Coal currently provides more than half the United States’ electricity. Because burning a single ton of coal can create more than two tons of CO2, a primary contributor to climate change, a technique known as carbon capture and storage (CCS) is under development.
In economics, the word externality refers to costs or benefits of a good or service not reflected in its price. For example, making gasoline requires petroleum extraction, transportation, and refinement; driving creates pollution, noise and congestion. These in turn cause health and environmental damage.
Mountaintop mining is a widespread practice in eastern Kentucky, West Virginia and southwestern Virginia. It involves removing forests, clearing topsoil and using explosives to expose buried coal. Excess rock is pushed into nearby valleys, disturbing habitats and blocking streams.
On September 19 BP’s Deepwater Horizon well was officially declared sealed after having poured nearly 5 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Coincidentally, the following day the National Bureau of Economic Research announced that the recession that started in late 2007 had ended in June. While these two crises are now ostensibly over, their effects are likely to be felt for years.
Automotive transportation, one of the largest sectors of the U.S. economy, has numerous societal benefits but also many downsides — pollution, fatalities, congestion. Getting the price individuals pay for driving to reflect its true cost to society is one of the most significant challenges of public policy.
As gas prices rise, people tend to shift from driving personal vehicles to using public transit. However, the extent of this change and the interplay between fuel price spikes and transit usage are not precisely known.
