UNITED STATES -- ENERGY POLICY
July 29, 2008
New Report from Harvard Kennedy School Researchers Calls for Changes to Biofuels Incentives
News
By Henry Lee, Director, Environment and Natural Resources Program, William Clark, Harvey Brooks Professor of International Science, Public Policy, and Human Development; Co-director, Sustainability Science Program; Faculty Chair, ENRP; and Charan Devereaux
Despite pressure from biofuel critics, governments should avoid simplistic and precipitous changes in course such as rollback or moratoria on existing biofuels mandates or incentives, according to a new report from three Harvard Kennedy School researchers. Instead, the researchers urge governments to initiate an orderly, innovation-enhancing transition towards incentives targeted on multi-dimensional goals for biofuels development.
AP Photo
Summer 2008
Hedging Against Uncertainty: US Strategy in an Interdependent World
Journal Article, National Strategy Forum Review
By William Hogan, Raymond Plank Professor of Global Energy Policy
Energy is important, but energy independence is a dangerous myth. The U.S. National Petroleum Council recently observed: "There can be no U.S. energy security without global energy security." Oil flows in a world market and events anywhere affect the price of oil everywhere. There is no escaping these oil price shocks. Even if the United States were to substantially reduce its own oil consumption, there would be no immunity from the effects of high world oil prices that would determine domestic energy prices and ripple through the world economy. Geology and politics make the world deeply interdependent and policy should be crafted to promote and secure energy interdependence. Real energy security comes from robust energy systems with diversity and flexibility, not through isolation and energy autarky.
July 16, 2008
"Running on Empty and Spreading the Blame"
Op-Ed, The Boston Globe
By Henry Lee, Director, Environment and Natural Resources Program
Who is to blame for $4.00 gasoline?
AP Photo
June 2008
"Analysis of Policies to Reduce Oil Consumption and Greenhouse-Gas Emissions from the U.S. Transportation Sector"
Discussion Paper
By Kelly Sims Gallagher, Director, Energy Technology Innovation Policy and Gustavo Collantes, Research Fellow, Energy Technology Innovation Policy
This study examines different policy scenarios for reducing GHG emissions and oil consumption in the U.S. transportation sector using a variant of the National Energy Modeling System (NEMS).
June 3, 2008
DOE FY09 Budget Request for Energy Research, Development & Demonstration – Commentary
Report
By Laura Diaz Anadon, Project Manager, Energy Research Development & Deployment Policy, Energy Technology Innovation Policy, Kelly Sims Gallagher, Director, Energy Technology Innovation Policy and Matthew Bunn, Associate Professor of Public Policy; Co-Principal Investigator, Project on Managing the Atom
Anadon, Gallagher, and Bunn offer their insight and analysis on the President's FY09 budget request for U.S. Department of Energy spending for energy research, development, and demonstration.
May 2008
"Returns to Scale in Carbon Capture and Storage Infrastructure and Deployment"
Discussion Paper
By Jeffrey Bielicki, Research Fellow, Energy Technology Innovation Policy
In this Belfer Center discussion paper, Bielicki describes SimCCS, a cost-minimizing geospatial deployment model used to deploy CCS for a variety of combinations of CO2 sources and injection reservoirs. The purpose of SimCCS is to determine the returns to scale for CCS deployment and to unravel the determinants thereof.
May 16, 2008
"Biofuels and the Corporate Average Fuel Economy Program: The Statute, Policy Issues, and Alternatives"
Discussion Paper
By Gustavo Collantes, Research Fellow, Energy Technology Innovation Policy
This paper investigates the relationship between the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) program and the supply of biofuels in the United States.
April 14, 2008
"Addressing Global Climate Change with a Comprehensive U.S. Cap-and-Trade System"
Discussion Paper
By Robert N. Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government; Member of the Board
There is a growing impetus for a domestic U.S. climate policy that can provide meaningful reductions in emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases. The paper describes and analyzes an up-stream, economy-wide CO2 cap-and-trade system which implements a gradual trajectory of emissions reductions (with inclusion over time of non-CO2 greenhouse gases), and includes mechanisms to reduce cost uncertainty.
Spring 2008
Free: College Curriculum Package Simulates Oil Crisis
Announcement
By Eric Rosenbach, Executive Director for Research, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Securing America's Future Energy (SAFE), in collaboration with the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School, has created a free college curriculum box set that includes all of the materials needed to conduct an energy crisis simulation in your classroom. The exercise is based on Oil ShockWave™, SAFE's one-of-a-kind oil crisis simulation, which has featured participants such as Defense Secretary Robert Gates, former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Dan Yergin and former director of the CIA R. James Woolsey.
March 14, 2008
"Ending the Energy Stalemate: A Bipartisan Strategy To Meet America’s Energy Challenges"
Presentation
By John P. Holdren, Director and Faculty Chair, Science, Technology and Public Policy Program
John P. Holdren provides the context for and an overview of the recommendations made by the National Commission on Energy Policy its 2004 and 2007 reports to the President and Congress of the United States.
