63 item(s) were returned.
Lead Senior Economist
Environmental Defense Fund
What determines the cost of a ton of coal? Is OPEC an oligopoly? Should we subsidize low-carbon energy or tax fossil fuels? Do Prius owners drive more? These are among the questions I cover in my Economics of Energy class. I’ve taught this class at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs for the past five years. I hope to receive your feedback on how to improve this course. The course has two goals: to provide a set of tools to approach these and many other fundamental questions in energy economics, and to do so in plain English. Last… [more]
View InsightAssistant Professor
American University
On February 10, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) released two major new reports on climate engineering (or “geoengineering”). The reports set out to summarize the scientific basis for what the authors chose to call “climate intervention,” identify governance and ethical challenges, and chart a new research agenda. While the authors were careful to state that climate intervention is no substitute for reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, the reports indicate support for further investigation into large-scale technological responses. The paired studies assess two specific groups of strategies: (1) carbon dioxide removal and (2) reflecting sunlight, or albedo modification. While the… [more]
View InsightMember
U.S. House of Representatives
Along with my colleagues Reps. Tom Cole (R-OK) and Matt Salmon (R-AZ), I introduced the Fuel Choice for American Prosperity and Security Act (FCAPS, or H.R. 5107), a bill to promote fuel competition in our transportation sector. In particular, FCAPS aims to: Improve energy and national security by reducing the strategic importance of oil; Save consumers money at the pump by opening vehicles to fuel competition; Spur economic growth by allowing industry to capitalize on more of America’s natural resources; and Reduce the financial burden for automakers and consumers of meeting corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) regulations. Opening cars to… [more]
View InsightUnited States Senator, State of Alaska
Chairman, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee
As articulated in Energy 20/20, my blueprint for a new U.S. energy policy conversation, I believe there is a consensus that it is in our national interest to make energy abundant, affordable, clean, diverse and secure. In addressing these goals, too often affordability is ignored – despite the difficult choices increasing energy costs impose on Americans. In particular, low-income households are highly vulnerable to energy prices because energy bills make up a larger percentage of their living expenses. These families are energy insecure, defined as the inability to afford to maintain a home at a reasonable temperature and the loss… [more]
View InsightFreelance projects of interest
Retired
A National Energy Program (NEP) is proposed to eliminate the gap between U.S. oil consumption and production and significantly reduce green house gas emissions in a decade to place our nation on the road to a sustainable energy future. With domestic natural gas plentiful, eliminating the “oil gap” will achieve energy independence. The international Energy Agency forecasts this gap to be approximately seven million barrels and day (MBD) in 2025 [1]. Forecasts vary from 4-7 MBD depending on source used. Current forecasts are “not real world”; because they are based on continuation of business as usual conditions in an increasingly… [more]
View InsightOn April 30th, OurEnergyPolicy.org and The University of Texas at Austin co-hosted “American Perspectives on Energy Efficiency,” a panel discussion about energy efficiency at The National Press Club. The panel of thought-leaders provided insight into energy efficiency policy issues and explored the results of two recent sister surveys that reveal Americans’ and energy professionals’ perspectives on energy efficiency. Please see below for an abridged version of the transcript and a full video recording of the event. You can view or download the full transcript here. Opening remarks: Bill Squadron, President, OurEnergyPolicy.org Presentation of survey results: Sheril Kirshenbaum, Director of The… [more]
View InsightCyberattacks are occurring with greater frequency and severity, and could have enormous impacts on huge swaths of the highly interconnected electric grid. Despite the serious risks posed by cyber attacks, insurance coverage for utility companies is often not comprehensive or too expensive, as reported by a recent EnergyWire article. The article goes on to explain that this is “partly because insurance underwriters have had trouble fleshing out risk assessments with hard numbers. Utilities are tight-lipped about their cyber vulnerabilities for fear of legal repercussions (and exposing themselves to new threats).” The Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity Insurance Workshop Readout Report explains… [more]
View InsightEnergy Secretary Ernest Moniz recently acknowledged that it may be time to lift the ban on exporting crude oil, a comment that elicited a flurry of support and opposition toward the idea and highlighted the need for a thorough debate on the issue. The ban was enacted in 1975, along with the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, as an energy supply security measure in response to the Arab oil embargoes. Since that time, the US energy landscape has changed and many are calling for a review of potentially outdated policies. “Those restrictions on exports were borne, as was the Department of Energy… [more]
View InsightState Representative
Maine State Legislature
At the December 6, 2013 Dupont Summit Conference of the Infragard EMP-SIG, presenters highlighted technologies and policy recommendations aimed at protecting the electric grid against potentially catastrophic events, such as a solar storm or the detonation of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapon. An important policy question that arose from these presentations was whether electric utilities should remain the primary source of expertise and new reliability standards to mitigate risks of grid collapse and associated grid blackouts? Should states act to set state reliability standards to protect grids from solar storms and other EMP hazards, absent preemption by federal reliability standards? … [more]
View InsightDirector of International Public Policy and Advocacy
Global Innovation Policy Center, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
The United States is set to become the world’s number one producer of oil and gas combined. But since the oil crises of the 1970s, U.S. energy policy has been based, either implicitly or explicitly, on the assumption of scarcity of U.S. resources. This has resulted in strong support for open and transparent global energy markets, which are expected to reduce volatile (and high) prices for U.S. customers and enable U.S. companies to access foreign energy supplies. What policy makers now have to reckon with is what the re-discovery of a bounty of domestic supplies (of oil and gas) means for U.S. energy policy,… [more]
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