Energy
The economics of wind. The role of coal in the energy economies of the U.S. and Illinois. Whether and how to support emerging technologies to burn coal more cleanly. The environmental costs of mining and consuming coal for power generation. Whether and how to effect a transition to renewables and away from fossil fuels. How to make public transit a viable alternative and conservation through efficiency a widespread private habit.
Today's readers will recognize these as very current issues—as they also were in the 1970s and early 1980s, when I started writing about energy. The nation was then being held in hock, in effect, to the oil sheiks, and when they shut off imports in 1973 it caused a shock that the U.S. would not feel again until 9-11, when Saudis led a different kind of attack on America.
The panic then was how to achieve energy independence. The panic today is about how to avoid rendering the planet inhospitable to humans because of the heedless combustion of fossil fuels. But while the ends of policy have shifted, the means are mind-numbingly familiar. Everything that had to be explained, over and over, in the 1970s has to be explained again 30 years later. No one learned. Not much changed, and even what did change didn't change for the right reasons.
Which means, perhaps, that these pieces will strike younger readers today as fresh and relevant. I hope so.
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The Battles Over the Ground and Behind the Doors
Healing damaged farmland in Illinois
Illinois Issues January 1985
The (Energetic) Ambition of Frank Beal
The thinking bureaucrat's sort of bureaucrat
Illinois Issues April 1980
Harvesting Electricity
The newest energy crop from Illinois fields
"Dyspepsiana" Illinois Times January. 21, 2010
The UMW Battlefield Moves Beyond the Coal Field
A feature article about one of Illinois labor's lost causes
Illinois Issues April 1980
Mined Land Reclamation: Ends and Means
Healing damaged farmland in Illinois
Illinois Issues December 1984
Springfield City Water, Light & Power
The City of Springfield owns its own power generation facility, a legacy of public power socialists of the 1920s. That makes energy policy a matter of local politics in Springfield, which is unfortunate, but it also made energy policy an appropriate subject for Illinois Times columns, which for me was very fortunate.
It’s Not the Heat But the Stupidity
Summer cooling technologies remain unevolved
“Dyspepsiana” Illinois Times July 29, 2010
Springfield as the No. 1 green city
“Dyspepsiana” Illinois Times September 16, 2010
Can CWLP be managed for the people’s benefit?
“Dyspepsiana” Illinois Times December 20, 2012
Will CWLP not have to clean up its act?
“Dyspepsiana” Illinois Times October 5, 2017
‘Great Refrigerator Roundup’ Is a Bad Bargain
CWLP’s efficiency rebates are inefficient
“Dyspepsiana” Illinois Times October 8, 2009
The dilemmas of public power on a warming planet
“Dyspepsiana” Illinois Times July 27, 2017
Not all gas emitted by CWLP comes out its chimneys
“Prejudices” Illinois Times October 20, 1983
In the early 1980s, Illinois Issues magazine undertook a multi-author series on Illinois energy issues, supported in part by the Office of Consumer Affairs of the U.S. Department of Energy. I was to write five of them altogether—on energy-efficient buildings, on ethanol, on government's role in transportation, on synfuels, and a big-picture introduction.
Transportation and the Government's Uneven Hand
State intervention in the transportation marketplace
Illinois Issues October 1981
On converting Illinois corn to motor fuel
Illinois Issues January 1981
Synfuels from Coal
What went wrong?
Illinois Issues April 1982
Illinois Issues energy series
Illinois Issues series on coal
The year 1979 found me trying to learn enough about the coal industry in Illinois to write an ambitious series of articles for Illinois Issues magazine. Illinois coal was then being touted as the solution to the nation's energy problem, not the cause of the planet's climate problem, and giving what is today a dying industry this much attention seemed obligatory. No one cares today, but future historians of the Illinois coal industry might take note.
Illinois Coal v. Western Coal: Who's Getting Burned?
Illinois Issues July 1979
Illinois Coal: Who Runs the Industry
Illinois Issues August 1979
Illinois Coal: Can We Scrub It Clean?
Illinois Issues September 1979
Who Makes Coal Policy in Illinois?
Illinois Issues November 1979
Who Makes Coal Policy in Illinois? Chapter II
Illinois Issues December 1979
In which the author’s energy dreams do not come true
“Prejudices” Illinois Times May 30, 1980
Illinois institutions try to keep the heat in
“Prejudices” Illinois Times January 12, 1984
“A Little More Dirt in Your Lungs”
An Illinois governor preaches pollution
Illinois Times August 3, 1979
Just the facts, ma’am: Illinois and acid rain
“Prejudices” Illinois Times December 3, 1987
Trading coal today for corn forever
“Prejudices” Illinois Times January 18, 1980
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