Getting the carbon out of the electricity sector
CEEPR faculty members Paul Joskow, David Keith, Christopher Knittel and Jessika Trancik participated in a recent MIT symposium titled “Decarbonizing the Electricity Sector."
Machine Learning for Solar Accessibility: Implications for Low-Income Solar Expansion and Profitability
The US solar industry typically uses a standard credit score as a factor in approving customers for new installations. The authors of this paper compare machine learning and econometric models to predict the probability of default to credit-score cutoffs.
Driving Behavior and the Price of Gasoline: Evidence from Fueling-Level Micro Data
In this CEEPR Working Paper, Professor Christopher Knittel and Professor Shinsuke Tanaka use novel microdata on on-road fuel consumption and prices paid for fuel to estimate short-run elasticities of demand for gasoline consumption.
Electrification Planning in Developing Countries
The studies presented in this CEEPR Working Paper employ the Reference Electrification Model (REM) to investigate the value of accurately modeling detailed demand characteristics for electrification planning endeavors. REM prescribes cost-optimal supply technology designs for large areas of interest at building-level granularities given information about existing infrastructure, supply technology, and demand characteristics.
Crackdowns in Hierarchies: Evidence from China’s Environmental Inspections
Professor Valerie Karplus and Mengying Wu investigate how firms respond to crackdowns on public policy enforcement by linking the timing of centralized dispatch of environmental inspectors to cities in China with high-frequency observations of air pollution at coal power plants.
Strengths and Weaknesses of Traditional Arrangements for Electricity Supply
Professor Richard Schmalensee provides a broad-brush comparison of performance under traditional arrangements for electricity supply with those that emerged after the world-wide wave of restructuring that began in the 1990s in a new CEEPR Working Paper.
In The News
Oct 28, 2019
Five reasons climate change is the worst environmental problem the world has ever faced
In an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times, Professor Christopher Knittel lays out five features that combine to make global warming a more vexing environmental crisis than any we have faced before.
Sep 23, 2019
Providing the Spark: Impact of Financial Incentives on Battery Electric Vehicle Adoption
In a new CEEPR Working paper, researchers examine direct financial incentives for consumers that purchase battery electric vehicles. Their analysis estimates that state-level subsidies in the form...
Sep 16, 2019
Advancing Towards Better Modeling Practices When Assessing the Value of Energy Storage in Long-term Energy Planning Studies
In a new journal article, CEEPR's Andrés Inzunza and co-authors analyze how overlooking certain details in energy planning models may lead to an underestimation of the value of energy storage.
Sep 11, 2019
Diary of a Wimpy Carbon Tax: Carbon Taxes as Federal Climate Policy
In a new CEEPR Working Paper, Professor Christopher Knittel models the carbon price needed to achieve projected emission reductions under Obama-era vehicle mileage standards, the Clean Power Plan,...
Aug 12, 2019
Massachusetts needs congestion pricing now
In an Op-ed in the Boston Globe, CEEPR faculty member and MIT Sloan Mitsui Career Development Professor David Keith provides insights in response to MassDOT’s report on traffic congestion.
Jul 15, 2019
Spatial and Temporal Variation in the Value of Solar Power across U.S. Electricity Markets
Researchers combine electricity prices, emissions rates, and weather data to map the changing value of PV at ~10,000 locations across the US. Cost declines are found to have outrun value declines,...
Jul 1, 2019
MITEI awards seven Seed Fund grants for early-stage energy research
Namrata Kala and Christopher Knittel plan to examine key policy levers for meeting electricity demand and renewable energy growth without jeopardizing system reliability in the developing world.