Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs - United States -- energy policy

Will carbon cap-and-trade incite protectionism?

Martin Feldstein — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:53:15 -0400

"There is no easy answer to this problem. But before rushing to impose tariffs, it is important to remember that cap-and-trade policies would not be the only government source of differences in competitiveness. Better roads, ports, and even schools all contribute to a country`s competitiveness."

DOE FY 2010 Budget Request and Recovery Act Funding for Energy Research, Development, Demonstration, and Deployment: Analysis and Recommendations

Laura Diaz Anadon, Kelly Sims Gallagher and Matthew Bunn — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:27:51 -0400

A new analysis of energy research, development, demonstration, and deployment (ERD3) funding in the Obama administration's FY2010 budget and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 finds that the total available for energy research development and demonstration alone and ERD3 in FY2010 would double and increase by two-thirds, respectively, compared to FY2009 (based on certain assumptions). These substantial funding increases—coupled with a range of institutional innovations the administration is implementing and movement toward putting a price on carbon emissions—will help accelerate innovation for a broad range of energy technologies. This report analyzes DOE's budget request for ERD3 and the Recovery Act and makes recommendations for further action by Congress and the administration.

DOE Budget Authority for Energy Research, Development, & Demonstration Database

Kelly Sims Gallagher and Laura Diaz Anadon — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 12:01:10 -0400

This document contains June 2009 updates to our database on U.S. government investments in energy research, development, demonstration, and deployment (ERD3) through the Department of Energy. The update includes funding for ERD3 from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The database, in Microsoft Excel format, tracks DOE appropriations from FY 1978–2009 and the FY 2010 budget request. It also includes several charts.

Proposed Roadmap for Overcoming Legal and Financial Obstacles to Carbon Capture and Storage

Wendy B. Jacobs, Leah Cohen, Leah Kostakidis-Lianos and Sara Rundell — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 21:49:52 -0400

Many existing proposals either lack sufficient concreteness to make carbon capture and geological sequestration (CCGS) operational or fail to focus on a comprehensive, long term framework for its regulation, thus failing to account adequately for the urgency of the issue, the need to develop immediate experience with large scale demonstration projects, or the financial and other incentives required to launch early demonstration projects. We aim to help fill this void by proposing a roadmap to commercial deployment of CCGS in the United States.

A Joint Workshop on Promoting the Development and Deployment of IGCC/Co-Production/CCS Technologies in China and the United States

Lifeng Zhao, Yunhan Xiao and Kelly Sims Gallagher — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 16:27:31 -0400

The workshop examined issues surrounding Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) coal plants, which turn coal into gas and remove impurities before the coal is combusted, and the related carbon capture and sequestration, in which the carbon dioxide emissions are captured and stored underground to avoid releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Though promising, advanced coal technologies face steep financial and legal hurdles, and almost certainly will need sustained support from governments to develop the technology and move it to a point where its costs are low enough for widespread use.

A Technology-Based Greenhouse Gas Reduction Strategy for 2030

Melissa Chan and Laura Diaz Anadon — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:07:31 -0400

"A Technology-Based Greenhouse Gas Reduction Strategy for 2030" by Melissa Chan and Laura Diaz Anadon presented at the U.S. Society of Ecological Economics 2009 Conference, Washington, D.C., June 1, 2009.

Center Hosts U.S.-China Workshop on Clean Energy and Carbon Collection, Sequestration

Sasha Talcott — Wed, 27 May 2009 10:10:14 -0400

With both China and the United States relying heavily on coal for electricity, senior government officials from both countries have urged immediate action to push forward technology that would reduce carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired plants. They discussed possible actions at a high-level workshop in April jointly sponsored by the Belfer Center's Energy Technology Innovation Policy (ETIP) research group, China's Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Obama's Fuel-Efficiency Plan? Not So Efficient

Robert N. Stavins — Wed, 20 May 2009 18:32:05 -0400

"Because CAFE standards increase the price of new cars, the standards have the unintentional effect of keeping older — dirtier and less fuel-efficient — cars on the road longer. This is counterproductive.

Also, by decreasing the cost per mile of driving, CAFE standards — like any energy-efficiency technology standard — exhibit a rebound effect — namely, people have an incentive to drive more, not less, thereby lessening the anticipated reduction in gasoline usage."

Acting in Time on Energy Policy

Kelly Sims Gallagher — Wed, 20 May 2009 18:19:42 -0400

This policy brief outlines urgent priorities for U.S. energy policy at the dawn of the Obama administration, and recommends specific steps that the U.S. government should take to address the numerous energy-related challenges facing the United States. It is based on the book, Acting in Time on Energy Policy (Brookings 2009), edited by Kelly Sims Gallagher, director of the Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group at the Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center.

We concentrate on six topics: climate change policy, carbon capture and storage policy, oil security policy, energy-technology innovation policy, electricity market structure, and infrastructure policy. The United States cannot afford to wait any longer to enact long-term policies on these topics. In fact, acting early is clearly in the longer-term interest of the United States.

Robert Stavins Named to the Energy and Environmental Markets Advisory Committee at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Robert N. Stavins — Wed, 13 May 2009 15:00:38 -0400

Robert Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government at Harvard Kennedy School and a member of the Board of Directors at the school's Belfer Center, has been appointed to a new position in the Energy and Environmental Markets Advisory Committee at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Electricity Market Structure and Infrastructure

William Hogan — Fri, 01 May 2009 22:50:43 -0400

"Infrastructure investment is a common focus of energy policies proposed for the United States. Initiatives to improve energy security, meet growing demand, or address climate change and transform the structure of energy systems all anticipate major infrastructure investment. Long lead times and critical mass requirements for these investments present chicken-and-egg dilemmas. Without the necessary infrastructure investment, energy policy cannot take effect. And without sound policy, the right infrastructure will not appear. Acting in time to provide workable policies for infrastructure investment requires a framework for decisionmaking that identifies who decides and how choices should be made."

Policy for Energy Technology Innovation

Laura Diaz Anadon and John P. Holdren — Fri, 01 May 2009 22:16:04 -0400

"The United States ought to be the leader of the world in the energy technology innovation that is needed. It has the largest economy, uses the most energy (and within that total the most oil), has made the largest cumulative contribution to the atmospheric buildup of fossil carbon dioxide that is the dominant driver of global climate change, has a large balance of payments stake in competitiveness in the global energy technology market as well as a large stake in the worldwide economic and security benefits of meeting global energy needs in affordable and sustainable ways, and possesses by many measures the most capable scientific and engineering workforce in the world. The actual performance of this country in energy-technology innovation, however, has been falling short by almost every measure...."

Oil Security and the Transportation Sector

Henry Lee — Fri, 01 May 2009 21:48:41 -0400

"This chapter proposes to answer five fundamental questions: What exactly is the oil security problem, and how serious is it going forward? Why has it emerged at this point in time, and why has it been so difficult for the U.S. government to take the actions needed to mitigate it? Finally, what alternative policies are likely to be effective as the United States attempts to improve its oil security in the future?"

Making Carbon Capture and Storage Work

Daniel Schrag — Fri, 01 May 2009 21:13:14 -0400

"This chapter focuses on how the United States can accomplish ... reducing carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels. I argue that demonstration and deployment of technologies to capture carbon dioxide from large stationary sources, storing the waste CO₂ in geological formations, is likely to be an essential component of any carbon reduction strategy, both for the United States and for the world, and is also consistent with economic and security concerns. It also reviews the major technical challenges involved with widespread deployment of carbon capture and storage, and discusses policies that would lead to the specific goal of capturing and storing the CO₂ from all large stationary sources by the middle of this century."

Acting in Time on Climate Change

Kelly Sims Gallagher — Fri, 01 May 2009 20:48:41 -0400

"This chapter expolres a number of related questions: How much time do we have to act? How much climate change is virtually inevitable? What are the consequences of procrastination? And finally, what is the appropriate role for governments wishing to act in time to reduce the threat of climate change? In addition, the reality of current emissions and policy responses is explored in some detail for the two biggest emitters in the world: the United States and China."

Acting in Time on Energy Policy

Kelly Sims Gallagher — Fri, 01 May 2009 20:15:41 -0400

"The book's title—Acting in Time—refers to the persistent problem in U.S. energy policy that typically just enough is done to satisfy the short-term political imperatives, but not enough is done to actually solve the underlying problems themselves. As a result, many of the fundamental economic, environmental, and security-related challenges arising from patterns of U.S. energy production and consumption have become more intractable. Some now approach a point of crisis."

Foreword

David T. Ellwood — Fri, 01 May 2009 19:36:17 -0400

"The question of whether we can "act in time" on energy and climate change poses one of the most profound challenges facing the world today. No human activity, other than the wide-scale use of nuclear weapons, has greater potential to reshape and harm our planet and our species than the rapidly expanding generation of greenhouse gases. What is so frustrating about the issue is that even though the dangers are widely accepted in the scientific community, and even though failing to act in time could set off a chain of events that would be all but irreversible, action to date has been weak at best."

Acting in Time on Energy Policy

Kelly Sims Gallagher — Fri, 01 May 2009 18:53:33 -0400

Energy policy is on everyone's mind these days. The U.S. presidential campaign focused on energy independence and exploration ("Drill, baby, drill!"), climate change, alternative fuels, even nuclear energy. But there is a serious problem endemic to America's energy challenges. Policymakers tend to do just enough to satisfy political demands but not enough to solve the real problems, and they wait too long to act. The resulting policies are overly reactive, enacted once damage is already done, and they are too often incomplete, incoherent, and ineffectual. Given the gravity of current economic, geopolitical, and environmental concerns, this is more unacceptable than ever. This important volume details this problem, making clear the unfortunate results of such short-sighted thinking, and it proposes measures to overcome this counterproductive tendency.

U.S.-China Relations: Key Next Steps

Beth Maclin — Fri, 01 May 2009 14:20:36 -0400

With the United States and China expected to be the two dominant powers in the twenty-first century, it is essential that they actively manage their relationship to avoid military conflict, a group of distinguished Chinese and American scholars said at a major conference in Washington, D.C. The scholars—from Harvard Kennedy School, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and elsewhere—have worked together for more than two years to create a blueprint for a new relationship between the two countries.

Barriers to Acting in Time on Energy and Strategies for Overcoming Them

Max H. Bazerman — Fri, 01 May 2009 13:33:10 -0400

"The preceding chapters in this volume offer many excellent ideas on climate change; oil, transportation, and electricity policies; carbon capture and storage; and the generation of innovative energy solutions. Collectively, these papers provide the new presidential administration with a wide array of excellent policy suggestions. I will not add to this list or critique those that have been offered. Rather, I begin with the assumption that we have identified a useful, scientifically supportable agenda for changes in our energy policies. My goal is to describe the likely barriers to enacting these wise policies and present strategies for overcoming these barriers."

Senior Obama Administration and Chinese Government Officials Call for Rapid Development of "Clean" Coal Technologies

Sasha Talcott — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:39:19 -0400

April 21, 2009

With both China and the United States relying heavily on coal for electricity, senior government officials from both countries urged immediate action to push forward technology that would reduce carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired plants. The leaders spoke April 16 at a high-level workshop jointly hosted by China's Ministry of Science and Technology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group at Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center. The workshop aimed to develop concrete and specific opportunities for U.S.-China cooperation on advanced coal technologies, and the group will submit policy recommendations to both the Obama Administration and the Chinese government.

Preliminary Policy Recommendations for Enhancing Energy Innovation in the U.S.

Laura Diaz Anadon, Matthew Bunn, Kelly Sims Gallagher and Charles Jones — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:36:33 -0400

The Obama administration and the 111th Congress face enormous challenges and opportunities in tackling the pressing security, economic, and environmental problems posed by the energy sector in the United States and worldwide. Improving the technologies of energy supply and end-use is a prerequisite for surmounting these challenges in a timely and cost-effective way. This article is adapted from the executive summary of the Belfer Center Energy Technology Innovation Policy (ETIP) report, "Tackling U.S. Energy Challenges and Opportunities," by Laura Diaz Anadon, Kelly Sims Gallagher, Matthew Bunn, and Charles Jones.

Center Hosts Al Gore and Top Energy/Climate Experts in Climate Solutions Summit

Sharon Wilke — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 13:07:14 -0400

The Belfer Center hosted former Vice President and Nobel Laureate Al Gore and 30 of the United States' top energy and climate experts in October for a "Solutions Summit" on the climate challenge ... participants brainstormed concrete solutions to producing carbon-free electricity, using as a starting point Gore’s July 2008 Generational Challenge to Repower America, which calls on the nation to produce 100 percent of America's electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources within ten years.

Tackling U.S. Energy Challenges and Opportunities: Preliminary Policy Recommendations for Enhancing Energy Innovation in The United States

Laura Diaz Anadon, Kelly Sims Gallagher, Matthew Bunn and Charles Jones — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 14:50:03 -0500

ETIP’s Energy Research, Development, Demonstration & Deployment (ERD3) Policy Project has developed recommendations for energy innovation in the United States. These recommendations lay out a comprehensive strategy for investment in energy innovation, new approaches to managing the effort, and policies for moving new technology into the marketplace.

Acting In Time On Energy Policy

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:23:50 -0500

This seven-minute video captures the essence of the Acting in Time on Energy Policy conference and highlights recommendations given by participants during each of the six panels.

Advancing Carbon Sequestration Research in an Uncertain Legal and Regulatory Environment: A Study of Phase II of the DOE Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships Program

Craig A. Hart — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:47:20 -0500

This paper examines the legal and regulatory barriers encountered in carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) research, development and demonstration (RD&D) projects under the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships Program.

Belfer Center Newsletter Winter 2008-09

Sharon Wilke — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:09:11 -0400

The Winter 2008-09 issue of the Belfer Center newsletter features recent and upcoming research, activities, and analysis by Center faculty, fellows, and staff on critical global issues. "What should the next president do first?" is a question raised in this issue. Belfer Center experts respond to the question with advice on what they consider priority issues of national security, climate/energy policy, and the economic crisis.

The Winter 2008-09 issue also features take-aways from the Center’s recent “Acting in Time on Energy Policy” conference hosted by the Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group. In addition, it spotlights Belfer Center Faculty Affiliate Richard Clarke and new Kennedy School Professor Nicholas Burns.

For the Next President: Center Scholars Suggest Priority Actions on Security, Climate/Energy and the Financial Crisis

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 12:25:35 -0400

With a new president of the United States soon to be elected, Belfer Center scholars offer their suggestions to the next president on issues of national security, climate/energy policy, and the financial crisis.

Electric Cars, 'Cap and Trade,' and More

Corydon Ireland — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 10:29:40 -0400

"Acting on Time on Energy" conference, held at Harvard on 18–19 September 2008, brought together business leaders, investors, academics and government officials, to discuss energy pollcy for the next U.S. Administration. Click here for photos.

New Report from Harvard Kennedy School Researchers Calls for Changes to Biofuels Incentives

Henry Lee, William Clark and Charan Devereaux — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 13:27:32 -0400

July 29, 2008

Despite pressure from biofuel critics, governments should avoid simplistic and precipitous changes in course such as rollback or moratoria on existing biofuels mandates or incentives, according to a new report from three Harvard Kennedy School researchers. Instead, the researchers urge governments to initiate an orderly, innovation-enhancing transition towards incentives targeted on multi-dimensional goals for biofuels development.