September 26, 2017

Fuel-efficient Cars Often Paired with Gas Guzzlers, Study Finds

A study released Tuesday by economists at UC Davis, Yale, and MIT shows that families who own fuel-efficient cars tend to buy big, powerful gas guzzlers as their second vehicle, largely defeating the purpose of the little petrol sippers in their garages.

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September 15, 2017

Replacing Coal by Gas: An Effective Strategy to Reduce CO2 Emissions?

Now more than ever, natural gas is hoped to effectively help shale gas producing regions reduce their CO2 emissions, by largely replacing their coal energy input. At the same time, the domestic replacement of coal by gas releases amounts of tradable coal, whose supply meets the foreign energy demand, contributing to increase emissions in the rest of the world.

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August 17, 2017

Black Carbon Problems in Transportation

Black carbon particulates in “soot” emissions have significant detrimental impacts on public health, climate change and food production; and diesel engines in the transportation sector are a major source of such emissions. There are cost-effective technologies that can mitigate the emissions. However, a wide range of policies at all levels of government are needed to incentivize the uptake of emission-mitigating technologies.

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July 17, 2017

The Behavioral Effect of Pigovian Regulation: Evidence from a Field Experiment

Market-­based regulation, and in particular Pigovian taxes/subsidies, have the potential to make consumers internalize socially harmful external effects associated with their choices. Recent behavioral literature, however, suggests that explicit financial penalties/rewards may undermine willingness to behave prosocially.

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May 9, 2017

Modeling Unit Commitment in Political Context

Electricity sector restructuring processes can undergo long, protracted transition periods that are not well-captured in typical power systems operation models. We create a tractable dispatch optimization with important political considerations for a region of China, demonstrating interactions among institutions relevant for ongoing power sector reforms.

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April 13, 2017

Early Nuclear Retirements in Deregulated U.S. Markets

U.S. nuclear reactors have been retiring at an unprecedented pace for the last few years. Tens of gigawatts of zero-emission nuclear capacity are now at risk of retiring prematurely, before the end of their operating license. We examine the root causes of this phenomena and discuss regulatory options for policymakers.

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