Archive for the ‘climate economics’ Category
| Newer Entries »What are green energy investors waiting for?
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009
If Al Gore and others are correct that we already have available the kinds of renewable energy technology needed to decarbonize the economy, why is it taking so long? As we saw in an earlier post, part of the answer is carbon lock in resulting from our modern political economy.
Another way to examine this problem is to ask what motivates the investment community, particularly venture capitalists. What kinds of policies will entice these folks to plow $ billions into clean energy, and which ones will keep them on the sidelines?
In the current issue1,2 of Energy Policy, Mary Jean Buerer and Rolf Wuestenhagen examine this question by interviewing 60 senior fund managers around the world. They distinguished between policies that incentivized (1) “technology push”—forces like government funded research and development to increase the supply of renewable energy technology and (2) “technology pull”—things that increase the demand for green energy and the ability for businesses to provide it.
What did they find?
Posted in climate economics, energy, solutions, sustainability, technology | No Comments »
Why don’t people engage climate change? Problem 4: Political-economic context
Saturday, November 7th, 2009
Prerequisite posts:
- Why don’t people engage climate change? Overview
- Why don’t people engage climate change? Problem 1: Environmental Literacy
- Why don’t people engage climate change? Problem 2: Communication
- Why don’t people engage climate change? Problem 3: Personal perceptions, values, and behaviors.
People often disengage from environmental issues because of a sense of disenfranchisement: “What kind of difference can I make? Not much, so why bother? We need big changes and soon. The power to do this is controlled by politicians, who are influenced (financially and otherwise) by Big Business often intent on blocking change.”
In a series of provocative articles in Energy Policy1, Gregory Unruh posed two questions to help us unravel forces at the root of this problem:
- If [renewable energy] technologies exist, are cost effective, and help minimize climate-forcing emissions, why aren’t they diffusing more rapidly?
- Furthermore, why aren’t government policies to promote them, about which there is substantial scientific and social consensus, more aggressive or effective?
The answer he suggests is carbon lock in. What is it? How has it become major inertia to change by reinforcing power structures in society, business, and politics?
Tags: carbon lock in
Posted in behavior, climate economics, policy, social science, technology, transportation | 6 Comments »
Economists agree on climate warming but are still stuck on how much it costs
Wednesday, November 4th, 2009
A new policy brief, Economists and Climate Change: Consensus and Open Questions, from the Institute for Policy Integrity (NYU School of Law) is getting a lot of headlines today.
Most reports are picking up on the statistics:
- 84% or economists surveyed agree that global warming represents a serious risk to the U.S (7.6% are neutral, 5.6% disagree, and 2.8 % have no opinion).
- 86% believed that agriculture would be the sector most at risk.
- 92% preferred market-based solutions like a cap-and-trade or carbon tax.
This is significant because it shows that most economists have aligned with the natural scientific consensus of the IPCC. Questions of whether climate is warming and its potential seriousness are over. The current problem is how we deal with it.
Today’s report shows there is still a point of contention with the economics of climate warming…
Posted in climate economics, policy | 1 Comment »
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