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Energy Technology Innovation Policy

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Fall 2009

"Energy for Change: Introduction to the Special Issue on Energy & Climate Change"

Journal Article, Innovations, issue 4, volume 4

By John P. Holdren, Former Director and Faculty Chair, Science, Technology and Public Policy Program

"Without energy, there is no economy. Without climate, there is no environment. Without economy and environment, there is no material well-being, no civil society, no personal or national security. The overriding problem associated with these realities, of course, is that the world has long been getting most of the energy its economies need from fossil fuels whose emissions are imperiling the climate that its environment needs."

June 25, 2009

DOE FY 2010 Budget Request and Recovery Act Funding for Energy Research, Development, Demonstration, and Deployment: Analysis and Recommendations

Report

By Laura Diaz Anadon, Project Manager, Energy Research, Development, Demonstration & Deployment Policy Project, Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group, Kelly Sims Gallagher, Senior Associate, Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group and Matthew Bunn, Associate Professor of Public Policy; Co-Principal Investigator, Project on Managing the Atom; Co-Principal Investigator, Energy Research, Development, Demonstration, and Deployment (ERD3) Policy Project

A new analysis of energy research, development, demonstration, and deployment (ERD3) funding in the Obama administration's FY2010 budget and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 finds that the total available for energy research development and demonstration alone and ERD3 in FY2010 would double and increase by two-thirds, respectively, compared to FY2009 (based on certain assumptions). These substantial funding increases—coupled with a range of institutional innovations the administration is implementing and movement toward putting a price on carbon emissions—will help accelerate innovation for a broad range of energy technologies. This report analyzes DOE's budget request for ERD3 and the Recovery Act and makes recommendations for further action by Congress and the administration.

Summer 2009

"Newsmakers"

Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter

By Sharon Wilke, Associate Director of Communications

Belfer Center Newsmakers.

Tom FitzSimmons

December 20, 2008

Harvard Kennedy School's John P. Holdren Named Obama's Science Advisor

Press Release

By Sharon Wilke, Associate Director of Communications, Sasha Talcott, Director of Communications and Outreach and John P. Holdren, Former Director and Faculty Chair, Science, Technology and Public Policy Program

President-elect Barack Obama announced in his radio address Saturday that he has selected Harvard's John P. Holdren to serve as Assistant to the President for Science and Technology in the new administration. The post, popularly known as "the President's science advisor," also includes directorship of the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President and requires Senate confirmation.

Winter 2008-09

Belfer Center Newsletter Winter 2008-09

Newsletter

By Sharon Wilke, Associate Director of Communications

The Winter 2008-09 issue of the Belfer Center newsletter features recent and upcoming research, activities, and analysis by Center faculty, fellows, and staff on critical global issues. "What should the next president do first?" is a question raised in this issue. Belfer Center experts respond to the question with advice on what they consider priority issues of national security, climate/energy policy, and the economic crisis.

The Winter 2008-09 issue also features take-aways from the Center’s recent “Acting in Time on Energy Policy” conference hosted by the Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group. In addition, it spotlights Belfer Center Faculty Affiliate Richard Clarke and new Kennedy School Professor Nicholas Burns.

January 25, 2008

"Science and Technology for Sustainable Well-Being"

Journal Article, Science, issue 5862, volume 319

By John P. Holdren, Former Director and Faculty Chair, Science, Technology and Public Policy Program

"I would urge every scientist and engineer with an interest in the intersection of S&T with sustainable well-being...to 'tithe' 10% of your professional time and effort to working in these and other ways to increase the benefits of S&T for the human condition and to decrease the liabilities. If so much as a substantial fraction of the world's scientists and engineers resolved to do this much, the acceleration of progress toward sustainable well-being for all of Earth's inhabitants would surprise us all."

September 26, 2007

"How to Build US-Iran Relations"

Op-Ed, Boston Globe

By Abbas Maleki, Former Senior Research Associate, International Security Program and Kaveh L. Afrasiabi

"...Iran has not suspended its uranium enrichment program, but it has not ignored the UN Security Council resolutions on Iran either, as can be discerned in the latest report by the International Atomic Energy Agency citing "significant progress" in Iran-IAEA cooperation. With the United States and Iran talking in Iraq and Iran-IAEA cooperation yielding concrete results in terms of Iran's nuclear transparency, the stage is potentially set for de-escalating the US-Iran tensions, particularly if both sides adopt a long-term view and sort out the security dimension."

September 21, 2007

"U.S., Iran Need to Build Confidence"

Op-Ed, San Francisco Chronicle

By Abbas Maleki, Former Senior Research Associate, International Security Program and Kaveh L. Afrasiabi

"...the stage is set for a thaw in U.S.-Iran relations. With sufficient political will on both sides, Washington and Tehran can achieve this by adopting concrete confidence-building measures and by imposing a mutually agreed-upon moratorium on demonizing each other."

Spring 2007

"Belfer Center Engages India as Emerging Great Power"

Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter

Whether one agrees or disagrees with the wisdom of the civilian nuclear power agreement signed in December by President George W. Bush, most agree that the deal will deepen the long-standing relationship between the U.S. and India, a relationship that will continue to impact both countries on many levels. Along with the Kennedy School and Harvard, the Belfer Center is working to expand the relationship that began in 1960 when President John F. Kennedy named Harvard's John Kenneth Galbraith as ambassador to India.

April 2007

Energy Policy Recommendations to the President and the 110th Congress

Report

By John P. Holdren, Former Director and Faculty Chair, Science, Technology and Public Policy Program, William K. Reilly, John W. Rowe, Philip Sharp, Senior Research Fellow, Environment and Natural Resources Program, Former Associate, Harvard Electricity Policy Group, 2001-2003; Former Lecturer in Public Policy, 1995-2001; Former Dir., IOP; HKS, 1995-1998, 2004-05 and Jason Grumet

The National Commission on Energy Policy proposes revised policies regarding a cap and trade proposal for addressing global climate change, increases in fuel economy standards, approaches for the storage of nuclear waste, development and deployment of advanced coal technologies, adoption of a national renewable energy standard, and other major energy policy issues.

Nuclear Experts

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Securing the Bomb 2008

Securing the Bomb 2008

Associate Professor of Public Policy and Project on Managing the Atom Co-Principal Investigator Matthew Bunn provides a comprehensive assessment of efforts to secure and remove vulnerable nuclear stockpiles around the world, and a detailed action plan for reducing the risk of nuclear terrorism. Securing the Bomb 2008 was commissioned by the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI). The full report, with additional information on the threat of nuclear terrorism, is available on the NTI website.

International Security

The Summer 2009 issue of the quarterly journal International Security is now available. It includes articles by Matthew Fuhrmann, Elizabeth Stanley, Daniel Lake, Christopher Layne, and more.

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Nuclear Terrorism

Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe

Graham Allison, founding dean of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, a former top official at the Pentagon, and one of America’s leading scholars of nuclear strategy and national security, presents the evidence and argument that led him to two provocative conclusions: a nuclear terrorist attack on an American city is inevitable on our current course and speed, but preventable if we act now.

Preventive Defense Project

The Preventive Defense Project (PDP) is a Harvard-Stanford research collaboration, co-directed by Ashton B. Carter and William J. Perry.

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Managing the Atom

The Project on Managing the Atom (MTA) conducts and disseminates policy-relevant research on nuclear weapons, nuclear energy, and nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament.

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Policy Brief

Speaking about the Unspeakable: U.S.-Israeli Dialogue on Iran's Nuclear Program

Despite the longstanding and ever-evolving "special relationship" between the United States and Israel, the two allies do not appear to have engaged in substantive discussions on key facets of their most pressing mutual concern, the Iranian nuclear threat. Specifically, there has been little if any dialogue on the possibility of military action if the diplomatic route comes to a dead end, nor on the possible means of living with a nuclear Iran should both countries decide to refrain from military action.