I participated last week on a panel at the New York Times Energy For Tomorrow conference in New York City. My session, the Closing Plenary, which you can watch here, focused on the issue of energy subsidies. Our session chair, Joe Nocera, queried whether it made sense to subsidize all of our different energy sources. [...]  More »

This post was written by Kathleen Barker, intern at the Baker Institute Energy Forum The days of free parking may be numbered. In a world where rapid urbanization and climate change are raising awareness of the high costs of traffic congestion, Citibank and IBM announced this week that they are joining forces to provide financing [...]  More »

This post was written by James Coan, Research Associate at the Baker Institute Energy Forum. Americans under 40 are driving dramatically less, according to data from the National Household Travel Survey. The question is: Is car culture in America waning generationally or is this a temporary phenomenon linked to the recession? The recession hit younger [...]  More »

On gasoline prices, President Obama is starting to learn the lesson of his predecessors. The quickest way to lower gasoline prices is by calling on Saudi Arabia. For three decades, US presidents have called on Saudi Arabia to get them out of an oil price bind. Saudi Arabia helped President Ronald Reagan get a leg [...]  More »

Reports that the French gunman responsible for this week’s heinous terrorist crime was wearing a video camera raise disturbing new questions about the future of ongoing symbiotic links between terrorism and media. In her play Our House, the playwright Theresa Rebeck (creator of the new hit show Smash) offers a bold and possibly insightful explanation [...]  More »

This post was written by James Coan, Research Associate at the Baker Institute Energy Forum Gasoline prices may be edging up to $4/gallon but that is not how Americans “experience” the hike. Along with the Brookings Institution, the Baker Institute found that a $70/month increase in gasoline costs corresponded to a decline in American feelings [...]  More »

This post was written by Lavanya Sunder, who interned at the Baker Institute Energy Forum and is a student at Lamar High School Wind power is being squeezed on two fronts. Natural gas prices remain low, limiting the financial incentive to install wind capacity. Meanwhile, the Chinese government continues limit the supply of rare earth [...]  More »

This post was written by Keily Miller, Research Associate at the Baker Institute Energy Forum. Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi’s statement in mid-January that $100 constitutes a “fair” price for a barrel of crude appears to have been met with uncharacteristic agreement across OPEC member states. In an interview with Austrian newspaper Kurier at the [...]  More »

This post was written by James Coan, Research Associate at the Baker Institute Energy Forum. Public electric vehicle charging stations are starting to pop around Houston and other cities in a noticeable fashion. According to eVgo, nine are currently operational around town (six of which are in parking lots of Walgreens stores). Recently, while driving [...]  More »

This post was written by Yvette Loch, who interned at the Baker Institute Energy Forum and is a student at Awty International School. With the high gas prices we are facing today, the popularity of the fuel-efficient car is seeing its inevitable increase. Two of the fiercer competitors of this type of car are the [...]  More »

What’s ahead for U.S. natural gas? What potential does this energy resource hold and what challenges are likely?  More »

Escalating tensions over Iran’s threat to block the Strait of Hormuz have contributed to a several dollar rise in the price of oil over the past two weeks, portending an even higher oil price security risk premium that could emerge – were Iran to become a nuclear power. Analysts are already predicting a large oil [...]  More »