The Program on Energy and Sustainable Development (PESD) is an international, interdisciplinary program that draws on the fields of economics, political science, law, and management to investigate how the production and consumption of energy affect human welfare and environmental quality. In addition to undertaking world-class research, the Program leads advanced graduate and introductory undergraduate courses and seminars in energy and environmental policy at Stanford. The Program's core sponsors are BP, plc, and the Electric Power
Research Institute (EPRI).
PESD's current research concentrates on the following areas:
- Climate Policy Instruments in an Imperfect World: Policy
tools to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under the Kyoto Protocol include a
cap-and-trade system in Europe and an international offset market allowing
parties bound by carbon limits to buy emissions allowances from developing country
projects. PESD research on climate
policy focuses on how the actual operation of such instruments deviates
significantly from idealized economic models.
It also suggests new strategies to engage developing countries in
climate change mitigation by leveraging rather than fighting their inherent
national interests;
- National Oil Companies (NOCs) in the World Oil Market: Roughly
80% of world reserves of oil and natural gas are controlled by state-owned oil
companies, and yet the functioning of these diverse entities is poorly
understood. Based on field research on
15 of the world's most important NOCs, PESD is completing a major study of how
the relationship between government and NOC critically shapes company performance
and strategy;
- The Emerging Global Coal Market: Coal is the fastest growing
fossil fuel globally over the past five years, despite its environmental shortcomings. PESD is interested in identifying the drivers
of this growth, and, in an era of potential carbon constraints in many markets,
whether we should expect it to continue;
- Business Models for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS): Widespread
implementation of CCS could help resolve the climate dilemmas posed by
coal. However, there are very few CCS projects in existence and none involving
large-scale power supply. PESD is studying
how radical energy technologies like CCS typically diffuse into the marketplace,
and what kinds of regulatory support can facilitate large-scale adoption;
- Low Income Energy Services:
PESD's research focuses on how to provide energy in a financially and
politically sustainable way to poor populations in developing countries. Current work considers business models for
dissemination of improved biomass-burning stoves, which have major health and
climate benefits and yet have historically failed to be adopted. In the process, the cookstove research
addresses broader questions about the real drivers of technology adoption by
the poor; and
- Renewable Energy and the Smart Grid: PESD, along with researchers in the Precourt
Institute for Energy, is tackling the key question of how to reshape the technology,
operation, and regulation of wholesale electricity markets to facilitate
integration of low-carbon energy technologies like wind, solar, nuclear, and
CCS. Realizing the full potential of
such technologies depends on policy and regulatory changes to help expand transmission
infrastructure, put in place dynamic pricing, and support needed investment in
new generation to meet a growing electricity demand.
