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How Offsets Undermine the Kyoto Approach

July 1st, 2009 by Steven Stoft, Berkeley

Offsets, such as the U.N.’s Certified Emission Reductions (CERs), provide incentives for developing countries to refuse meaningful caps. And they have. Which means the Kyoto approach is left with only offsets, which are no substitute for caps..

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Why Is Google Playing In My Sandbox?

June 7th, 2009 by Fereidoon Sioshansi, EEnergy Informer

Google has introduced a way to make electricity usage information easily accessible from anywhere.
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Academic Opinion of Economic Scholars on Champsaur commission’s paper

June 1st, 2009 by François Lévêque, Ecole des mines de Paris

As economic scholars we are pleased to respond to the invitation from the members of the Champsaur commission to react to their report on the organization of the French electricity market.
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Does Imported Oil Threaten U.S. National Security?

May 22nd, 2009 by Andreas Goldthau, Central European University

Concerns about the economic, geopolitical, and national security consequences of U.S. imports of oil have triggered arguments for adopting policies to reduce oil imports. Many members of Congress have advocated “energy independence” for the United States.
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Unbundling under the Third Energy Package

May 17th, 2009 by Wim Groenendijk, University of Utrecht

The Third Energy Package has been agreed. From the publication of the proposals by the Commission, in September 2007, discussions have been dominated by the issue of (ownership) unbundling. Following heavy pressure from some Member States, notably Germany and France, a ‘Third Way’ of unbundling was accepted as another unbundling option. The discussions have taken away attention from other issues and the quality of the Package has suffered as a result. But has it been worth it?

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Should antitrust authorities allow long-term contracts in the energy market?

May 9th, 2009 by Bert Willems, Tilburg University

Long-term contracts play an important role in the energy industry, both in the electricity sector and in the gas sector. Gas importers sign long-term take-or-pay contracts with gas exporters, and resell the gas on a long-term basis to gas retailers. Similarly, energy-intensive companies often contract their electrical energy several years ahead.
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Regulating the price of nuclear power generation: a new French exception

May 6th, 2009 by François Lévêque, Ecole des mines de Paris

To promote competition in the retail market of electricity and to ensure that the cost advantage of the fleet of nuclear reactors continues to benefit to French households and companies a commission has recently recommended to the government to introduce a price and quantity regulation of the nuclear kWh. No doubt planning à la française is alive and well.
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What To Do About Carbon’s Deeply Unequal Effects

April 24th, 2009 by Fereidoon Sioshansi, EEnergy Informer

It is beginning to dawn on the CEO’s of the electric power sector that emerging policies on climate change will be unevenly distributed among countries, companies and their customers. Coal heavy utilities who tend to be low-cost generators are not excited about the prospects of weaning off coal, or paying for carbon permits and are likely to see their prices rise significantly. Nuclear, hydro, natural gas and renewable heavy utilities, on the other hand, are likely to be modestly affected. Since their current prices tend to be higher, they will rise by smallish percentages as they switch to lower carbon sources. For this and other reasons, the impact of any carbon regulations will be unevenly felt.
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Contract Law and Regulation in Energy Markets

April 16th, 2009 by Giuseppe Bellantuono, University of Trento

How should energy regulators manage contractual relationships in wholesale and retail markets ? I suggest that two decades after the start of the first liberalization programs around the world this question is more pressing than ever. The opening of energy markets to competition was blessed with mixed results.
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Will Obama’s Climate Plan Be Too Taxing On Sputtering Economy?

March 27th, 2009 by Fereidoon Sioshansi, EEnergy Informer

The biggest challenge facing any politician pushing for legislation on climate change is to convince skeptical voters that the bitter medicine is in fact good for them, and they should embrace it. No matter how it is enacted and what it is called, the net effect is likely to be increased costs of fossil fuels, especially carbon-heavy coal for power generation and petrol in the transportation sector. Continue reading »