Publication Year
2015
2015 Fall Research Workshop
December 5, 2015
Held in Cambridge, Massachusetts on November 19 and 20, the 2015 Fall Research Workshop brought together over 80 participants for a lively discussion of relevant issues in the broader energy and environmental policy arena.
Expectations for the Upcoming Paris Climate Summit
November 7, 2015
On November 5, the MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research (CEEPR) joined the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change and the Program on Science, Technology, and Society at Harvard University to convene a discussion on the upcoming United Nations Climate Change summit in Paris.
Evaluating Regulation Outcomes
October 22, 2015
On October 21, Richard Schmalensee, Professor and Dean Emeritus at the MIT Sloan School of Management and former CEEPR Director, spoke at a seminar hosted by Resources for the Future in Washington, D.C.
Ten years of the Renewable Fuel Standard
October 21, 2015
In October, a group of experts gathered at the Brookings Institute to discuss the Renewable Fuel Standard, a policy to promote biofuels that was enacted ten years ago. Participants in the event assessed the success of the legislation and evaluated its effects on greenhouse gas emissions, food prices, and fuel prices.
Natural Gas Prices and Coal Displacement: Evidence from Electricity Markets
October 15, 2015
A recent CEEPR working paper uses data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Energy Information Administration (EIA) along with market models to provide an in depth look at the environmental and operational effects of fuel price changes on electricity generators.
New Study Shedding Light on the Political Economy of Renewable Energy Promotion Policies
September 11, 2015
A newly published study co-authored by Christopher R. Knittel shows how the asymmetric distribution of costs and benefits of the 2005 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) has implications for voting behavior and climate policy choices.
Tom Sudmann Therkildsen
September 10, 2015
With great sadness, MIT CEEPR faculty and staff learned of the passing of a long-time friend and supporter, Tom Therkildsen of Statoil ASA. “Tom was one of our most thoughtful and engaged
partners in the energy industry– he will be sorely missedâ€, said CEEPR Director Christopher Knittel.
The Economics and Geopolitics of Natural Gas
September 7, 2015
On September 7, 2015, MIT CEEPR Senior Research Scientist Sergey Paltsev visited
Istanbul, Turkey, for an invited lecture on the economics and geopolitics of natural
gas at Sabanci University.
EPRG-CEEPR European Energy Policy Conference 2015
July 15, 2015
On July 9 and 10, CEEPR and EPRG joined forces with Royal Dutch Shell plc to host the
15th installment of the European Energy Policy Conference in London,United Kingdom. Reflecting the disruptive trends affecting various areas of the energy sector, and acknowledging
the importance of the upcoming international climate summit in Paris (COP21), the organizers titled the 2015 conference “Building a Sustainable Future Energy System: More Energy, Better Energy Management, Less CO2â€.
2015 Spring Workshop
May 23, 2015
On May 21 and 22, the 2015 Spring Research Workshop brought together around 70 participants for a timely discussion of trends and developments in the energy space.
Faculty Affiliate: Georgia Perakis, William F. Pounds Professor of Management Professor
May 12, 2015
MIT’s Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research is delighted to welcome a new faculty affiliate: Georgia Perakis, the William F. Pounds Professor of Management and a Professor of Operations Research and Operations Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Subsidies for Green Technology: The Role of Competition and Flexibility
May 12, 2015
Two recent working papers co-authored by Georgia Perakis, the William F. Pounds Professor of Operations Research at the MIT Sloan School of Management and an affiliate of CEEPR examine such factors by addressing the role of competition and flexibility in the application of green technology subsidies.
The MIT Future of Solar Energy Study Released
May 5, 2015
On May 5, 2015, the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) released a comprehensive new study titled The Future of Solar Energy. As with earlier installments of the highly regarded MIT “Future of … “ report series, several CEEPR faculty and research affiliates were involved in the elaboration of the study, contributing economic and policy insights to a multidisciplinary, multi-year research effort. Former CEEPR Director Richard Schmalensee, a Professor of Economics and Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management, served as the study’s chair.
CEEPR Recognized Among World’s Top Energy Policy Think Tanks
May 4, 2015
For the third year in a row, CEEPR has placed among the top 10 “Energy and Resource Policy Think Tanks in the annual Global Go To Think Tank Index Report
Pricing Carbon to Combat Climate Change – What Can We Learn from British Columbia?
April 24, 2015
Sound climate policy makes for good politics. In a nutshell, that was the message conveyed by a high-ranking delegation of government, civil society and business representatives from British Columbia, who discussed experiences with their province’s carbon tax at an Earth Day Colloquium organized on April 13, 2015 by the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) and the MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy (CEEPR). More than 200 participants convened in the Walker Memorial’s spacious Morss Hall to hear first-hand how British Columbia was able to introduce a carbon price, and what effects it has had on the local economy and the environment. Comments by MIT faculty and a local State Senator underscored the economic merits of carbon pricing and its prospects as a policy option for Massachusetts.
Unconventional Oil & Gas: Price Impacts and Geopolitical Implications
April 22, 2015
On April 22, 2015, CEEPR and the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) convened a
symposium to address the latest developments in unconventional hydrocarbon exploration, its effects on oil and natural gas markets, and broader geopolitical implications.
Conflicting Objectives: How the Cash for Clunkers Stimulus Program Reduced New Vehicle Spending
April 8, 2015
Implemented in the midst of the 2009 recession, the U.S. Cash for Clunkers program aimed to boost sales in the struggling automobile industry. A recent CEEPR working paper by Hoekstra, Puller, and West (HPW, 2015) finds that this multifaceted program design actually caused Cash for Clunkers to reduce overall revenues to the industry the policy was designed to help.
OPEC’s Pricing vs. the Carbon Tax
April 1, 2015
In a recent CEEPR working paper, Saraly Andrade de Sá and Julien Daubanes combine empirical estimates to establish that the demand for OPEC’s oil exhibits a less-than-one demand elasticity, in contradiction with the widely-used approach to OPEC’s market power.
When Financial Trading Only Makes Things Worse
February 18, 2015
Working with four colleagues in DAS, Dr. John E. Parsons completed a study of a unique type of financial trading known as Virtual Bidding. The research helps understand certain situations in which virtual bidding not only fails to improve system performance, but also adds to system costs.
Soft Cooperation in the Shadow of Distributional Conflict? Insights from the Climate Regime
February 10, 2015
In climate diplomacy, negotiators frequently reject “technical†initiatives that only require simple coordination, despite the affordable reputational gains they may gain from cooperation. Motivated by this puzzle, Dr. Antto Vihma and Dr. Johannes Urpelainen developed a formal model to analyze negotiation dynamics.
- 2015
