Energy and Utilities Law Commons^™

Using Governmental Incentives To Finance Solar Renewable Energy Projects: Alternative Investments For High-Net-Worth Individuals, Michael Cole

LSU Journal of Energy Law and Resources

No abstract provided.

Six Years Later: Louisiana Legacy Lawsuits Since Act 312, Loulan Pitre Jr.

LSU Journal of Energy Law and Resources

No abstract provided.

Sustainable Consumption, Energy Policy, And Individual Well-Being, Daniel A. Farber

Vanderbilt Law Review

The United States is an exceptional place in many ways, not least in its consumption. The United States consumes a disproportionate share of the world's energy and resources, with a correspondingly large environmental footprint. At present, although we have been successful in creating economic wealth, well-being has lagged behind. Could the United States shift to a more sustainable path? Would that require an unacceptable sacrifice of social welfare? This Article argues that a shift really is possible, and that many of the steps to sustainability would actually make people better off even apart from their environmental benefits.

At present, we …

Hydro Law And The Future Of Hydroelectric Power Generation In The United States, Dan Tarlock

Vanderbilt Law Review

Hydroelectric energy ("hydro") is the oldest major source of noncarbon, renewable energy in the United States. For three reasons, increased hydro generation should be a major element of any national climate change and energy-security policy designed to promote the greater use of renewables to help the country transition to the production of sustainable, i.e., noncarbon-based, energy. First, hydro is relatively clean because it does not cause air pollution or substantial greenhouse gas emissions.' Second, hydro is relatively reliable. Third, hydro can help wean the United States from its dependence on imported and often politically unstable hydrocarbon sources of energy, because …

Preface - Lsu Journal Of Energy Law And Resources, Patrick H. Martin

LSU Journal of Energy Law and Resources

No abstract provided.

Good For You, Bad For Us: The Financial Disincentive For Net Demand Reduction, Michael P. Vandenbergh, Jim Rossi

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This Article examines a principal barrier to reducing U.S. carbon emissions — electricity distributors’ financial incentives to sell more of their product — and introduces the concept of net demand reduction (“NDR”) as a primary goal for the modern energy regulatory system. Net electricity demand must decrease substantially from projected levels for the United States to achieve widely-endorsed carbon targets by 2050. Although social and behavioral research has identified cost-effective ways to reduce electricity demand, state-of-the-art programs to curtail demand have not been implemented on a widespread basis. We argue that electric distribution utilities are important gatekeepers that can determine …

Supply And Demand: Barriers To A New Energy Future, Jim Rossi, Michael P. Vandenbergh, J. B. Ruhl

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Like many fields, energy law has had its ups and downs. A period of remarkable activity in the 1970s and early 1980s focused on the efficiencies arising from deregulation of energy markets, but the field attracted much less attention during the 1990s. In the last decade, a new burst of activity has occurred, driven largely by the implications of energy production and use for climate change. In effect, this new scholarship is asking what efficiency means in a carbon-constrained world. Accounting for carbon has induced scholars to challenge the implicit assumption of the early scholarship that the price of energy …

Interstate Transmission Challenges For Renewable Energy: A Federalism Mismatch, Alexandra B. Klass, Elizabeth J. Wilson

Vanderbilt Law Review

It is impossible to talk about developing renewable energy resources in the United States without also talking about developing electric transmission infrastructure. More specifically, the transmission-planning strategies that may have worked in the past are no longer effective to integrate new sources of renewable energy into the transmission grid. Transmission lines were historically built to link large stationary power plants to nearby electricity demand centers like cities. For renewable energy, however, state mandates and policies are driving investment in wind-and to a lesser extent solar-energy, creating a need for new transmission lines to link these dispersed resources with electric load …

Building-Related Renewable Energy And The Case Of 360 State Street, Sara C. Bronin

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Article focuses on small-scale and midsized facilities and does not consider large-scale facilities, which tend to be located far from population centers. These facilities certainly raise pressing legal concerns, not least of which is how the energy sprawl they create should be managed. Indeed, siting (along with initial start-up financing) is a primary barrier to large-scale renewable energy. This Article sets large-scale facilities aside and focuses primarily on projects whose scale allows them to be incorporated into inhabited structures.

Alternative Energy In A Spaghetti Western: Clint Eastwood Confronts State Renewable Energy Policy, Steven Ferrey

Suffolk University Law School Faculty Works

The legal structure in a given country affects the mechanisms through which that country can promote renewable power technologies. Federalist forms of government denote a system in which political sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central federal authority and constituent states or provinces. Such federalist forms of government describe several large and established countries, such as the United States, Germany, India, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, and Switzerland. Renewable energy policy at the state level, in countries with a federalist form of government, can be complex and varied.

The importance of the electric sector in the modern industrial economy …

Energy Ratings Hit Commercial Real Estate - California Lights The Way, Jonathan Cahill

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

The Energy Star Program has been extremely successful for consumer appliances and electronics, but can this success translate to commercial real estate? In the United States, commercial buildings account for nearly nineteen percent of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions. Consequently, energy rating of buildings has become an increasingly attractive way to combat pollution and lower energy consumption. Despite this, the United States does not yet have a federal policy requiring energy usage disclosure for buildings. This has left state and local governments to lead the way in innovative and effective reporting regimes. California's response to this regulatory vacuum is Assembly Bill …

Slides: What Laundry Can Teach Us: Five Principles For New Business Models, Teju Ravilochan

2012 Energy Justice Conference and Technology Exposition (September 17-18)

Presenter: Teju Ravilochan, CEO, The Unreasonable Institute

17 slides

Slides: Envirofit: Making The World Fit For Humanity, Jessica Alderman

2012 Energy Justice Conference and Technology Exposition (September 17-18)

Presenter: Jessica Alderman, Director, ENVIROFIT

15 slides

Slides: Multi-Dimensional Energy Poverty Index (Mepi), Morgan Bazilian

2012 Energy Justice Conference and Technology Exposition (September 17-18)

Presenter: Dr. Morgan Bazilian, Deputy Director, Joint Institute for Strategic Energy Analysis (JISEA), National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)

8 slides

Agenda: 2012 Energy Justice Conference And Technology Exposition, University Of Colorado Boulder. Center For Energy & Environmental Security, University Of Colorado Boulder. Colorado European Union Center Of Excellence, University Of Colorado Boulder. Presidents Leadership Institute

2012 Energy Justice Conference and Technology Exposition (September 17-18)

Co-sponsored with the Colorado European Union Center of Excellence and the Presidents Leadership Institute at the University of Colorado Boulder.

The ability to harness energy is fundamental to economic and social development. Worldwide, almost 3 billion people have little or no access to beneficial energy resources for cooking, heating, water sanitation, illumination, transportation, or basic mechanical needs. Energy poverty exacerbates ill health and economic hardship, and reduces educational opportunities, particularly for women and children. Specifically, access to efficient and affordable energy services is a prerequisite for achieving the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) relating to poverty eradication.

In response, the UN …

Slides: Appropriate Sustainable Energy Technologies: A Light To The World, Lakshman D. Guruswamy, Jason B. Aamodt, Blake Feamster

2012 Energy Justice Conference and Technology Exposition (September 17-18)

Presenter: Jason Aamodt, Attorney; Adjunct Professor, University of Tulsa

15 slides

Slides: Meeting The Needs Of Women Through Clean Cooking Solutions, Corinne Hart

2012 Energy Justice Conference and Technology Exposition (September 17-18)

Presenter: Corinne Hart, Program Manager, Gender and Markets, Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves

20 slides

Slides: Draft Power In Developing Country Agriculture--South Asia, Arjun Makhijani

2012 Energy Justice Conference and Technology Exposition (September 17-18)

Presenter: Dr. Arjun Makhijani, President, Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER)

13 slides

Slides: Sources Of Electrical Energy For Those Who Are Remote And Poor, Frank Barnes

2012 Energy Justice Conference and Technology Exposition (September 17-18)

Presenter: Dr. Frank Barnes, Distinguished Professor, Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering, University of Colorado

24 slides

Slides: Impacts Of Energy Deficits In Cooking, Illumination, Water, Sanitation, And Motive Power, Paul S. Chinowsky

2012 Energy Justice Conference and Technology Exposition (September 17-18)

Presenter: Dr. Paul Chinowsky, Director, Mortenson Center in Engineering for Developing Communities; Professor, University of Colorado

25 slides