The Berkeley Blog » Elizabeth Bailey http://blogs.berkeley.edu Provocative thinking from UC Berkeley Fri, 24 May 2013 20:28:26 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 From big energy consumption (E) to lower energy consumption (e) http://blogs.berkeley.edu/2013/03/19/from-big-energy-consumption-e-to-lower-energy-consumption-e/ http://blogs.berkeley.edu/2013/03/19/from-big-energy-consumption-e-to-lower-energy-consumption-e/#comments Tue, 19 Mar 2013 17:59:03 +0000 Elizabeth Bailey http://blogs.berkeley.edu/?p=10890 Very little shocks me anymore. But I was shocked – SHOCKED! – to discover that one space in our house which takes up only about 5% of the floor space draws more than 20% of the KWH our house consumes in a day.

Can you guess which room this is? It is the space my family calls the “home office.”

Misery loves company and, it turns out, I am in good company. According to a 2009 Energy Information Administration survey, 30% of the energy an average U.S. home consumes goes to powering electronic gadgets, small appliances, and lighting.  That figure is up ... More >]]> http://blogs.berkeley.edu/2013/03/19/from-big-energy-consumption-e-to-lower-energy-consumption-e/feed/ 4 California’s second cap-and-trade auction: Signs of a maturing market http://blogs.berkeley.edu/2013/02/26/californias-second-cap-and-trade-auction-signs-of-a-maturing-market/ http://blogs.berkeley.edu/2013/02/26/californias-second-cap-and-trade-auction-signs-of-a-maturing-market/#comments Tue, 26 Feb 2013 16:09:08 +0000 Elizabeth Bailey http://blogs.berkeley.edu/?p=10819 The California Air Resources Board (ARB) held its second auction for greenhouse gas allowances this past Tuesday (Feb. 19).  Severin Borenstein blogged about his reactions to the first auction held back in November 2012 here.

As a quick refresher, in the first auction, the market clearing price for a “current” vintage 2013 allowance was 9 cents above the auction reserve price of $10 per ton and all allowances available for sale – roughly 23 million – were sold.  The first auction had its share of excitement and controversy, which you can read about here.

The results of the second auction were released ... More >]]> http://blogs.berkeley.edu/2013/02/26/californias-second-cap-and-trade-auction-signs-of-a-maturing-market/feed/ 0 Deck the halls with LEDs http://blogs.berkeley.edu/2012/12/05/deck-the-halls-with-leds/ http://blogs.berkeley.edu/2012/12/05/deck-the-halls-with-leds/#comments Wed, 05 Dec 2012 19:25:00 +0000 Elizabeth Bailey http://blogs.berkeley.edu/?p=10611 As a parent of two preschoolers, I get talked in to many things.  This past weekend, I was talked in to decorating our front porch with a string of holiday lights.

For the pre-tax price of $16.99 at Costco, my husband brought home a 33-foot string of 100 multi-colored miniature holiday lights for me to indulge my two little chickadees’ wishes.

$16.99?!?  Has there been that much inflation in holiday light prices since last season when I purchased what I thought was a virtually identical set for $8.99?

Reading the not-so-fine print on the box, I discovered $16.99 buys you a string of ... More >]]> http://blogs.berkeley.edu/2012/12/05/deck-the-halls-with-leds/feed/ 4