- Happy President’s Day! – This week is a holiday for D.C. Public Schools, so the family is spending it in Jamaica.
- Jamaican Politics – Prime Minister Andrew Holness is pushing forward with plans to ditch the monarchy and become a republic.
- Vacation Mailbag – Noah Smith wrote a post just before Christmas on Jamaica’s economic development, and the tl;dr is that Jamaica hasn’t managed to get on the manufacturing train to complement tourism.
- Bauxite Mining – Jamaica doesn’t make aluminum because they don’t have enough electricity, and electricity prices in Jamaica are high.
- Small Island Problems – Islands are vulnerable to climate change, have limited interregional power transmission, and are too small to support multiple competing oil refineries.
- Renewables in the Caribbean – Renewables are pollution-free, but they take up a lot of land and the market is just not large enough to support them.
- Energy Middle Income-ness – Jamaica needs the ability to consume much more energy. They have low motor vehicle per capita, air conditioning is rare, and they suffer from water insecurity.
- In Search of a Can Opener – There is no magical solution to the energy scarcity problem, but it’s important to take all dimensions of the energy problem seriously.
- Industry Higher Up the Value Chain: Developing countries need more energy to get richer and cope with climate change. This will enable them to access more cars and air conditioners, and improve their quality of life. Air conditioning can also help kids learn more in school and improve productivity in private industry.
- In Search of a Can Opener: There is no magical solution to the energy scarcity problem, but it is important to take all dimensions of the problem seriously.
- Nuclear Power: Advanced microreactor designs could be built and operated much more cheaply than traditional large light-water reactors. The existing American regulatory framework is poorly designed to give them a chance.
- Jamaica Could Do the World a Favor: Jamaica has its own nuclear regulatory agency and Charlyne Smith, a Jamaican-born nuclear engineer. Striking a deal with one or several nuclear startups could be beneficial to Jamaica and the world.
- U.S. Population Density: When discussing population density, it is best to discuss the contiguous U.S. including all 50 states. This does not actually change the population density much, but it eliminates Alaskan objections.
Published February 20, 2023
Visit Slow Boring to read Matthew Yglesias’s original post Jamaica’s nuclear future
