Blogging on Economics, Renewable Energy

Many thanks to my fine friend and colleague Terry Ribb for sending me this marvelous video on blogging.   The piece presents the thoughts of Dr. Tyler Cowen, a university professor whose field is economics, rather than clean energy, but his remarks strike directly at what I try to accomplish—with whatever level of success—at the 2GreenEnergy blog.   In particular, I try to address my subject from the widest possible variety of perspectives, in the hopes that readers will enjoy wondering what they’ll find when they come here.

The video was both a revelation and an inspiration.  In particular, I love the way Cowen tries to turn the topic of economics on its head, presenting concepts that cause readers to reject–or at least call into question–the mass-produced, mainstream notions on the subject that are forced down their throats at every turn.  I don’t claim to do that; almost all my posts pertain to the technology, economics, or politics of energy and the environment, and, for better or worse, I have a fairly consistent set of beliefs on things like the imperative to migrate away from fossil fuels in favor of energy efficiency, conservation and renewables.

But I do try to color the subject with references to people in far-flung disciplines and apparently unrelated historical events, and then tie those ideas back to the subject of environmentalism in a way that isn’t too absurd.  Yesterday’s allusion to “The Rite of Spring” is an example; in my effort to “keep ‘em guessing,” I may be the only person on Earth who has ever referred to both Stravinsky and green energy in the same short blurb.  Of course, that and a dollar will buy me a cup of coffee, but I have fun with it, and I hope readers do too.

I hope you’ll check out the video; it’s powerful stuff from a brilliant mind.