Economics & Policy

The Economics and Policy Solutions Group is focused on research and analysis of economic and policy issues associated with energy efficiency technologies.  Faculty from the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, the Economics Department, the Political Science Department, and others, will participate in this Group.  The interfaces between technology, economics, policy, and environmental and societal impacts will be addressed and explored.  The faculty affiliated with this Group will interact with lawmakers, business leaders, investors, and the broader public. 
 

Projects

Economic models for Institute-targeted technologies will be developed, establishing cost and performance thresholds, while providing better understanding of environmental impact of the technologies.  Existing policy and regulatory barriers and creative new policy initiatives to assist in faster adoption of energy efficiency technologies will be evaluated and developed.  Institutional change to facilitate innovation, market penetration, and cost reduction will be examined.  Faculty will investigate how consumers are likely to respond to various policy incentives to reduce energy consumption or switch to less carbon-intensive sources. 

Examples of specific projects that will be pursued by this group include:

• Energy economy policy models

• Bridging the “valley of death” from an institutional perspective

• Identifying, understanding, and breaking down barriers to adoption of specific technologies

• Understanding conservation behavior, feeding this back to technology development
 

Affiliations

The Distinguished Fellows Academy will largely be focused in this Group.

Faculty

See listing of faculty in the Economics & Policy Solutions Group.