Energy Policy Now - Kleinman Center for Energy Policy

Latest Episodes:

Following Refinery Blast, Philadelphia Looks to a Cleaner Future Jan 30, 2020

Show notes

Last June the largest oil refinery on the East Coast of the United States blew up. In the disaster’s wake, can the city of Philadelphia and its residents transition to a cleaner, more financially sound future?

---

On June 21, 2019 the largest oil refinery on the East Coast exploded. The blast released thousands of pounds of toxic hydrogen fluoride gas into the surrounding Philadelphia air, and launched bus-sized debris across the neighboring Schuylkill River. Through sheer luck, the dissipating effect of winds on toxic gasses, and thanks to the clear headed emergency action of refinery operators, no one was seriously injured in the moments following the blast.

Yet many in this city point out that the refinery leaves behind a legacy of health impacts, including elevated asthma rates in the densely populated neighborhoods that surround the site. The refinery also leaves a vast patch of urban landscape that is so toxic that it’s doubtful that it can ever be used for residential development.

In the months following the explosion, the city, its residents, and business interests jockeyed over the site’s fate. Proposals were floated to repurpose the site as a logistics hub, return it to its natural state as a tidal marshland, and even to repair and reopen the damaged refinery itself. Yet, the decision on what to do with the site would ultimately be made within the walls of a Delaware bankruptcy court, where the priorities of the refinery’s creditors would take precedence.

On January 22 the waiting came to an end. The court announced that a Chicago-based real-estate company had agreed to purchase the Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery for $240 million dollars. The buyer has not yet announced a detailed vision for the site, but has a history of redeveloping industrial locations for less-polluting uses. Yet the auction’s losing bidders aren’t looking to go quietly, and there may be more drama to come.

Dr. Mark Alan Hughes, director of the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy and former founding sustainability manager for the city of Philadelphia, talks about the sale of Philadelphia Energy Solutions and what the future may hold for the city of Philadelphia.

Related Content

Beyond Bankruptcy: The Outlook for Philadelphia’s Neighborhood Refinery https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/paper/beyond-bankruptcy

This Energy Transition is Different. Here’s Why https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/blog/2019/12/05/energy-transition-different-heres-why

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Climate Negotiator Contemplates Future of Paris Agreement Without the U.S. Jan 21, 2020

Show notes

2020 will be a crucial year for the Paris Agreement. An architect of the climate process considers the implications of the U.S. presidential election, and what might be accomplished in the months ahead.

---

In November of this year the 195 countries that are part of the Paris climate process will hold their annual summit in Glasgow, Scotland. At the talks, countries are expected to announce more aggressive greenhouse gas reduction targets in response to recent reports from the UN and others that highlight both the dangers of a warming climate, and the inadequacy of current efforts to keep warming to a minimum.

Yet concern is growing over whether the vital goals of the Glasgow conference can be met. Recently, at the COP25 summit in Madrid in December, countries remained far apart on key rules to guide implementation of the Paris Agreement going forward. What’s more, 2020 could prove to be a year of climate limbo, as the world awaits the outcome of the U.S. presidential election that will likely determine whether the U.S. returns to the Paris process and resumes a leadership role.

Andrew Light, an architect of the U.S. involvement in the Paris Climate Agreement, talks about the current status of the Paris climate process, and what we might expect as 2020 unfolds.

Andrew Light is a Distinguished Senior Fellow in the Global Climate Program at the World Resources Institute, and University Professor at George Mason University. He formerly served with the U.S. State Department, where he was a member of the senior strategy team for UN Climate Negotiations and U.S. participation in the Paris Accord.

Related Content

Changing Tides: Public Attitudes on Climate Change and Climate Migration. https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/policy-digests/changing-tides

Robust Carbon Markets: Rethinking Quantities and Prices in Carbon Pricing. https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/policy-digests/robust-carbon-markets

Rethinking Global Emissions Trading
https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/energy-policy-now/rethinking-global-emissions-trading

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is Climate Risk Insurable? Jan 07, 2020

Show notes

As climate-related disasters become more severe and frequent, insurers and governments face an economic black hole.
---
The insurance industry specializes in understanding the nature of risk, and in estimating the likelihood, and cost, of future damages that can result.
A major challenge for the insurance industry is to understand how climate change alters the likelihood of future natural disasters, from floods to wildfires, and how to accurately reflect these risks in the premiums it charges to consumers and businesses.
Carolyn Kousky, executive director of the Wharton Risk Center, takes a look at insurers’ struggle to manage natural disasters of unprecedented scale, the challenge of communicating climate risk, and how climate risk is being felt in the energy industry.
Carolyn Kousky is executive director of the Wharton Risk Center at the University of Pennsylvania. Her work focuses on disaster insurance markets and policy responses to changes in extreme events arising from climate change.
Related Content
Changing Tides: Public Attitudes on Climate Change and Climate Migration https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/policy-digests/changing-tides
Does Attribution Science Give Climate Litigators a Smoking Gun? https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/energy-policy-now/does-attribution-science-give-climate-litigators-smoking-gun

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Power of Siberia Pipeline Strengthens Russia-China Ties Dec 23, 2019

Show notes

The Power of Siberia gas pipeline brings Russia and China closer together, and reveals a new power dynamic between the two countries.
---
In early December China received its first delivery of Russian natural gas through the Power of Siberia pipeline. The new pipeline crosses 1800 miles of Siberian wilderness from the Arctic to the Chinese border, and is vitally important to both countries. For Russia, the pipeline will be a source of much needed foreign revenue, and a counter to US and European economic sanctions that followed its annexation of Crimea in 2014. China, for its part, gains a new alternative to imports of liquefied natural gas, and improved energy security.
Beyond Power of Siberia’s energy and economic benefits, much has been made its political implications. The pipeline is the latest example of deepening ties between China and Russia at a time when both countries have been at odds with another key player in the global energy market, the United States.
Kleinman Center Senior Fellows Anna Mikulska and Bill Hederman take a look at what Power of Siberia may reveal about a shift in the global energy market, and the geopolitical influence of key players in that market.
Anna Mikulska is a senior fellow at the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy and a nonresident fellow in energy studies at the Rice University’s Baker Institute. Bill Hederman is a senior fellow at the Kleinman Center, and a former senior advisor within the U.S. Department of Energy.
Related Content
Nord Stream 2: Energy Security for Europe or Prelude to Russian Aggression in the Baltic? https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/blog/2019/09/04/nord-stream-2-energy-security-europe-or-prelude-russian-aggression-baltic
Saudi Aramco: A Big Bet on Oil https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/blog/2019/12/18/saudi-aramco-big-bet-big-oil

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Airlines Struggle to Rise to Climate Challenge Dec 10, 2019

Show notes

The airline industry has a plan to limit its carbon footprint. Will it deliver?
---
The global air travel industry is growing rapidly, with the number of airline passengers projected to double in less than 20 years. Yet strong growth may not be entirely good news for the industry, which has come under scrutiny for its outsized carbon footprint in an age when concern over climate change is on the rise.

An expert on airline emissions looks at the uniquely difficult challenge airlines face in reducing greenhouse emissions even as ridership grows, and at whether an industry plan to hold emissions in check will in fact deliver. Guest Andrew Murphy, aviation manager at Brussels-based Transport and Environment, also explores the role air travel may play in helping or hindering countries in their efforts to fulfill national and international climate commitments, including those under the Paris Climate Accord.

Andrew Murphy is manager for aviation at Transport and Environment, an organization in Brussels, Belgium that works alongside industry and governments to reduce transportation emissions.

Related Content
Climate Change and Financial Risks https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/policy-digests/climate-change-and-financial-risks
Bye-Bye Bus: Ride Hail in Philadelphia https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/policy-digests/bye-bye-bus
Rethinking Global Emissions Trading https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/energy-policy-now/rethinking-global-emissions-trading

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rethinking Global Emissions Trading Nov 26, 2019

Show notes

The Environmental Defense Fund's chief economist discusses a plan that leverages international cooperation to achieve ambitious, and durable greenhouse emissions reductions under the Paris climate framework.

---

The first global climate pact, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, created the foundation for global emissions trading by allowing developed countries to purchase carbon offsets from areas of the globe where the cost of reducing greenhouse emissions was lowest.

Yet emissions trading under the Kyoto framework was far from perfect.

Too many projects failed to deliver carbon reductions beyond what would have happened anyway. And even where climate benefits were real, projects often weren’t built to last and deliver ongoing reductions on the scale needed to address the long-term challenge of climate change.

Suzi Kerr, chief economist at the Environmental Defense Fund, discusses a new framework for global emissions trading under the Paris Climate Accord, intended to incentivize ambitious and sustained emissions reductions. The plan, called Climate Teams, creates small groups of countries that are economically committed to each other and to creating financial and technological conditions needed to address climate change over the long term.

Suzi Kerr is chief economist with the Environmental Defense Fund in New York. Her work focuses on domestic and international climate change policy.

Related Content

Betting on Climate Solutions https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/paper/betting-climate-solutions

Why Carbon Pricing Falls Short, and What to Do About it https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/policy-digests/why-carbon-pricing-falls-short

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rebuilding Puerto Rico’s Electricity System Nov 12, 2019

Show notes

Puerto Rico’s electric system was destroyed by Hurricane Maria in 2017. Will privatization of the island’s electric utility ensure reliable and affordable energy for the future?

---

In 2017 Hurricane Maria destroyed Puerto Rico’s electric grid, cutting off power to the island’s residents, some of whom remained without electricity for nearly a year. The island’s publicly owned power utility, PREPA, is now for sale, and it’s hoped that privatization will deliver an electric grid better prepared to endure future tropical storms, and to deliver power that Puerto Ricans can afford.

David Skeel, member of Puerto Rico’s congressionally mandated Financial Oversight and Management Board tasked with guiding the recovery of Puerto Rico’s bankrupt economy, talks about PREPA’s controversial privatization plan and the challenge of overcoming years of mismanagement and corruption that have dogged the utility.

David Skeel is the S. Samuel Arsht Professor of Corporate Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a member of Puerto Rico’s Financial Oversight and Management Board.

Power Over the Twenty-First Century Electric Grid https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/policy-digests/power-over-twenty-first-century-electric-grid

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Rise of Partisan Politics in Energy Regulation Oct 29, 2019

Show notes

Cheryl LaFleur, former commissioner with the U.S.’ top electricity and gas market regulator, talks about the growing influence of partisan politics in energy regulation.

---

Over the past decade the emergence of shale natural gas and concern over climate change have fundamentally changed the U.S. energy landscape, and the way in which Americans talk about energy. Cheryl LaFleur, until August a commissioner with the nation’s top electricity and natural gas market regulator, has been outspoken in her concern over the rise of partisanship in energy dialogue, and how political divides may impact regulation of the nation’s energy industry.

LaFleur served for a decade with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and as the commission’s chairman during both the Obama and Trump presidencies. She talks about the risk that party politics pose to the FERC’s mandate to be an impartial arbiter of the nation’s energy markets. She also looks at how growing climate concern may complicate the commission’s job of overseeing the sector, and at the widening rift between states and the federal government over key energy and environmental policy issues.

Cheryl LaFleur was a commissioner with the FERC from 2010 to August, 2019. On October 24, 2019, LaFleur received the Carnot Prize for distinguished contributions to energy policy from the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania, the producer of Energy Policy Now.

Related Content

Working Paper: Whither the Regulatory ‘War on Coal’? https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/paper/working-paper-whither-regulatory-war-coal

It’s Ideology, Stupid: Why Voters Still Shun Carbon Taxes https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/policy-digests/its-ideology-stupid

Florida Will Be the First State to Swing on Climate. https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/blog/2019/09/30/florida-will-be-first-state-swing-climate

How the Democratic-Republican Climate Rift Became Political Reality https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/energy-policy-now/how-democratic-republican-climate-rift-became-political-reality

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Path Forward for Grid Electricity Storage Oct 15, 2019

Show notes

Battery storage will play a central role in decarbonizing the nation’s electric grid, yet the rules by which batteries will compete in electricity markets have yet to be agreed upon.
---
The cost of battery electric storage technology is falling rapidly, creating opportunity for batteries to play a growing role in the nation’s electricity system and in the reduction of the grid’s carbon footprint. Last year, the regulator of the nation’s electricity markets, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, acknowledged the growing potential of storage when it established guidelines for batteries to fully, and profitably, take part in the nation’s electricity markets.
A year later, however, a number of legal and regulatory challenges remain that could slow the growth of battery storage, and make it harder for the technology to achieve the economies of scale it will need to compete with traditional sources of electric power.
Kleinman Center Senior Fellow Ken Kulak takes a look at the role of regulation in defining the future of energy storage and its ability to serve as a complement to carbon free energy. He also previews the upcoming FERC meeting where the agency is expected to rule on U.S. electricity markets’ plans to open their doors to full participation of battery storage.
Ken Kulak is a partner at the law firm Morgan Lewis where he focuses on energy regulation and complex energy transactions. He is also a Senior Fellow here at the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy.
Related Content
Opportunities to Bridge the Funding Gap to Commercialize Cleantech Innovation https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/blog/2019/07/17/opportunities-bridge-funding-gap-commercialize-cleantech-innovation-insights-2019
Energy Storage in PJM https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/paper/energy-storage-pjm
The Kleinman Center Explores Energy Storage https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/blog/2019/04/09/kleinman-center-explores-energy-storage
A Market for Primary Frequency Response? https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/paper/market-primary-frequency-response

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Debunking the "War on Coal" Oct 09, 2019

Show notes

The Trump Administration has blamed the decline in America’s coal industry on a regulatory “war on coal.” Yet investor reaction to regulatory announcements doesn’t support that view.

---

The U.S. coal industry has declined dramatically over the past decade, with output from the nation’s coal mines falling 35% from their peak. Today, coal-fired power plants generate just over a quarter of the nation’s electricity and have been surpassed by natural gas plants as the top source for electric power.

A variety of narratives have been put forth to explain coal’s decline. None has been more politically charged than the “war on coal” narrative, advanced by the Trump Administration, that places blame on a set of Obama-era federal policies to reduce the environmental impact of coal.

Guests Cary Coglianese, director of the Penn Program on Regulation and Dan Walters, Assistant Professor of Law at Penn State University, discuss new research that takes a close look at the impact of federal environmental regulation on the coal industry. The research focuses on the reaction of investors to major regulatory announcements, and the extent to which federal energy and environmental policies have colored investors’ view of the future viability of the coal industry.

Coglianese and Walter's report, Whither the Regulatory War on Coal? Scapegoats, Saviors and Stock Market Reactions, is available on the website of the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy.

Cary Coglianese is director of the Penn Program on Regulation at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Dan Walters is an Assistant Professor of Law at Penn State University whose work focuses on energy and environmental law. Previously Dan was a Regulation Fellow at the Penn Program on Regulation.

Related Content

Betting on Climate Solutions: Why We Should Spread Our Chips https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/paper/betting-climate-solutions

Teeming with Carbon Taxes https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/blog/2019/08/12/teeming-carbon-taxes

As Clean Energy Surpasses Coal, U.S. Energy Transition Locks Into Place https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/blog/2019/07/08/clean-energy-surpasses-coal-us-energy-transition-locks-place

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Energy Policy Now – Kleinman Center for Energy Policy

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected