We don’t know what climate change will cost — that doesn’t mean we can ignore it
Professor Robert S. Pindyck of MIT and Professor James H. Stock of Harvard University discuss the importance of the social cost of carbon in a new piece on TheHill.
Who Closes First? Ownership and Collusive Early Exits
Climate and energy policies lead to a declining market for the incumbent technologies in electricity markets. Facing the challenge of closures, incumbent firms have incentives to coordinate closures through cross-ownership to achieve a collusive phase-out. For the Nordic nuclear industry, a quantification shows a highly distorted phase-out, both for the consumer surplus and the environment.
Measuring Savings from Fault Detection and Diagnostics
Data analytics will play a major role in advancing global energy efficiency and high performance building goals nationally and globally. As the fault detection and diagnostics industry emerges and unlocks numerous energy efficiency savings opportunities in buildings, it is crucial that we also advance our methodologies for evaluating these systems and quantifying the energy impact.
Electricity Market Design with Renewables
A new paper compares EU and US electricity market designs, arguing for a focus on correct price formation in the short-term to incentivize investments and reliability. Increased demand-side participation, improved pricing during scarcity, and a transition from technology-specific renewables subsidies towards adequate pricing of carbon emissions, are key to achieving a market-compatible integration of renewable energy.
Restructuring Revisited: Competition and Coordination in Electricity Distribution Systems
In light of the decentralization of the power sector, a new CEEPR Working Paper carefully considers how industry structure regulations impacts competition, market development, and the efficiency of investments in and operations of network infrastructure and connected resources.
Power Sector Reform and Corruption: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa
In this paper, the authors conduct an econometric analysis of the performance of reforms in terms of efficiency, welfare, and economic development in 47 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa between 2002 and 2013.
In The News
Feb 21, 2018
3 Questions: The Future of Nuclear Energy
Jacopo Buongiorno and John Parsons, co-directors of the MITEI LCEC for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems, discuss how to overcome the challenges and realize the benefits of expanding nuclear power.
Feb 7, 2018
Reforming Electricity Markets for the Transition: Emerging Lessons from the UK's Bold Experiment
In 2013, the UK introduced radical market reform to meet the new challenges - a change which some critics denounced as a return to central planning, whilst others feared the costs. The results to...
Jan 29, 2018
Subsidizing Fuel Efficient Cars: Evidence from China's Automobile Industry
In a new CEEPR Working Paper, the authors examine the response of vehicle purchase behavior to China’s largest national subsidy program for fuel efficient vehicles during 2010 and 2011.
Jan 30, 2018
Is Massachusetts ready for carbon pricing?
On Jan. 25, a panel at MIT explored the benefits, costs, and political challenges involved in translating carbon pricing from concept into law in Massachusetts and beyond.
Jan 24, 2018
The Use of Regression Statistics to Analyze Imperfect Pricing Policies
Corrective taxes can completely solve a variety of market failures, but actual policies are commonly forced to deviate from the theoretical ideal due to administrative or political constraints. A...
Jan 4, 2018
What's Killing Nuclear Power in U.S. Electricity Markets?
Prices in U.S. electricity markets fell precipitously in recent years, driving several nuclear power plants to announce plans to close well before the end of their licensed operation. A new working...
Dec 18, 2017
Exploring Ethical Dimensions of Climate Negotiation
At this year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP23), delegates from around the world worked on strategies to accelerate progress toward the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement. In Bonn,...
Nov 17, 2017
Helping Mexico Design an Effective Climate Policy
MIT researchers are working with the Mexican government on carbon pricing options to meet the country’s climate goals under the Paris Agreement.
Nov 3, 2017
Linking Heterogeneous Climate Policies (Consistent with the Paris Agreement)
International linkage of climate policies can play an important role in ensuring adequate climate ambition under the Paris Agreement. A new Working Paper looks at the opportunities for – and...