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481. The Future of the U.S. Electricity Sector

Author:
Bill Dickenson (Co-Chair), Phil Sharp (Co-Chair), and Dave Grossman (Rapporteur)
Publication Date:
09-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
The future of the U.S. electricity sector is hard to foresee – and it is never wise to overpay one's fortune tellers – but there appear to be some key trends and technologies that may reshape future electricity markets and determine the innovativeness, resilience, security, and global competitiveness of the sector. Discussions of the sector's past, present, and future formed the heart of the 2013 Aspen Institute Energy Policy Forum. This report summarizes and organizes some of the key insights from those discussions.
Topic:
Climate Change, Economics, Energy Policy, Environment, Markets, and Natural Resources
Political Geography:
United States

482. Reducing Livability: How Sustainability Planning Threatens the American Dream

Author:
Randal O'Toole
Publication Date:
10-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
In response to state laws and federal incentives, cities and metropolitan areas across the country are engaged in “sustainability planning” aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In many if not most cases, this planning seeks to reshape urban areas to reduce the amount of driving people do. In general, this means increasing urban population densities and in particular replacing low-density neighborhoods in transit corridors with dense, mixed-use developments.
Topic:
Climate Change, Development, Energy Policy, Infrastructure, and Governance
Political Geography:
America

483. Climate Change and International Law in the Grim Days

Author:
Benoît Mayer
Publication Date:
11-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
The 2009 Copenhagen Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC epitomizes the stalling of international negotiations on climate change mitigation and adaptation. In the grim days of climate change governance, the literature tends to neglect ethical arguments on the responsibility of polluting states. Rather, it turns to a desperate quest for 'whatever works'. This article addresses the development of a discipline round an emerging regime. It reviews in particular the principled approaches of climate governance, doctrinal analyses on mitigation, the shift from 'enforcement' to 'facilitation' and to 'liability', the fragmented governance of adaptation in the human rights, development and migration regimes, and innovative scholarship on the transnational regime complex concerning climate change.
Topic:
Climate Change, Human Rights, and International Law

484. Renewables: do they matter for foreign policy?

Author:
Iana Dreyer
Publication Date:
06-2013
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
European Union Institute for Security Studies
Abstract:
Energy has played an important role in the geopolitics of the 20th century and continues to do so today. But the politics of renewable energy has remained largely confined to national boundaries and has had few international ramifications. Is this set to change? What is and could be the role of renewables in European energy diplomacy?
Topic:
Security, Climate Change, Development, Energy Policy, and Natural Resources
Political Geography:
Europe

485. European Climate Diplomacy: Building capacity for external action

Author:
Diarmuid Torney
Publication Date:
10-2013
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Finnish Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
The EU has long played an important role in international climate governance, but changing relations of global power and governance are leading some to question the continued centrality of the EU in this area. For some, these changes were crystallized in the European experience at the Copenhagen climate change summit in 2009. The shifting sands of contemporary climate politics make it all the more important for the EU to make the most of its diplomatic resources and capacities.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Climate Change, Diplomacy, and Energy Policy
Political Geography:
Europe

486. Energy Politics vs. the Earth

Author:
John M. Broder
Publication Date:
08-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The National Interest
Institution:
Center for the National Interest
Abstract:
Michael Levi, The Power Surge: Energy, Opportunity, and the Battle for America's Future (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013), 272 pp., $27.95. AROUND THE corner on K Street, one of the half dozen designer salad places in my part of downtown Washington recently closed after about a year in business. "Coming soon," the sign in the papered-over window reads, "Dunkin' Donuts." Hurried Washingtonians will soon be able to get their calorie fix for a tenth of the time and money spent. Maybe not so good for them in the long run, but John Maynard Keynes told us what happens in the long run. This, in miniature, is the choice the United States faces on energy and climate change. Fossil fuels are convenient, cheap, plentiful and, in the long run, deadly. Renewable energy-from the sun and the soil, the wind and the waves-is comparatively expensive, hard to produce and healthy. Mankind has chosen the cheap and plentiful path for the past two hundred years, burning coal, oil and gas and spewing the trash into the atmosphere. In May, the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere surpassed four hundred parts per million, the highest level in three million years. The planet teeters on the cusp of calamity. Science says it's time to switch to salads.
Topic:
Climate Change and Politics
Political Geography:
United States, America, and Washington

487. The Global Energy Conversation (Part 3)

Publication Date:
01-2013
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Abstract:
It seems apparent that innovation will be required across the energy sector in order to help it meet the twin challenges of rising energy demand and climate change. But seemingly well-meaning policies can turn out to have an adverse effect on innovation and the world's current economic woes may limit the pace of investment. In which energy sources is innovation most needed? How can governments get the policy framework right for stimulating innovation, and then put it to work?
Topic:
Climate Change, Economics, Energy Policy, and Foreign Direct Investment

488. Changing climates, moving people: Framing migration, displacement and planned relocation

Author:
Koko Warner, Tamer Afifi, Walter Kälin, Scott Leckie, Beth Ferris, Susan F. Martin, and David Wrathall
Publication Date:
06-2013
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
The needs of affected people vary across types of human mobility: migration, displacement and planned relocation. Climate policy should draw on state-of-the-art knowledge and experience to distinguish between migration, displacement and planned relocation to improve the resilience of affected countries and communities.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, and Migration

489. The Durban Platform Negotiations: Goals and Options

Author:
Daniel Bodansky
Publication Date:
07-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
In December 2011, parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) adopted the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action, which launched a new round of negotiations aimed at developing "a protocol, another legal instrument or an agreed outcome with legal force" for the post-2020 period. The Durban Platform negotiations got underway this year and are scheduled to conclude in 2015. This Viewpoint analyzes the elements of the Durban Platform and the possible role that a new instrument might play.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Treaties and Agreements, and United Nations

490. CARMA Revisited: An Updated Database of Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Power Plants Worldwide

Author:
Kevin Ummel
Publication Date:
08-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
The Carbon Monitoring for Action (CARMA) database provides information about the carbon dioxide emissions, electricity production, corporate ownership, and location of more than 60,000 power plants in over 200 countries. Originally launched in 2007, CARMA is provided freely to the public at www.carma. org and remains the only comprehensive data source of its kind. This paper documents the methodology underpinning CARMA v3.0, released in July, 2012. Comparison of CARMA model output with reported data highlights the general difficulty of precisely predicting annual electricity generation for a given plant and year. Estimating the rate at which a plant emits CO2 (per unit of electricity generated) generally faces fewer obstacles. Ultimately, greater disclosure of plant-specific data is needed to overcome these limitations, particularly in major emitting countries like China, Russia, and Japan. For any given plant in CARMA v3.0, it is estimated that the reported value is within 20 percent of the actual value in 85 percent of cases for CO2 intensity, 75 percent for annual CO2 emissions, and 45 percent for annual electricity generation. CARMA's prediction models are shown to offer significantly better estimates than more naïve approaches to estimating plant-specific performance.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, Health, and Industrial Policy
Political Geography:
Russia, Japan, and China