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Full-Text Articles in Law
Requirements For A Renewables Revolution, Felix Mormann
Requirements For A Renewables Revolution, Felix Mormann
Felix Mormann
This Article identifies and analyzes the obstacles presently barring the rise of renewables, evaluates the role of the current policy favorite emission pricing, and offers design recommendations for a comprehensive U.S. renewables policy.
Successful climate change mitigation requires a timely shift to renewable sources of energy, such as sunlight, wind or tides, to decarbonize today’s high-carbon electricity sector. But market pull alone is not strong enough. This Article discusses the most widely cited economic barriers and identifies and evaluates additional obstacles related to the electricity sector’s regulatory framework.
Emission pricing is largely considered the most efficient policy to drive the …
Smarter Finance For Cleaner Energy: Open Up Master Limited Partnerships (Mlps) And Real Estate Investment Trusts (Reits) To Renewable Energy Investment, Felix Mormann, Dan Reicher
Smarter Finance For Cleaner Energy: Open Up Master Limited Partnerships (Mlps) And Real Estate Investment Trusts (Reits) To Renewable Energy Investment, Felix Mormann, Dan Reicher
Felix Mormann
This policy proposal makes the case for opening Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) — both well-established investment structures — to renewable energy investment. MLPs and, more recently, REITs have a proven track record for promoting oil, gas, and other traditional energy sources. When extended to renewable energy projects these tools will help promote growth, move renewables closer to subsidy independence, and vastly broaden the base of investors in America’s energy economy.
Mobilizing Public Markets To Finance Renewable Energy Projects: Insights From Expert Stakeholders, Paul Schwabe, Michael Mendelsohn, Felix Mormann, Douglas J. Arent
Mobilizing Public Markets To Finance Renewable Energy Projects: Insights From Expert Stakeholders, Paul Schwabe, Michael Mendelsohn, Felix Mormann, Douglas J. Arent
Felix Mormann
Financing renewable energy projects in the United States can be a complex, time consuming, and expensive process. Currently, most equity investment in new renewable power production facilities is supported by tax credits and accelerated depreciation benefits, and is constrained by the pool of potential investors that can fully use these tax benefits and are willing to engage in complex financial structures. For debt financing, non-government lending to renewables has largely been provided by foreign banks that may be under future lending constraints due to economic and regulatory conditions.
To discuss these and other renewable energy financing challenges and to identify …
Beyond Tax Credits: Smarter Tax Policy For A Cleaner, More Democratic Energy Future, Felix Mormann
Beyond Tax Credits: Smarter Tax Policy For A Cleaner, More Democratic Energy Future, Felix Mormann
Felix Mormann
Solar, wind, and other renewable energy technologies have the potential to mitigate climate change, secure America’s energy independence, and create millions of green jobs. In the absence of a price on carbon emissions, however, these long-term benefits will not be realized without near-term policy support for renewables. This Article assesses the efficiency of federal tax incentives for renewables and proposes policy reform to more cost-effectively promote renewable energy through capital markets and crowdfunding.
Federal support for renewable energy projects today comes primarily in the form of tax incentives such as accelerated depreciation and, critically, tax credits. Empirical evidence reveals that …
Enhancing The Investor Appeal Of Renewable Energy, Felix Mormann
Enhancing The Investor Appeal Of Renewable Energy, Felix Mormann
Felix Mormann
This article introduces an investor-oriented framework for the evaluation of renewable energy policy, applies these newly developed criteria to a qualitative comparison of the primary policy instruments, and offers recommendations to enhance the investor appeal of renewable energy in the United States.
The multi-trillion dollar task of scaling renewable energy technologies to mitigate climate change, ensure energy security, and create green jobs is one of the most daunting challenges of the twenty-first century. It is, in fact, too great a challenge for either the public or private sector to shoulder alone. Rather, public policy must catalyze private investment in renewable …
California Energy Policy Alternatives For Commercial Buildings To Create Energy Resiliency, Reduce Carbon Emissions, And Lessen Dependency On Electrical Utilities For The Future California Economy, Russell Garcia
Dissertations
Purpose: The purpose of this Policy Delphi study was to identify and assess the energy efficiency policies for commercial buildings in California that experts believe are most important and likely to be implemented by the year 2025 to create energy resiliency, reduce carbon emissions, and lessen dependency on electrical utilities in the future California economy. Methodology: The methodology for this Policy Delphi study was descriptive, and used to forecast the future relative energy policy for energy efficiency in commercial buildings in California. Inside the theoretical framework of policy analysis, this Policy Delphi study was designed around the insights of a …
Regulatory Fracture Plugging: Managing Risks To Water From Shale Development, Caroline Cecot
Regulatory Fracture Plugging: Managing Risks To Water From Shale Development, Caroline Cecot
Texas A&M Law Review
Debates about the desirability of widespread shale development have highlighted outstanding uncertainty about its health, safety, and environmental impacts—most prominently, its water-contamination risks—and the ability of current institutions to deal with these impacts. States, the primary regulators of oil and gas extraction, face pressure from the energy industry, local communities, and, in some cases, the federal government to strike the right balance between energy production and the health and safety of individuals and the environment—an elusive balance given the ongoing risk uncertainty. This dynamic is not especially unique to fracking, or even oil and gas extraction; instead, this dynamic, characterized …