Assessing California’s Climate Policies—Electricity Generation

Chapter 135 of 2017 (AB 398, E. Garcia) requires our office to report annually on the economic impacts and benefits of the state’s greenhouse gas (GHG) limits. In this report, we assess the effects of some of the state’s major policies intended to reduce GHG emissions from the generation of electricity.…

2020 Renewable Energy Industry Outlook

The renewable energy industry is primed to enter a new phase of growth driven largely by increasing customer demand, cost competitiveness, innovation, and collaboration. But will challenges surrounding trade and tariff policy require the industry to prioritize risk mitigation tactics? Our 2020 renewable energy industry outlook explores what it will take for companies to thrive in the year ahead.…

The Green Swan

Climate change poses new challenges to central banks, regulators and supervisors. This book reviews ways
of addressing these new risks within central banks’ financial stability mandate. However, integrating
climate-related risk analysis into financial stability monitoring is particularly challenging because of the radical uncertainty associated with a physical, social and economic phenomenon that is constantly
changing and involves complex dynamics and chain reactions. Traditional backward-looking risk
assessments and existing climate-economic models cannot anticipate accurately enough the form that
climate-related risks will take. These include what we call “green swan” risks: potentially extremely
financially disruptive events that could be behind the next …

Farm & Forest Natural Carbon Solutions Initiative Working Papers

The Bipartisan Policy Center’s Energy Project is focused on the development of pragmatic, evidence-based energy and climate policies that can make meaningful progress towards a low-carbon future. BPC’s Farm & Forest Natural Carbon Solutions Initiative aims to identify the most promising opportunities to enhance the economic and environmental well-being of our nation’s natural resources.

The BPC Energy Project has been working with a variety of technical experts to examine these opportunities and compiled a set of short working papers that create a foundation for a new federal initiative, geared toward the development of more targeted and ambitious natural carbon storage …

You and CO2: a Public Engagement Study to Engage Secondary School Students with the Issue of Climate Change

School students are growing up in a world with a rapidly changing climate, the effects of which will become increasingly apparent during their lifetimes. We designed and pilot tested “You and CO2”, a STEAM program designed to encourage students to reflect on their personal impact on the environment, while also appreciating their place within society to bring about positive societal change. Over three interlinked workshops, students analyzed the carbon footprints of some everyday activities, which they then explored in more detail through interacting with a bespoke piece of digital fiction, No World 4 Tomorrow. The program culminated with students producing …

Impacts of Green New Deal Energy Plans on Grid Stability, Costs, Jobs, Health, and Climate in 143 Countries

Global warming, air pollution, and energy insecurity are three of the greatest problems facing humanity. To address these problems, we develop Green New Deal energy roadmaps for 143 countries. The roadmaps call for a 100% transition of all-purpose business-as-usual (BAU) energy to wind-water-solar (WWS) energy, efficiency, and storage by 2050 with at least 80% by 2030. Our studies on grid stability find that the countries, grouped into 24 regions, can match demand exactly from 2050 to 2052 with 100% WWS supply and storage. We also derive new cost metrics. Worldwide, WWS energy reduces end-use energy by 57.1%, aggregate private energy …

Carbon Tax Review and Updating: Institutionalizing an Act-Learn-Act Approach to U.S. Climate Policy

The design of climate change policy must address a number of key uncertainties, including the impacts of climate change, the economics of a carbon tax, and the global effort to combat climate change. A periodic review of each of these issues would provide new information and analysis that could be used to reduce uncertainty and inform the updating of a carbon tax over time. This article proposes and describes a straightforward and predictable approach for reviewing and updating a U.S. carbon tax. Under this “structured discretion” approach, the U.S. president would recommend an update to the carbon tax every 5 …

Decarbonizing Space Heating with Air Source Heat Pumps

In the United States, commercial and residential buildings produce roughly 12 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. Most of these emissions come from burning fossil fuels for space heating. These emissions must be significantly reduced or eliminated for the US to achieve deep decarbonization goals, including net zero emissions by midcentury.

Air source heat pumps (ASHPs) are powered by electricity, using well-established technology to move heat from outdoor air to indoor air. When powered by zero-carbon electricity, ASHPs provide space heating with almost no greenhouse gas emissions. ASHPs are especially effective for space heating in mild climates.

In 2015, roughly 10 …

Hydraulic Fracturing was Banned?

A ban on fracking in the United States would be catastrophic for our economy. Our analysis shows that if such a ban were imposed in 2021, by 2025 it would eliminate 19 million jobs and reduce U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by $7.1 trillion. Tax revenue at the local, state, and federal levels would decline by nearly a combined $1.9 trillion. Natural gas prices would leap by 324 percent, causing household energy bills to more than quadruple. By 2025, motorists would pay twice as much at the pump for gasoline as oil prices spike to $130 per barrel, while less …

OPPORTUNITIES FOR REDUCING GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS THROUGH EMERGING NATURAL GAS DIRECT-USE TECHNOLOGIES

This study demonstrates how widespread adoption of emerging natural gas direct-use technologies can contribute significantly to achieving public goals of deep reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the U.S. residential sector, with much lower costs than other options under consideration. It’s low hanging fruit that should be a core element considered for any responsible emissions reduction plan.…