(Posted by John.)
For those of us who live in other jurisdictions and are bizarrely obsessed with electricity policy (yo) California really does stand out as an incredible example of what efficiency and conservation can do. Kevin Drum has a great short post on what California has managed to accomplish, notwithstanding Cheney's admonition that efficiency isn't the basis of a sound policy.
Of course, this wouldn't be the first time Cheney was wrong about something crucial to America's future. Hell, it wouldn't be the fiftieth.
On a related note, Thomas Friedman really, really, really needs to stop talking about Brazil's "ethanol miracle" unless he's also willing to point out that a) Brazil has also recently benefited from a major oil find, and b) in any case Brazil uses less than one eighth the per capita energy that the US does. I've gone from bullish to ambivalent about ethanol, but the simple fact is it won't be helpful in the slightest unless there's a serious effort at fuel conservation.
