Cities are experimenting with a range of policy and regulatory tools to reduce energy use in the building sector as a pathway to substantial carbon emission reductions. Increasingly, cities are turning to policies that reduce information asymmetries and knowledge gaps through data transparency, focusing on existing buildings and the potential to achieve up to 50% […]
Vegetated, or “green,” roofs provide numerous social and environmental benefits to urban areas. Compared with conventional roofs, green roofs promote biodiversity, reduce building energy use, decrease noise, and improve the productivity of solar photovoltaic installations. They can also mitigate the urban heat island effect and reduce stormwater runoff, thereby diminishing flooding and pollution of local waterways. […]
Despite the strong consensus in the scientific community that anthropogenic climate change requires urgent attention, neither the United States nor Canada has implemented a comprehensive national policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Into this void have stepped two regional cap-and-trade programs that regulate greenhouse gas emissions in parts of both countries. One, the Regional Greenhouse […]
Authors: Richard Stewart, Michael Oppenheimer and Bryce Rudyk The Paris Agreement cemented a new framework for global climate policy based on the voluntary and non-legally binding emission reduction actions by both developed and developing countries. The building blocks strategy for climate action discussed in this Special Issue is well adapted to and strongly complements this […]
Authors: Bryce Rudyk and Danielle Spiegel-Feld For many Small Island Developing States (SIDS) the cost of producing electricity from imported fossil fuels is so high and the cost of renewable energy technology has fallen so significantly that transitioning towards renewable energy is likely to produce cost savings. A recent workshop at NYU School of Law, […]
Author: Matthew Christiansen On February 24, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Hughes v. Talen Energy Marketing. In deciding this case, the Court must determine whether an effort by the State of Maryland to incentivize the construction of new power plants is field preempted by the Federal Power Act (“FPA”)—that is, whether the Maryland law […]
Author: Benjamin Mandel The composition of utility revenues under performance-based regulation depends on the approach used to set base revenue allowances and the magnitude of financial performance incentives. For the most policy-responsive regime, regulators should pursue ‘integrated PBR’ by both broadening the set of performance incentives they offer and embracing benchmarking for base revenue allowances. This article, based on an […]
Author: Benjamin Mandel Traditional utility regulation provides inadequate incentives for electric utilities to invest in technologies that reduce network energy losses. This article examines how alternative regulatory designs influence such investments, and simulates the procurement and performance of distribution transformers under differing regulatory scenarios, to demonstrate the enormous potential benefits of a performance-based regulation scheme that targets network losses. This article is featured […]
NYU Law’s Guarini Center submitted this amicus brief to the Supreme Court supporting the US government’s position in the case Federal Energy Regulatory Commission v. Electric Power Supply Association. The outcome of the case will determine the extent to which the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) can regulate and promote demand response programs in wholesale […]
Authors: Richard Stewart, Michael Oppenheimer and Bryce Rudyk This article presents an innovative institutional approach to supplement and ultimately strengthen the lagging United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process for negotiating a climate treaty that commits major emitting and developed countries to greenhouse gas emissions limitations. The Durban Platform for Enhanced Action does […]
