April 16th, 2008

Bush's climate change plan significant, but will need to outline specific steps, Victor tells New York Times

President Bush's willingness to set goals for greenhouse gases is "significant, because it's moving in the right direction," PESD Director David Victor told the New York Times on April 16, in advance of the president's announcement of new climate change policies. "If he's not going to outline how you actually get to the goals," Victor said, 'it's hard to see that this is going to have much credibility."

• » New York Times: Bush to give goals for greenhouse gases
• » International Herald Tribune: Bush to lay out goals on global warming
• » White House: President Bush discusses global climate change

March 27th, 2008

Working paper: Jojarth develops empirical model for oil production costs

What does it cost to produce a barrel of oil? CDDRL research associate and PESD affiliate Christine Jojarth provides a systematic answer to this question, taking into account geography, the "difficulty" of the oil field, and other factors. The results help quantify how much extra revenue is flowing to oil producers worldwide. Read more »

March 3rd, 2008

The Energy Trap: Why the United States is doomed to be an energy outlaw

Democrats voting in Ohio and Texas may well decide the shape of the U.S. presidential election. Regardless of who they choose to run against Sen. John McCain, the all but certain Republican candidate, it is likely that energy issues will figure more prominently in the election than at any time in the last generation. Read more »

February 28th, 2008

Asia's Achilles Heel

As China and India lose control of their economies, they are failing to provide reliable power to their citizens. How will they manage to curb carbon emissions? Read more »

February 22nd, 2008

South Africa's Electricity Crisis

South Africa's power grid is in crisis. Leading South African gold and platinum mines stopped production in late January, and blackouts are endemic. No end is in sight, and the shortages have spilled over to the neighboring countries Botswana and Namibia. Check out a thorough preview of the crisis in an early essay by PESD collaborator, Anton Eberhard, former electricity regulator and an expert on power at the University of Cape Town, Political Economy of Power Sector Reform in South Africa. Professor Eberhard was also recently quoted in a detailed commentary at the New York Times. Read more »

January 31st, 2008

The Oil Paradox

David Victor: Although oil prices will eventually drop as new sources come online and biofuels and other alternatives take hold, crude price are likely to remain high and volatile for a while. Read more »

January 14th, 2008

"What Resource Wars?" article starts debate in The National Interest

David Victor's article, "What Resource Wars?" incites a lively discourse within the pages of the Jan/Feb 2008 issue of the National Interest. Victor argues resource stresses do not singularly cause mass conflict in response to broad reports, and Thomas Homer-Dixon, Michael T. Klare, Sherri W. Goodman, and Paul J. Kern reply. Read more »

January 11th, 2008

Gazprom case study released

Russia's Gazprom is among the largest companies in the world, and by far the world's largest producer of natural gas, with close to a 20% share. Driven by its political masters, it continues to consolidate control over Russia's vast oil and (especially) gas resources, and many Western observers are worried by its international expansion into downstream assets. In a new study of the energy giant, Nadejda Victor details the ways in which Gazprom's actions are distorted by political demands and by the inefficiency of the Russian economy, suggesting that it is headed for a production crisis if business and investment considerations don't start to take a higher priority. Read more »

December 18th, 2007

BinBin Jiang in New York Times article on China and global warming

PESD researcher BinBin Jiang shares her thoughts on China's growth plans and how they are influenced by the United States. The article discusses the recent climate talks in Bali and quotes Ms. Jiang regarding China's infrastructure and the roadblock US policies can create for greater efficiency. Read more »

December 14th, 2007

Jeremy Carl on Hong Kong utility's carbon initative

PESD research fellow Jeremy Carl is quoted in New York Times article on CLP's plans to cut carbon dioxide emissions. Read more »

David Victor: Bali process must engage China

PESD director David Victor argues that the Bali Negotiations will achieve little unless they devise a strategy for engaging China in meaningful limits on greenhouse gas emissions. Read more »

Statistical measurements of National Oil Companies

State-owned ("national") oil companies, or NOCs, now control the vast majority of world oil and gas reserves. PESD research fellow Nadejda Victor's statistical analysis of NOC performance and strategy as compared with international oil companies suggests that "Who" controls the oil can be a more important question than "How Much" oil there is.

• » On Measuring the Performance of National Oil Companies (NOCs)

Zerriffi explores rural electrification business models

Seeking to electrify the world as a charity venture is counterproductive, argues PESD affiliate faculty Hisham Zerriffi. What's needed is close attention to which electrification business models actually yield sustainable results, a question Zerriffi tackles in detail through case studies of Brazil, Cambodia, and China.

• » Making Small Work: Business Models for Electrifying the World

PDVSA case study released

Since 2002, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has dramatically reshaped the national oil company, PDVSA, to align it with his goals. PESD researcher David Hults probes current-day PDVSA through three lenses: as a large and growing source of government income, as an instrument of state objectives, and on the merits of its business plan.

• » Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A.: The Right-Hand Man of the Government

November 16th, 2007

David Victor on geoengineering in Science Magazine

An elite group of climate researchers and policy experts including PESD director David Victor, met in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to discuss geoengineering, the deliberate tinkering with Earth's climate to reverse climate change. Science covered the event, and its implications, on ScienceNOW and in the magazine . Read more »

November 9th, 2007

Indian gas study findings released

PESD researcher Mike Jackson concludes that coal is likely to remain in the Indian power sector, but opportunities exist for gas in peak power. For the fertilizer sector, political constraints will buoy gas demand despite significant opportunities for cheaper fertilizer imports. Industrial consumers will displace expensive liquid fuels with LNG, but cheap coal remains the dominant fuel.
Read more »

November 6th, 2007

Wired Magazine interviews Jeremy Carl on Clean Coal

Clean coal is a possible answer for China and India, says Jeremy Carl, a PhD student in the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Environment and Resources at Stanford and a fellow at the Program on Energy and Sustainable Development. Mr. Carl describes clean coal options from desulfurization to integrated gasification-combined-cycle (IGCC) plants to carbon capture and sequestration. Read more »

September 24th, 2007

Scientific American: Making Carbon Markets Work

PESD collaborators David Victor and Danny Cullenward published a new piece in Scientific American on lessons learned from efforts to build institutions to control emissions of greenhouse gases. Their study looks especially closely at the EU experience and applies some lessons to the budding US regulatory system. Published in the December issue of the magazine, along with a longer and more detailed essay online. Read more »

September 20th, 2007

Book chapter on post-Kyoto architecture for carbon markets

The timely contribution by David Victor titled "Fragmented carbon markets and reluctant nations: implications for the design of effective architectures" appears in the book Architectures for Agreement: Addressing Global Climate Change in the Post-Kyoto World.
Read more »

September 17th, 2007

China gas model shows regional air quality concerns one means to mitigate GHGs

PESD researcher BinBin Jiang, working with collaborators in three coastal provinces, releases a new paper that estimates demand for natural gas in China. The study shows that gas competes mainly in niche markets but can't unseat coal for power generation unless very tight regulations on local air pollution are applied. If local pollution is regulated, however, the study suggests that China would also make a substantial dent in its CO2 emissions.
Read more »

August 27th, 2007

South African research affiliate quoted in NYTimes on sub-Saharan electricity

Anton Eberhard is quoted in an article describing the stressed grids of countries in Africa where blackouts are common and impede development, according to the World Bank. Read more »

PESD associate reports to Boston Globe on unclean oil alternatives

Mike Jackson suggests carbon policies to guide energy projects towards cleaner technologies at times of high oil prices Read more »

August 24th, 2007

Reducing Greenhouse Gases: Improving the Clean Development Mechanism

The clean development mechanism (CDM) is a means for industrial nations, known as Annex 1 countries, to meet their greenhouse gas emissions reductions targets by taking credit for reductions from projects they fund in developing countries. The idea is that projects to reduce emissions will cost less to develop and implement in the developing countries where technology is further behind. Industrialized countries can achieve more reductions via investment in the developing countries, achieving greater emissions reductions for less sunk cost. At least this is the idea under the Kyoto Protocol. A researcher at the Program on Energy and Sustainable Development (PESD), Michael Wara says this, in fact, is not how the CDM is working. Read more »

July 25th, 2007

Michael Wara quoted in Washington Post Op-Ed

The op-ed by Post columnist Sebastian Mallaby criticizes how the Clean Development Mechanism affects small scale efforts to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries. Read more »

June 21st, 2007

BP Foundation awards $7.5 million to Stanford for research on energy markets

The BP Foundation has awarded a five-year, $7.5 million grant to Stanford University's Program on Energy and Sustainable Development to support research on modern energy markets. The foundation is funded by BP, one of the world's largest energy companies. Read more »