in general- and a potentially ever more interesting future. But there are some sticking points.

Read More
AutomotiveTech

Ford F-150 Lightning Review: The F-150, But Electric. That’s About It.

The F-150 Electric is a heavier, faster version of the F-150 Acoustic. Will this sell with the F-150 loyalists because of this? Or, will it alienate car buyers who are looking for something different in an EV?

Read More
EnergyUtilities

Sidebar: An Easy Argument Against Fossil Fuels? Cost.

The levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) of solar and onshore wind power have declined so much in the past decade that we’ve gone from an all-renewable grid being a pipe dream to it being a matter of simple market logic. While there are a couple of challenges ahead, this is at least encouraging as we continue down the road toward decarbonization.

Read More
EnergyGovernmentPolicy

The GOP Released Their Policy Blueprint For 2025. It’s A Mess.

The Republican Party has drafted its “policy” plans for 2025, when they at this point seem unlikely to be able to retake the White House. While there are some valuable points in critiquing the structure of the federal regulatory apparatus, most of the over-arching objectives include dismantling federal agencies and applying theocratic and corporatist dogma to American public policy.

Read More