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William Rosenberg

Senior Research Associate, Energy Technology Innovation Policy

Contact:
Fax: 617-496-0063
Email: william_rosenberg@ksg.harvard.edu

Experience

William Rosenberg is a Senior Research Associate with STPP and ENRP's Energy Technology Innovation Policy group. His career spans fourteen years as corporate lawyer and energy and environmental consultant, eleven years as real estate developer and venture capitalist, and thirteen years of public service. Under two governors and two presidents, he served as CEO of two housing and broadband access development and finance authorities and led three energy, utility, and environmental regulatory programs. 

In the late 1970s, he founded a real estate development company specialized in rehabilitation of historic structures, converting hospitals, schools, office buildings, hotels, and older apartment complexes into apartments for senior citizens.  Architects and builders from Boston were "imported" to the industrial Midwest where abandoned buildings with high replacement value could be acquired at nominal cost.  Combining technology transfer, tax credits, federal and state housing financing, and sound real estate economics, 2000 apartment units were developed — establishing a capital base.  The capital then was deployed to conventional real estate development and venture capital investment in biotech, cellular, and electronics start-up companies.  As the real estate matured and companies issued IPOs or were acquired, he achieved financial security that supported periods of public service and now, education and research. 

Rosenberg was appointed to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s Clean Air Program, by President George H. W. Bush after the 1988 election.  As part of Roger Porter's working group that drafted, negotiated, and implemented the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (CAAA), he was responsible for making market based programs work within EPA's regulatory framework.  The most environmentally important were "The Acid Rain Allowance Trading System", "CFC Phase Out", "Reformulated Gasoline" (including ethanol additives), and "Tier I Cleaner Cars."  On February 3, 2003, the Office of Management and Budget reported that EPA's CAAA regulations had achieved more public benefits than all other federal regulatory programs combined that had been adopted between 1992 and 2002.  The Acid Rain Program achieves 76 billion USD in annual benefits at a cost of 1.5 billion USD. 

He was awarded a joint patent with Engelhard Corporation  for a  revolutionary PremAir® ozone catalyst.  The PremAir® catalyst coating on an automotive radiator converts ozone to oxygen as ozone laden ambient air passes over the radiator.  The California Air Resources Board has granted tailpipe emission credits to automotive manufacturers that install PremAir®.  This is the first interpollutant trading credit allowed under the Clean Air Act.  All new Volvo radiators are now coated with PremAir® and other manufacturers soon followed.