Developing renewable energy resources may be the best way to address environmental sustainability concerns in the long term. In this university podcast, Haas School professor Severin Borenstein argues that to have a significant impact in the energy market, any renewable alternative must be scalable. He discusses how this may, however, paradoxically drive down the price of fossil fuels, thereby creating a bigger problem than policy makers have realized. He suggests where policy interventions should be focused so as to pave the way for the greater appeal of renewable technologies. He also calls for more support of basic research that focuses on making low-emission sources the least expensive form of energy. Carl Pope, chairman of the Sierra Club, and Nancy Ryan, commissioner of CPUC, respond. Borenstein was talking at the 2010 Climate Policy Instruments in the Real World conference, an event convened by the Program on Energy and Sustainable Development (PESD) at Stanford University.
Severin Borenstein is E.T. Grether Professor of Business Administration and Public Policy at the Haas School of Business and co-director of the Energy Institute at Haas. He is also director of the University of California Energy Institute. Borenstein’s research focuses on business competition, strategy, and regulation. His current research projects include the economics of renewable energy, economic policies for reducing greenhouse gases, equity and efficiency effects of electricity pricing, and competitive dynamics in the airline industry. Borenstein is also a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, MA. In May 2010, he was appointed by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood to the DOT's Future of Aviation Advisory Committee. He received his PhD in economics from MIT and AB from UC Berkeley.
Carl Pope became chairman of the Sierra Club in 2010, after serving for more than seventeen years as executive director. A veteran leader in the environmental movement, Pope has been with the Sierra Club for more than thirty years. In that time, he has also served as associate conservation director, political director, and conservation director. Pope currently serves as the chairman of the board of America Votes and is a member of the board of American Rights at Work and the Blue-Green Alliance. He was also executive director of the California League of Conservation Voters and the political director of Zero Population Growth. He holds a BA from Harvard College.
Nancy E. Ryan is an economist with expertise in energy markets and the public health and ecological impacts of energy production. Appointed to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) in January 2010, Ryan is the CPUC’s lead commissioner on developing policies for the smart grid and alternative fueled vehicles. Prior to her appointment, she served as the CPUC’s deputy executive director for policy and external relations. She joined the CPUC in 2006 as chief energy advisor and subsequently served as chief of staff. Before joining the CPUC Ryan was senior economist and deputy California director at Environmental Defense Fund. She received a PhD in economics from UC Berkeley and a BA in economics from Yale University.
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