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Thursday, May 1, 2014

You Sure About That?

Let's face it: Everyone says things they regret on a show like “Say Yes To The Dress.”

oh, sure, that makes sense

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The market is finally doing clean energy a favor. Kyle Chayka writes in Pacific Standard that the price of solar energy has been "falling like a meteor over the past several years, even dipping below" some fossil fuels. Last year, solar energy was already as cheap as conventional sources in Germany, Italy, and Spain, achieving what the energy industry calls grid parity. This scares traditional utilities, the Washington Post's Matt McFarland writes:

Advances in solar panels and battery storage will make it more realistic for consumers to dump their electric utility, and power their homes through solar energy that is stored in batteries for cloudy days.

Falling costs are the best hope for solar and wind energy. Electricity is a commodity – price points beat moral arguments. Fossil fuels receive huge government subsidies that aren't like to go anywhere soon, and while significantly increasing the comparatively miniscule subsidies for renewable energy would help a lot, that's unlikely in the near term.

One way to stop, or at least slow, grid parity (to benefit fossil fuel owners and energy producers) is to make renewable energy artificially more expensive. Legislators in Oklahoma and Arizona are doing exactly that by taxing solar and wind energy. The Week's John Aziz calls this "the world's dumbest idea... Renewable energy isn't just any new technology — it is... our best and possibly only hope to mitigate dangerous climatic changes".

Scaremongering about bald eagles getting diced up by wind turbines, it turns out, really is the last refuge of coal magnates. Bloomberg reports that data from the US Forest Service shows wind turbines are the "smallest threat to birds worthy of mention". They kill 1% as many birds as the next smallest cause, communications towers. The two biggest killers of birds – high tension power lines and good old fashioned buildings and windows – account for a more than 7,000 times more bird deaths.

The good news is that the growth of energy demand in America slowing. The Energy Information Administration projects US electricity demand in 2040 might only be 7% higher than 2012 levels. Under that so-called "low electricity demand scenario", by 2040 the share of energy generated in by coal will fall 12% and renewable energy will increase by 60%. — Ben Walsh

On to today's links:

Charts
"Countries with very high levels of self-employment tend to be basket cases" - Flip Chart Fairy Tales

Tech
The death of the URL is coming (RIP) - Allen Pike

Ugh
"Prices are rising on the very things that are essential for climbing out of poverty" - Jordan Weissmann

Wonks
Macro wars: "The salt water really is brackish water!" - Cullen Roche
"Some expansive credit-related thoughts" - Dan McCrum

Yep
"Twitter's role in media circles often skews the perception of Twitter's size and role" - Charlie Warzel

Correlation of the Day
More money, more work email - Gallup

Pivots
Foursquare splits into two rectangles - The Verge

Data Points
1 in 3 New Yorkers have commutes an hour or longer, the worst in the nation - Bloomberg Visual Data

So Hot Right Now
Do Americans really care about income inequality? - Ryan Avent 
Inequality and the arts - Crooked Timber

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Business Today: S&P ends flat ahead of jobs report; Internet names gain

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05/1/2014
Reuters Election 2012 Daily round-up of the day's top news from the campaign trail, the White House and all the politics in between
S&P ends flat ahead of jobs report; Internet names gain
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Dow and S&P 500 ended nearly flat on Thursday as investors paused ahead of Friday's jobs report, though gains in Internet shares helped lift the Nasdaq.
LinkedIn's sales outlook again falls short
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - LinkedIn Corp forecast 2014 revenue below Wall Street's expectations, underscoring concerns about its ability to sustain its rapid growth and helping to drag its shares more than 3 percent lower on Thursday.
Strong consumer spending, factory data buoy U.S. growth outlook
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. consumer spending recorded its largest gain in more than 4-1/2 years in March and factory activity accelerated last month, reinforcing views the economy was regaining steam.
Carmakers see spring thaw as U.S. auto sales up 8 percent in April
DETROIT (Reuters) - The U.S. auto industry in April rebounded sharply from a bitter and extended winter, with car sales rising 8 percent from the previous year.
Exxon, Conoco see a quarterly payoff from natural gas
HOUSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. oil companies Exxon Mobil Corp and ConocoPhillips both reported first-quarter earnings that exceeded Wall Street expectations on Thursday, helped partly by higher natural gas prices.
Mulally to hand over Ford CEO job earlier than expected
DEARBORN, Michigan (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co on Thursday made official what investors and analysts had been waiting for - Chief Executive Alan Mulally this summer will pass the baton of leadership to Chief Operating Officer Mark Fields, six months earlier than expected.
Pfizer prepares sweeter bid for AstraZeneca: report
(Reuters) - Pfizer Inc may sweeten its offer for Britain's AstraZeneca Plc to more than 63 billion pounds, or $106 billion, and raise the cash portion of the deal, to kickstart negotiations, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.
Alcoa CEO to skip Russian forum at U.S.'s request
(Reuters) - The chief executive of Alcoa Inc has canceled plans to attend Vladimir Putin's St. Petersburg International Economic Forum later this month, the U.S. aluminum producer said in a statement on Thursday.
Nike CEO says could shift China production over labor strife
BOSTON (Reuters) - Nike Chief Executive Mark Parker said on Thursday the footwear and athletic apparel company was considering shifting its production within China following a major strike at a supplier's factory.
EBay settles with U.S. over pact to not poach employees
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The online commerce company eBay Inc has agreed to refrain from making deals with other technology companies to not poach each others' employees and by doing so limit workers' access to better jobs, U.S. authorities said on Thursday.
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Yashi

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