Climate Competitiveness Index 2010

AccountAbility and the United Nations Environment Programme http://www.climatecompetitiveness.org/ [AccountAbility site which links to a summary report and a technical report] The 2010 Index produced by AccountAbility in partnership with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) was launched at the Business for the Environment Summit in Seoul, attended by hundreds of political, business and civil society leaders. [...]

A U.S.-centric Chronology of the International Climate Change Negotiations

Congressional Research Service http://opencrs.com/document/R40001/2010-03-30/?24717 [From summary] Under the 2007 “Bali Action Plan,” countries around the globe sought to reach a “Copenhagen agreement” in December 2009 on effective, feasible, and fair actions beyond 2012 to address risks of climate change driven by human-related emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG). The Copenhagen conference was beset by strong differences [...]

Energy Conservation “Nudges” and Environmentalist Ideology : Evidence from a Randomized Residential Electricity Field Experiment

NBER working papers / by by Dora L. Costa and Matthew E. Kahn (NBER Working Paper No. 15939) (RFFers can open this full text version onsite at RFF or by using VPN to access the network and then clicking the URL below.) http://papers.nber.org/papers/w15939 [Abstract] “Nudges” are being widely promoted to encourage energy conservation. Dora L. [...]

Lost in Translation : Closing the Gap Between Climate Science and National Security Policy

Center for a New American Security / by Will Rogers, Jay Gulledge http://www.cnas.org/node/4391 [Website] National security policymakers point to climate change as a key trend that will shape the current and future global security environment, but do not always have the scientific information they need to plan and prepare for the security challenges it may [...]

Nanotechnology : a Policy Primer

Congressional Research Service http://opencrs.com/document/RL34511/ [From summary] Nanoscale science, engineering and technology—commonly referred to collectively as nanotechnology—is believed by many to offer extraordinary economic and societal benefits.  Congress has demonstrated continuing support for nanotechnology and has directed its attention primarily to three topics that may affect the realization of this hoped for potential: federal research and [...]

Job Creation Opportunities in Hydropower : Presented to National Hydropower Association Annual Conference

National Hydropower Association / by Lisa Frantzis http://tinyurl.com/23k39ed [From Website] Following up on its 2009 analysis, independent Navigant Consulting Inc. finds that hydropower can support 1.4 million new cumulative jobs by 2025 with strong federal policy support. Both Western states with project development potential and manufacturing states like Pennsylvania and Ohio stand to gain tens [...]

Economic Impacts of Comprehensive Climate and Energy Policy: National Climate Change Stakeholder Recommendations and U.S. Senate Proposals Would Advance Economy and Employment

Center for Climate Strategies http://www.climatestrategies.us/ewebeditpro/items/O25F23069.PDF (summary) http://www.climatestrategies.us/template.cfm?FrontID=6032 (website) [From summary] A new state of the art macroeconomic study by the Center for Climate Strategies (CCS), using extensive microeconomic analysis combined with the REMI Policy Insight PI+ macroeconomic model, documents the reductions in household energy prices and greenhouse gases (GHGs), as well as the expansion of [...]

DOE Green Energy, a Free Portal for Green Energy Research

http://www.osti.gov/greenenergy/ [Information Today] Green energy-related research and development (R&D) results are now more easily accessible through a new online portal, DOE Green Energy (www.osti.gov/greenenergy). The free public portal was launched on the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day by theU.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) within the Office of Science. [...]

World Oil Demand’s Shift Toward Faster Growing and Less Price-responsive Products and Regions

New York Univ. Dept. of Economics / by Joyce M. Dargay and Dermot Gately http://www.econ.nyu.edu/dept/courses/gately/OilDemandAbstract.htm [Abstract] Using data for 1971-2008, we estimate the effects of changes in price and income on world oil demand, disaggregated by product – transport oil, fuel oil (residual and heating oil), and other oil – for six groups of countries. [...]

The Environment and Directed Technical Change

NBER working papers / by Daron Acemoglu, Philippe Aghion Leonardo Bursztyn and David Hemous (RFFers may access this report onsite or by accessing RFF’s network first using VPN offsite] http://www.nber.org/papers/w15451 [From Michael A. Levi's CFR blog] Daron Acemoglu, Philippe Aghion, and two of their colleagues (MIT and Harvard) posted a fascinating working paper last October [...]