Energy Tradeoffs

In this week’s EnergyTradeoffs.com podcast interview, the University of Richmond’s Joel Eisen and the University of South Carolina’s Shelley Welton talk with David Spence about their research on “Net Metering & the Value of Distributed Solar Generation.”

David, Joel, and Shelley discuss hot-button questions about net-metering, which effectively pays homeowners with rooftop solar the retail price for the electricity that they provide to the grid. This price is higher than that received by other power generators. Net metering offers environmental benefits but imposes costs on other electricity users. David kicks off the discussion by addressing the common question whether net-metering is regressive and segues into a discussion of the broad array of studies on the effects of net metering.

The interview builds on Joel & Shelley’s just-published article in the Harvard Environmental Law Review, which is titled “Clean Energy Justice: Charting an Emerging Agenda.”

The Energy Tradeoffs Podcast can be found at the following links: 
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Another week, another EnergyTradeoffs.com podcast episode. This week, the University of Florida’s Amy Stein talks with David Spence about her research on “Maintaining Reliability in a Distributed Energy World.”

Amy and David explore the challenges of maintaining power grid reliability when an increasing amount of electricity is produced by distributed sources such as rooftop solar. Amy explains how energy storage and demand response can provide this reliability. And she describes how these “reliability resources” may be a poor fit with historical methods of utility investment and regulation.

The interview builds on Amy’s 2016 article on “Distributed Reliability,” which was published in the University of Colorado Law Review.

The Energy Tradeoffs Podcast can be found at the following links: 
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This Thursday’s EnergyTradeoffs.com podcast episode features Stanford’s Frank Wolak talking with David Spence about his research on “Market Solutions to Reliability Challenges in Electricity Markets.”

Frank explains different approaches to ensuring the reliability of the electric grid, including Texas’s approach of allowing very high prices during periods of peak demand to encourage sufficient power supply—an approach that has been repeatedly tested during hot weather in the past month. He also explains the other, more common, approach of a regulatory mandate to purchase reserves in advance, and the downsides of that conventional approach.

Frank also explains why Southern California’s solar creates ideal conditions to motivate short-term battery storage of electricity: a quick spike of lots of power for a short slice of the day that then ramps down quickly just as power demand peaks.

The Energy Tradeoffs Podcast can be found at the following links: 
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For this week’s EnergyTradeoffs.com podcast interview, we have Josh Rhodes interviewing David Adelman, his colleague at the University of Texas, about David’s research on “Modeling the Evolution of a Greener Grid.”

David’s research compares renewable portfolio standards, which are the most commonly used instrument for encouraging renewable power, with carbon pricing, which could be implemented through a cap-and-trade system or a tax. David concludes that carbon pricing is “dramatically more effective at reducing carbon emissions and increasing the percentage of renewables than a renewable portfolio standard.” And he explains why even a modest carbon tax could be better for the climate than a relatively aggressive renewable portfolio standard. At the same time, David acknowledges that renewable portfolio standards may, in some cases, help surmount non-market barriers to renewable power.

The interview principally draws from a 2018 article that David wrote with with David Spence titled “U.S. climate policy and the regional economics of electricity generation.”

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

This week’s EnergyTradeoffs.com podcast features Shelley Welton interviewing Nathan Richardson, her colleague at the University of South Carolina, about his research on “The Politics of Carbon Taxes vs. Regulation.”

Nathan recaps much of the history of efforts to adopt federal climate regulation, and explains what steps a new administration could take to establish durable greenhouse gas controls. He explains why he is skeptical that much will be accomplished under the existing Clean Air Act and lays out some of the costs and benefits of alternate approaches such as a carbon tax and the Green New Deal.

The interview builds on a 2014 article that Nathan wrote with Art Fraas, who is a fellow at the think tank, Resources for the Future. Here’s the article: “Comparing the Clean Air Act with a Carbon Price.” 

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

Another week, another EnergyTradeoffs.com podcast episode. This week, Princeton’s Jesse Jenkins talks with David Spence about his research on “The Best Route to Net-Zero Emissions.”

Jesse describes why “firm low-carbon power resources,” such as nuclear and natural gas with carbon capture make it much cheaper to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the electric power sector. Unlike variable solar and wind resources, these firm sources are “not weather-dependent, can be used anytime of the year, and can generate power for any length of time.”

The interview builds on Jesse’s 2018 article “The Role of Firm Low-Carbon Electricity Resources in Deep Decarbonization of Power Generation.”

The Energy Tradeoffs Podcast can be found at the following links: 
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In this week’s EnergyTradeoffs.com podcast interview, Stanford’s Michael Wara talks with David Spence about his research on “California’s Energy Transition—Decarbonization & Decentralization.”

Michael discusses the necessary tradeoffs in meeting California’s varied goals for its energy grid: the challenges of moving away from gas power plants and increasing rooftop solar and different ways to meet those challenges while limiting the costs borne by low-income ratepayers.

The interview builds on Michael’s 2017 article in the NYU Environmental Law Journal, which is titled “Competition at the Grid Edge:  Innovation and Antitrust in the Electricity Sector.” 

The Energy Tradeoffs Podcast can be found at the following links: 
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For this week’s EnergyTradeoffs.com podcast interview, we have the University of Colorado’s  Sharon Jacobs talking with David Spence about her research on “Environmental Privileging.”

Sharon talks about how different actors privilege different values in energy policy and argues that scholars should be explicit about which values they are privileging. She takes the case study of privileging environmental values in energy policy and argues that while “privileging certain values and goals is not a problem,” it can create problems if it is “unacknowledged or hidden.” She shows how policymakers can be explicit about what values they are privileging and why they are doing so.

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

This week’s EnergyTradeoffs.com podcast features David Spence interviewing the University of Texas’s Sheila Olmstead about her research on “Cost-Benefit Analysis, ‘Secret Science,’ and OIRA Reviews of Rulemaking.”

Sheila talks about two challenges of doing cost-benefit analysis on climate regulation. First, she describes why the bulk of benefits from carbon rules actually are indirect benefits of reduced air pollution, not climate benefits from reduced carbon emissions. Second, she talks about why many studies on the effects of air pollution depend on private health data that cannot be released to the wider public for replication. She also describes what she sees as hopeful avenues for regulatory reform.

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

This week’s EnergyTradeoffs.com podcast features David Spence interviewing the University of South Carolina’s  Shelley Welton about her research on “The Distributional Impacts of Distributed Energy Resources.”

Shelley talks about how rooftop solar and other smaller sources of power are changing energy policy. The interview builds on her article on “Clean Electrification,” which was published in the Colorado Law Review.

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