We consider leading approaches to the decarbonisation of electricity supply. Price supports through long term contracts, such as feed-in-tariffs have been very effective at eliciting rapid escalation of renewable supply, largely because risks have been transferred away from suppliers and tariffs have been generous. However, countries with the most ambitious programs of this type (Denmark,…
Volume 1
The Influence of Shale Gas on U.S. Energy and Environmental Policy
The emergence of U.S. shale gas resources to economic viability affects the nation’s energy outlook and the expected role of natural gas in climate policy. Even in the face of the current shale gas boom, however, questions are raised about both the economics of this industry and the wisdom of basing future environmental policy on…
The Future of Nuclear Power After Fukushima
This paper analyzes the impact of the Fukushima accident on the future of nuclear power around the world. We begin with a discussion of the “but for” baseline and the much discussed “nuclear renaissance.” Our pre-Fukushima benchmark for growth in nuclear generation in the U.S. and other developed countries is much more modest than many…
Regulation and Customer Engagement
The utility regulation framework developed in the UK in the 1980s, and widely adopted internationally, was intended to improve on the restrictive, inefficient and burdensome regulatory approach in the U.S. But the UK regulatory process has itself now become increasingly burdensome. Meanwhile, utilities and customer groups in the U.S. and Canada have developed methods of…
How a “Low Carbon” Innovation Can Fail–Tales from a “Lost Decade” for Carbon Capture, Transport, and Sequestration (CCTS)
This paper analyzes the discrepancy between the high hopes placed in Carbon Capture, Transport, and Storage (CCTS) and the meager results that have been observed in reality, and advances several explanations for what we call a “lost decade” for CCTS. We trace the origins of the high hopes placed in this technology by industry and…
Reforming Competitive Electricity Markets to Meet Environmental Targets
The UK and other EU countries are concerned to deliver secure, sustainable and affordable electricity, to meet challenging targets for decarbonisation and renewable energy. The UK Government has consulted and concluded that the present electricity market arrangements will not deliver all three goals, and has proposed a major Electricity Market Reform (EMR). This article describes…
Global Climate Games: How Pricing and a Green Fund Foster Cooperation
The most efficient global climate policy is to price carbon. The Kyoto-Copenhagen agenda was intended to do this with a system of international cap and trade. We view these negotiations as a game in which countries choose their quantity targets based on self interest. Like the analogous public-goods game, in which countries choose their abatement…
The Long Run Demand for Lighting:Elasticities and Rebound Effects in Different Phases of Economic Development
The provision of artificial light was revolutionised by a series of discontinuous innovations in lighting appliances, fuels, infrastructures and institutions during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In Britain, the real price of lighting fell dramatically (3,000-fold between 1800 and 2000) and quality rose. Along with rises in real income and population, these developments meant that…
Book Reviews
The New Energy-industrial Revolution and International Agreement on Climate Change
At the heart of the analysis of, and progress on, action on climate change, at both country and international levels, must be an understanding of three sets of issues. The first concerns scale: of the risks from unmanaged climate change; of the necessary response; and of the great economic and social opportunities from the new…