1. Good post, Andrew.

2. Krugman is so good when he sticks to economics, and so middling otherwise. He really should stick closer to his core competency. It's not like there's any shortage of things to talk about.

3. Electro Robot, not your best logic. I disagree with most of your posts, but you sometimes at least put forth an interesting premise. This one is just weak, though. One of our problems in the US is that we have almost blind to noticing wanton energy waste. I'm involved with getting my local government buildings greener, and it's shooting fish in a barrel. Insulating and air sealing the roof properly of one building is costing $10k and will save $4k in heating oil a year. That's a great investment, purely on a $ basis. Yet until people got on it and freed up some budget, it didn't get done.

And this is hardly an unusual example. The biggest hurdles for serious conservation efficiency seem to be awareness (you have to understand the waste), inertia (you have to do something, even if it's just picking up the phone), and available cash (even when the payback is tremendous, as it often is, if there's no budget available, forget it).

ER, perhaps you are thinking about CAFE. I think that we think about conservation in terms of cars too much. Though I support greater fuel efficiency regs [though if I had a choice I wouldn't go the CAFE route], the cost of a barrel saved in transportation is on the high side (but getting more cost effective as oil keeps getting more expensive). The cost of conservation/efficiency in other sectors (e.g. buildings) is often much more favorable.

Conservation and efficiency aren't *the* solution, but it's a no-brainer place to start. We've got a long way to go until we've exhausted the list of measures that just plain make financial sense.

30 second ads are not geared for substance or complexity.

Though I agree the MoveOn brand is probably not a great one for the target audience.

... life doesn't get much better than this.

Viva Hank!

Quoth Hillary:

I'm going to work my heart out for whoever our nominee is. Obviously, I'm still hoping to be that nominee, but I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that anyone who supported me ... understands what a grave error it would be not to vote for Sen. Obama.

Good for her.

Look, if I backed Hillary I'd be disappointed. She probably would have won with a better strategy. But it's (just about) time to start coming together.

Since we've had a good Steve Milloy bashing around here.

I'm still hoping for a pay-per-view Leonard-Milloy cage match. That would be so great.

If you want to look at colorful maps, at least look at ones with documented and reasonably rigorous methodology:

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/

It's poll-based too, which is limiting, but it's about as good as you are going to get.

I'm not affiliated, just a fan.

I like "Obama-Ra the Sun God", but seriously, who pooped in your cereal this morning?

Maybe high oil prices are helping drive the recession as well as lowering consumptions. Which would at some point lead to lower oil prices, which would help SUV sales, and the cycle beginneth anew...

I just had my last home oil (B20) delivery today for awhile (we'll only burn it for hot water 'til the fall); the bill broke into the four digit range for the first time. Ouch.

I was planning on doing a bunch of airsealing and insulation projects this summer; I am now triply motivated. Fortunately, the conservation gains of these upgrades will be largely inelastic to any future drops in oil prices.

I'm also seriously considering a pellet stove, solar thermal for hot water, etc...

Star me! Star me too!

I was listening to Ozomatli (Temperatura) while reading these comments!

I so deserve a star!

Por favor, dame una estrella!

At least get your facts straight.

Sugar (CANE, mostly) is grown in the cerrado, potentially displacing small farmers and ranchers, who then might cut into the rainforest. The rainforest is more likely to be cleared for soy, in part to make up for the decrease in soy production in the US relative to corn.

While I don't think biofuels are quite as bad as they are being made out to be presently, they aren't that hot. Some of the badness is transitional (ethanol from corn is a bridge technology; the moment one of the many cellulosic technologies hits, corn is dead), some of it is due to weak land rights in developing countries like Brazil.

Myself, I'm an advocate of biomass for direct combustion for combined heat and power, and plug-in hybrids. Same end effect (less reliance on petroleum as a transport fuel), much more fields to wheels efficiency.

My short list:

Sherrod Brown

Brian Schweitzer

Scarlett Johansson

We have Polish friends here in the US that are actively considering moving back home- they see more potential opportunities there.

Land of opportunity no more?