The Key to New York’s Green Dreams May Be Turning Quebec Into a Mega-Battery
An article in Bloomberg discusses recent findings from a CEEPR Working Paper on the role of Canadian hydropower for deep decarbonization of the US Northeast.
Optimality Conditions and Cost Recovery in Electricity Markets with VRE and Energy Storage
In this CEEPR Working Paper, the authors investigate how variable renewable energy and energy storage impacts the formation of prices and optimal investments in electricity markets, using an analytical approach to derive the system-optimal conditions for installed capacity of all generators and storage devices.
Evidence on the Implicit Carbon Price of Energy Efficiency in Buildings
Based on data for 548 apartment buildings over 16 years, this paper quantifies the implicit price of carbon associated with more than 400 energy efficiency interventions in 240 treated buildings. The results suggest significant heterogeneity in both energy savings and in the cost of carbon abatement associated with frequently subsidized measures such as windows replacement and wall insulation.
MIT Study Highlights Benefits of a Two-way Exchange of Electricity Between the U.S. Northeast and Quebec as Region Decarbonizes
States in the Northeastern U.S. can transition to low-carbon electricity at a lower cost by using hydropower reservoirs in Quebec for energy storage according to a new CEEPR Working Paper.
Designing Effective Auctions for Renewable Energy Support
Governments use procurement auctions for renewable energy support to stimulate investment in renewable energy. This Working Paper assesses the effect of prevalent auction design elements on effectiveness, using a unique dataset with results of auctions for renewable energy support from 1990 to 2017.
Using Machine Learning to Target Treatment: The Case of Household Energy Use
In this Working Paper, the researchers use causal forests to evaluate the heterogeneous treatment effects (TEs) of repeated behavioral nudges towards household energy conservation and find suggestive evidence of a “boomerang effect”: households with lower consumption than similar neighbors are the ones with positive TE estimates.
In The News
Feb 11, 2020
Supply chain resilience in the era of climate change
Climate risk is everywhere — from flood, fire, and wind to migrating labor and depleted raw materials. MIT experts, including Chris Knittel, talk about what to do now to harden your supply chain.
Jan 22, 2020
Study: State-level adoption of renewable energy standards saves money and lives
MIT researchers review renewable energy and carbon pricing policies as states consider repealing or relaxing renewable portfolio standards.
Jan 15, 2020
Carbon Price, Competitive Supply, and Consumer Protection
On January 14, 2020, Professor Christopher Knittel testified before the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy at the Massachusetts State House. Read his full statement here.
Dec 18, 2019
Social Comparison and Energy Conservation in a Collective Action Context
In this CEEPR Working Paper, the authors report results from a social comparison feedback experiment incentivizing a reduction of indoor temperatures during the heating season. Despite the fact...
Dec 9, 2019
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."
Dec 10, 2019
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...
Nov 14, 2019
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...
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.