Energy Tradeoffs

Another week, another EnergyTradeoffs.com podcast episode. This week, Michael Burger of Columbia University talks with the University of Texas’s David Spence about Michael’s work on “Climate Litigation & the Green Transition.”

Michael and David talk about the variety of lawsuits that have been brought to try and hold fossil fuel companies responsible for the costs of climate change. (A chart collecting and organizing the wide variety of these cases can be found here.) Michael and David discuss the difficulty of finding just some companies liable for global climate change caused by many companies around the world. They also describe the possibility that climate change could be attributed to the consumers that burn fossil fuels rather than the companies that sell the fuels and how plaintiffs could draw analogies to lawsuits over tobacco, opioids, and guns.

The conversation builds on some of Michael’s recently published research including co-authored papers titled “The Status of Climate Change Litigation: A Global Review,” and “The Law and Science of Climate Change Attribution.”

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This Thursday’s EnergyTradeoffs.com podcast episode features features the University of Texas’s David Spence interviewing Vanderbilt Law School’s Jim Rossi and Chris Serkin about their proposal for “Energy Exactions“.

Jim and Chris describe this proposal, which would have local governments impose “a fee on development … that is designed to avoid strains on the energy grid.” It would build on existing negotiations between developers and local governments that often require developers to pay for some of the local services they will require. To comply with an energy exaction, a developer could either pay for the new burden it would place on the energy grid or even pay for energy-saving technologies that would eliminate this burden.

This discussion explores Jim and Chris’s recent paper, which was published in the Cornell Law Review and is also titled “Energy Exactions“.

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Today’s EnergyTradeoffs.com podcast episode features Yael Lifshitz, from King’s College London, talking with me about her research on “Private Energy, Private Law, & the Green Transition.”

Yael describes her research on how private law interacts with our public policy goals for an energy transition. As one example, she describes how private leases for housing often are roadblocks to installing rooftop solar on rental units. As more people rely on rentals, this can seriously limit rooftop solar. Yael proposes private law solutions that could remove these roadblocks.

Yael also explains her research on conflicts between neighboring landowners over wind power. She describes how extraction of wind power by one landowner can have both local and area-wide impacts. Yael suggests how policymakers can look to water law and oil and gas law for possible solutions to these conflicts.

The discussion builds on two of Yael’s recent articles: “Private Energy,” which was published in the Stanford Environmental Law Journal, and “Winds of Change: Drawing on Water Doctrines to Establish Wind Law,” which was published in the NYU Environmental Law Journal.

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This week’s EnergyTradeoffs.com podcast episode features David Spence interviewing Joshua Rhodes & Colin Meehan about their research on “Keeping the Lights on in a High Renewables Grid.”

Josh & Colin explain the concept of grid “inertia” and why it is so important for grid stability. The grid must always maintain the same frequency and inertia steadies this frequency when a power plant suddenly goes offline. They explain that wind and solar power do not provide the same inertia as conventional plants but describe ways of making the grid flexible to accommodate high levels of renewable power nevertheless.

Josh & Colin also describes how renewable power sources can provide “fast frequency response” as a substitute for inertia. But they explain that doing so would require reducing power output from these sources, which might require modifying markets to pay for ancillary services that maintain the grid’s frequency.

The discussion builds on one of Josh’s recent articles: “Evaluating rotational inertia as a component of grid reliability with high penetrations of variable renewable energy,” which was published last year in the journal Energy.

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Today’s EnergyTradeoffs.com podcast episode has me interviewing the University of Oklahoma’s Monika Ehrman about her research on “Energy Realism & Fossil Fuels.”

Monika describes and criticizes the “keep it in the ground” movement–a coalition that is looking to stop production of oil and gas on federal lands and has now gained support from all of the remaining Democratic candidates for President. She argues that the keep-it-in-the-ground movement is ignoring the economic and geopolitical impacts of cutting off oil and gas production and lays out her theory of energy realism: she argues that the energy industry and the keep-it-in-the ground movement could both benefit from more careful assessment of the science and math supporting both the economic necessity and climate risks of fossil fuel production. My recent op-ed supporting sustainable oil development rather than simple bans also supports this vision of energy policy.

The discussion builds on Monika’s recent article, “A Call for Energy Realism:  When Immanual Kant Met the ‘Keep It In the Ground’ Movement,” which was published last year in the Utah Law Review, and Monika described earlier in a guest blog here at EnergyLawProf.com.

The Energy Tradeoffs Podcast can be found at the following links: 
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In this week’s EnergyTradeoffs.com podcast episode, the University of Colorado’s Sharon Jacobs interviews Sanya Carley of Indiana University about Sanya’s work on Alternatives talks with about Sanya’s work on “Energy Justice.”

Sanya explains her efforts to identify communities that are particularly likely to be harmed as the country moves to cleaner energy sources. She describes steps that the government can take to address these disparate impacts and how to allow affected communities to participate in developing solutions.

This conversation relates to a number of Sanya’s recent publications, including a paper titled “A framework for evaluating geographic disparities in energy transition vulnerability,” that was published in Nature Energy in 2018.

The Energy Tradeoffs Podcast can be found at the following links: 
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This Thursday’s EnergyTradeoffs.com podcast episode features me talking with the University of Calgary Faculty of Law’s Kristen van de Biezenbos about her research on “Social License & Fossil Fuels.”

Kristen describes how the term “social license” has become so important in Canadian energy policy and shows the different ways it has been used and misused by provincial and federal politicians. Kristen explains the origins of the term and explains what she thinks it should mean: she argues that local communities should not have a veto over linear infrastructure such as pipelines and power-lines, but that they should have some buy-in through consultation and a share in some of the benefits of these projects.

This discussion explores Kristen’s recent paper, which was published in the McGill Journal of Sustainable Development Law and is titled, “Rebirth of Social License.” 

The Energy Tradeoffs Podcast can be found at the following links: 
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This week’s EnergyTradeoffs.com podcast episode features Columbia’s Mike Gerrard talking with Shelley Welton about his research on “Deep Decarbonization: Legal Impediments to a Massive Renewables Build-Out.”

In the interview, Mike explains why dramatic cutting U.S. greenhouse gas emissions will require a massive build out of new zero-carbon power sources to 1) replace coal and gas power plants and 2) electrify the other parts of the energy system that currently depend on fossil fuels, such as gasoline for cars and natural gas for heating. Mike and Shelley explore how federal environmental statutes, especially the National Environmental Policy Act, are holding up new investment in renewable energy.

The discussion relates to a larger project, known as “Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonizaton” and Mike’s 2017 article in the Environmental Law Reporter, “Legal Pathways for a Massive Increase in Utility-Scale Renewable Generation Capacity.”

The Energy Tradeoffs Podcast can be found at the following links: 
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Another week, another EnergyTradeoffs.com podcast episode. This week, Victoria Mandell of GRID Alternatives talks with the University of Colorado’s  Sharon Jacobs about Victoria’s work on “Energy Poverty, Energy Burden and Rooftop Solar.”

Victoria and Sharon talk about why some policies that favor rooftop solar are regressive: “You have low income customers paying for high income customers to have solar on their roofs.” Victoria explains the complex interactions between equity, efficiency, and environmental goals in adding more solar energy to the grid.

Victoria has published some of her thoughts on energy poverty, rooftop solar, and the Colorado Public Utility Commission in this brief post: “Environmental and Economic Justice in Distributed Solar Energy Investment.”

The Energy Tradeoffs Podcast can be found at the following links: 
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This week’s EnergyTradeoffs.com podcast episode is Part II of Arne Olson‘s discussion with David Spence on “Modeling Decarbonization in the West.” This two-part series covers Arne’s research on achieving a reliable transition to low-carbon energy on the West Coast. Today’s 15-minute podcast episode starts where the last one left off, focusing on California.

Arne describes why California may need to maintain some natural gas power to address wintertime shortages, unless it is able to develop significant nuclear power or long-term energy storage.

The interview builds on another of Arne’s recent papers, “Long-Run Resource Adequacy under Deep Decarbonization Pathways for California.”

The Energy Tradeoffs Podcast can be found at the following links: 
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