Energy Policy Mini-Course

RSVP: http://harrisschool.uchicago.edu/content/energy-policy
Please RSVP by Friday, April 5, 5:00 p.m.

Course Overview
 This mini-course consists of four lectures: the potential for large-scale renewables; natural gas; urbanization in China; and, the best practice energy policies. The course will be interactive, and address real world dilemmas faced by policy makers as they try to reduce CO₂ emissions and other adverse consequences of our energy production and consumption. You do not have to attend all sessions, but you must RSVP for the sessions you plan to attend.

April 9, 12:10-1:20 p.m., Harris School Lecture Hall

Hope and Fear

This opening lecture touches briefly on how climate systems are entering, or could potentially enter, runaway, non-linear change.  It then argues that large scale renewable energy has similar nonlinear growth potential—but for the good.  Looking at recent developments in Japan, Denmark, Germany, China and certain U.S. states, we will explore how far renewable energy can go, how fast, at what cost, and with which policies. 

April 11, 6:00-8:00 p.m., Harris School Lecture Hall
Natural Gas:  Friend or Foe?

The United States has dramatically expanded its reserves of natural gas with the development of cost-effective fracking, which allows oil companies to extract gas from seams which were previously uneconomical.  This has driven the price of gas down dramatically, and, on the margins, allowed gas to begin to displace coal.  As a result, CO₂ emissions in the United States have started to drop.  But gas has its drawbacks: fracking may destroy water supplies, large scale gas fields have devastated important landscapes, and there is tension between the expanded use of natural gas and a switch to renewable energy.  This lecture will explore whether natural gas is a friend or a foe, and discuss under what conditions it can be most useful. 

April 16, 6:00-8:00 p.m. Harris School Lecture Hall
Urbanization in China

The movement of Chinese citizens from rural to urban areas is the largest migration in human history.  China is building cities at a record pace, and will create the equivalent of a United States worth of houses, shops, factories, and infrastructure in the next 25 years.  The form this urbanization takes matters enormously.  Smart urbanization makes livable cities with decreased carbon emissions and pollution, less traffic, high quality amenities, and increased mobility.  But current development patterns fail on each count.  If China can get its urbanization right, it will have beneficial effects for decades to come.  This lecture will describe the characteristics of urbanization that make for good cities, again looking at real world examples. 

April 18, 6:00-8:00 p.m., Harris School Lecture Hall
Designing Good Energy Policy

Energy policy is more often characterized by failure than success.  Of the hundreds of energy policies tried in the United States, and in other countries, a relatively small number have produced great savings at either low cost or profit.  What are the ways to design energy policy so that public goals are achieved efficiently and effectively, and so that energy policy takes advantage of, rather than suppresses, the dynamics of the market place?  This final lecture will discuss the principals of energy policy design, using real-world examples from across the globe.  

*There is no food allowed in the Harris School lecture hall.