The world's best thinkers on energy and climate
In ‘The Social Benefits of Carbon (SBC) - Part 1’, the history of Civilizations’ growth and major developments, supported largely by evolving fossil fuels technologies and energy supplies, were covered over the past two Centuries. In this SBC Part 2 article we will cover recent World energy supplied projections and International agreements intended to substantially reduce total World greenhouse gas emissions towards mid-21st Century. Analysis of … [Read more...]
If someone was tallying up all the benefits of energy efficiency programs, you’d want them to include reducing climate pollution, right? That’s just common sense. Thankfully, that’s what our government does when it designs energy efficiency programs—as well as other policies that impact greenhouse gas emissions. And just this month, this approach got an important seal of approval: For the first time, a federal court upheld using the social … [Read more...]
By Leslie Abrahams and Costa Samaras While much of the eastern U.S. is trying to keep warm during the recent Alaska-like cold snap, it’s useful to remember the winter of 2006. The residential price of natural gas, which heats more than half of U.S. homes, was more than $16/thousand cubic feet (MCF). Today, residential delivered gas is closer to $9 and the U.S. commodity natural cost is less than $3. The growth of U.S. shale gas has reduced … [Read more...]
Estimates of the cost of damages from greenhouse gas emissions are more use for ruling in policy measures than ruling them out.Estimates of the cost of the damages caused by greenhouse gas emissions are widely used to assess the cost effectiveness of policies to reduce emissions. Broadly speaking, emissions reductions that are cheaper than the cost of damages are judged cost-effective, while emissions reductions more expensive than the cost … [Read more...]
Our society’s prevailing economic zeitgeist assumes that everything has a price, and that both costs and prices can be objectively calculated, or at least agreed upon by parties involved in the transaction. There are some big problems with this proposition.Externalized costs are involuntary transactions — those on the receiving end of the externalities have not agreed to the deal. Putting a price on carbon can theoretically … [Read more...]
While environmental groups and other stakeholders have been working hard to delay – if not derail- major pipeline projects like Keystone, oil companies have been working hard to find alternative ways to get their crude oil to market:A single unit train can move up to 90,000 barrels of oil. Photo sourceRail transportation is viewed by some as a stop-gap measure because it is more costly per gallon-mile as compared to pipeline transport. But … [Read more...]
This open letter, co-authored by Jeremy Proville and first published on EDF Voices, was written in response to a New York Times article citing Dr. Roger Bezdek’s report on “The Social Costs of Carbon? No, The Social Benefits of Carbon.”Dear Dr. Bezdek,After seeing so many peer-reviewed studies documenting the costs of carbon pollution, it’s refreshing to encounter some out-of-the-box thinking to the contrary. … [Read more...]
Tell someone you are a “climate economist,” and the first thing you hear after the slightly puzzled looks subside is, “How much?” Show me the money: “How much is climate change really costing us?”Here it is: at least $40.That, of course, isn’t the total cost, which is in the trillions of dollars. $40 is the cost per ton of carbon dioxide pollution emitted today, and represents the financial impacts of everything climate change wreaks: higher … [Read more...]
How much value should owners of rooftop solar systems receive credit for in reducing their use -- and the environmental impact -- of utility-generated electricity? That is THE question Minnesota is tackling this month, the first state ever to do so.Minnesota’s Department of Commerce is due by January 31 to submit a methodology for figuring the value of solar to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. It is one of the most closely-watched … [Read more...]
Laurie Johnson, Chief Economist, Climate and Clean Air Program, Washington, DCLast week the US Office of Management and Budget (OMB) invited additional comment on the government’s “social cost of carbon” (SCC), an estimate of climate change damages resulting from carbon pollution. The invitation comes after a recent update provoked intense backlash by the fossil fuel lobby against its use.Couching their attack in terms of process issues and … [Read more...]
Estimates of the social cost of carbon can help set floor prices in emissions trading schemes. Estimates are likely to suggest a floor price for the EUETS of around €20-30/tCO2, rising over time. Those arguing against any price management in the EUETS sometimes suggest that, first, there is nothing wrong with the currently low level of prices, as it simply means that targets have been met at low cost, and, second, that there is no … [Read more...]
credit: trayport.comRecently, the world came to realize that carbon dioxide levels passed the sobering threshold of 400 parts per million for the first time in over 2 million years. While the economic consequences of such a milestone remain somewhat speculative, the United States government has sought to put a dollar figure on each ton of carbon emitted into the atmosphere in hopes of estimating the cost of a continued carbon-intensive economy … [Read more...]
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