E7: TIL about carbon pricing
In this episode of TILclimate (Today I Learned: Climate), MIT economics professor Christopher Knittel joins host Laur Hesse Fisher to break down the complexities of carbon pricing.
Shared Capacity and Levelized Cost with Application to Power-to-Gas Technology
Power-to-Gas could become a central enabler of the transition towards a sustainable economy by reversibly converting electricity to hydrogen. A new paper shows that it will be competitive with fossil-based energy sources so as to solve the challenges of intermittent renewable generation and widespread industrial decarbonization.
Generational Trends in Vehicle Ownership and Use: Are Millennials Any Different?
Professor Christopher Knittel and CEEPR graduate Elizabeth Murphy delve into the data to determine if conventional thinking regarding Millennials pans out. Their findings indicate there is little difference in preferences for vehicle ownership versus prior generations when controlling for confounding variables.
Fuel-switching and Deep Decarbonization
Fuel-switching is inevitable to achieve deep decarbonization. This has, inter alia, prompted an increasing number of countries to announce coal phase-out mandates in the power sector. This working paper suggest that, when accounting for stranded assets, a decarbonization pathway that is based on gradual transition to renewable energy and initially retains coal generating assets turns out to be less expensive than a strict coal phase-out.
Competition for Electric Transmission Projects in the U.S.: FERC Order 1000
Professor Paul L. Joskow discusses the provisions of Order 1000, its application by ISOs, and examines the evidence to date regarding the development and application of the competitive transmission procurement model in the U.S in this CEEPR Working Paper.
Machine Learning from Schools about Energy Efficiency
This working paper studies the effectiveness of energy efficiency upgrades in K-12 schools, and demonstrate that the machine learning method outperforms standard panel fixed effects approaches. The authors find that the upgrades deliver only 53% of ex ante expected savings on average, and find a similarly low correlation between school-specific predictions of energy savings and realized savings.
In The News
Mar 29, 2019
Don’t Expect Car Ownership to Become Obsolete
Christopher Knittel and Elizabeth Murphy's recent work on millennial vehicle ownership trends are highlighted in this Economics Opinion piece on Bloomberg.
Mar 27, 2019
Despite ‘Car-Free’ Hype, Millennials Drive a Lot
In this article on CityLab, reporter Laura Bliss discusses findings from a new working paper by CEEPR Director Christopher Knittel and recently graduated CEEPR Research Assistant Elizabeth Murphy.
Mar 11, 2019
California wants to reform PG&E, but just how is uncertain
In this SF Chronicle article, a group of experts, including CEEPR Director Christopher Knittel, weigh in on some of the potential reforms and changes that PG&E may consider.
Feb 1, 2019
The Efficiency and Distributional Effects of Alternative Residential Electricity Rate Designs
In this paper, researchers find that low-income customers would face bill increases on average in a transition to more economically efficient electricity tariffs. However, they demonstrate that...
Jan 11, 2019
Challenges for Wholesale Electricity Markets with Intermittent Renewable Generation at Scale: The U.S. Experience
A paper written by Professor Paul L. Joskow examines the current and likely future effects on wholesale electricity markets and the challenges these markets face due to the rapid expansion of...
Dec 17, 2018
Cooperative approaches under the Paris Agreement discussed at COP 24
CEEPR Deputy Director Michael Mehling presented research on the implementation of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement at a COP24 side event.
Dec 14, 2018
“Climate change will not wait for us”
CEEPR graduate students Sruthi Davuluri and Anthony Fratto recently attended the COP24 held in Katowice, Poland. Read about their reflections here.