Energy and Utilities Law Commons^™

Encouraging Private Investment In Energy Efficiency, Sarah Schindler

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

Combating the negative effects of climate change requires finding ways to increase energy production while reducing energy demand. Many states have programs in place to encourage home and business owners to improve the energy efficiency of their buildings. Despite the clear financial and environmental benefits that result from energy efficiency upgrades, most people have not taken advantage of the programs being offered by their states. This paper begins by addressing the structure of federal and state energy efficiency programs, as well as the existing funding for those programs. It then describes key barriers that prevent energy efficiency programs from motivating …

A Brief History Of Energy Law In United States Law Schools: An Introduction To The Symposium (Symposium Editor), Fred P. Bosselman

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Green Diesel: Finding A Place For Algae Oil (Symposium Editor), Fred P. Bosselman

All Faculty Scholarship

The prospect of obtaining domestically-produced biodiesel from algae has attracted wide investor interest. Although many analysts predict that economic production is five to ten years away, the production process involves such a wide range of environmental and land use issues that it is not premature to begin thinking about the kinds of places in which “green biodiesel” could be efficiently made in the United States. Our land use and environmental laws were all drafted by people who never imagined the possibility that huge volumes of algae would be an important energy resource; nor could they have known that the location …

Baselines Newsletter, No. 7, Winter/Spring 2011, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center

Baselines: The Natural Resources Law Center Newsletter (2007-2011)

No abstract provided.

Local Energy, Hannah J. Wiseman, Garrick B. Pursley

Scholarly Publications

At a point in the future that is no longer remote, renewable energy will be a necessity. The construction of large renewable energy farms is central to a transition away from fossil fuels, but distributed renewable energy technologies—wind turbines in backyards and solar panels on roofs—are immediately essential as well. Widespread deployment of distributed renewable technologies requires rapid innovation led by renewable energy pioneers—individuals who act as market leaders and prove to their neighbors that these new energy devices are safe and worthy of use. Existing law and the very structure of governmental authority over energy is ill-suited to this …

Offshore Wind Energy Development In Michigan’S Great Lakes: Current Law And Proposed Legislation, Katherine Brady-Medley, Nick Schroeck

Law Faculty Research Publications

Michigan has over 38,000 square miles of state owned Great Lakes bottomlands. However, due to current limits with wind turbine technology, wind farms are restricted to areas on the Great Lakes where the water is less than 30 meters deep. For wind energy to be practicable, wind farms must be close to existing transmission facilities, so that energy generated from the turbines can be distributed to consumers. Construction of a wind energy facility requires heavy machinery and a wind farm site needs a transmission station nearby and underground lines for transmission of power.

For terrestrial wind farms, a developer typically …

The Fight For Clean Technology Funds: Who Should Control The Future Of Low-Carbon Technology In The Developing World, William Gardner

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

As part of a multilateral climate change treaty, the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have discussed establishing an international aid mechanism, or fund, to support low-carbon energy generation and energy efficiency projects in developing countries. The selection of a fund administrator has been particularly contentious. Many developed countries believe that, rather than creating a new fund, the COP should use an already established one-the World Bank's Clean Technology Fund (CTF)-and select the World Bank as fund administrator.H owever, many developing countries believe the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UNFCCC should create a …

Water, Climate, And Energy Security, Elizabeth Burleson

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Civil society participation can facilitate sound energy, climate, and water governance. This article analyzes the dynamics of transnational decision-making. Part II discusses sound energy strategy in light of a shrinking water-resources base due to climate change. Part III considers how public participation in international decision-making can sustain trust in governments and strengthen the legitimacy of legal decisions. Part IV concludes that process and outcome are both integral to addressing water, climate, and energy challenges.

Energy Revolution And Disaster Response In The Face Of Climate Change, Elizabeth Burleson

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This article considers the means by which communities can become increasingly resilient through shared best practices across a range of climate change measures. Part II of this article will address emergency preparedness for effective disaster response. Part III will analyze how decision-makers can use adaptive management in a shared local, regional, national, and international cohesive frame- work. Part IV will recommend resilient green building strategies. This article concludes that in the midst of an unprecedented energy revolution, there are meaningful emergency preparedness measures that the international community can facilitate to build resilience in the face of natural and unnatural disasters.

Capturing Individual Harms, Katrina Fischer Kuh

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The aggregated lifestyles and behaviors of individuals impose significant environmental harms yet remain largely unregulated. A growing literature recognizes the environmental significance of individual behaviors, critiques the failure of environmental law and policy to capture harms traceable to individual behaviors, and suggests and evaluates strategies for capturing individual harms going forward. This Article contributes to the existing literature by approaching the problem of environmentally significant individual harms through the lens of environmental federalism. Using climate change and individual greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions as an exemplar, the Article illustrates how local information, local governments, and local implementation can enhance policies designed …

Toward Legitimacy Through Collaborative Governance: An Analysis Of The Effect Of South Carolina's Office Of Regulatory Staff On Public Utility Regulation, William H. Ellerbe

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

In 2004 the South Carolina General Assembly instituted a major reform to its system of public utility regulation. Previously, the Public Service Commission, the administrative agency in charge of regulating public utilities, both adjudicated utility proceedings and, through its staff,a advocated for the public interest. A scandal concerning revelations of extensive ex parte communications between regulated utilities and members of the Public Service Commission led to the 2004 reform, which created the Office of Regulatory Staff (ORS) as a separate agency to perform the Commission's advocative functions. In my research, I use data on fuel factor proceedings before and after …

The Case For Clean Energy Technology Manufacturing: Ten Steps Business And Industry Must Take To Optimize Opportunities In The Emerging Clean Energy Economy, Stanley Pruss

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

Clean energy policy choices will be critical both for economic vitality within the United States and for international competitiveness in the race to improve clean energy technology and capture emerging markets. With legislative solutions losing momentum, business and industry leaders will be the key drivers in reorienting American policy, discourse, and economics in the clean energy economy. The problem, however, is that many political and business leaders are unaware of the job-creating potential and economic benefits in the clean energy sectors. These benefits could be realized if we made a serious, strategic effort to align our latent strengths in manufacturing …

The Supreme Court Disposes Of A Nuisance Suit: American Electric Power V. Connecticut, Jonathan H. Adler

Faculty Publications

In American Electric Power v. Connecticut the Supreme Court confronted climate change litigation for the second time. Whereas Massachusetts v. EPA was a closely divided court decision with dramatic and far-reaching legal and policy implications, AEP was a narrow, unanimous opinion that hewed closely to well-settled precedent. In AEP the Court side-stepped difficult jurisdictional questions and rejected an ambitious effort to turn the federal common law of nuisance into a judicially administered environmental regulatory regime. While not erecting any new barriers to future climate suits, the Court’s opinion raised cautions about trying to make climate change policy through the judiciary. …

Legal And Policy Issues Related To Anaerobic Digestion At United States Livestock Facilities, Jennifer C. Fiser

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

Airspace In A Green Economy, Troy A. Rule

Faculty Publications

The recent surge of interest in renewable energy and sustainable land use has made the airspace above land more valuable than ever before. However, a growing number of policies aimed at promoting sustainability disregard landowners' airspace rights in ways that can cause airspace to be underutilized. This article analyzes several land use conflicts emerging in the context of renewable energy development by framing them as disputes over airspace. The article suggests that incorporating options or liability rules into laws regulating airspace is a useful way to promote wind and solar energy while still respecting landowners' existing airspace rights. If properly …

The New Climate Metric: The Sustainable Corporation And Energy, Steven Ferrey

Suffolk University Law School Faculty Works

The globalization of commerce is manifest. The modern mission statement of many US corporations is to compete in global markets. In this article, first, we define what is “sustainable” in the modern corporate context. Like other new terms employed in recent government environmental regulations, such as “additionality” (see S. Ferrey, When 1 + 1 No Longer Equals 2: The New Math of Legal "Additionality" Controlling World and U.S. Global Warming Regulation, 10 MINN. J.L. SCI. & TECH. 591 (2009)), the reality may be in the "eye of the beholder" – or at least, the regulator. This article examines measurement …

Harmonizing Climate Change Policy And International Investment Law: Threats, Challenges And Opportunities, Daniel M. Firger, Michael Gerrard

Faculty Scholarship

This chapter responds to a chorus of commentary about the potential for conflict between the international investment law regime and an array of national and international actions being undertaken to mitigate and adapt to global climate change. Contrary to conventional wisdom, while some climate-friendly regulations may indeed be facially incompatible with the obligations imposed on states by typical international investment agreements (IIAs), many climate policies – especially those related to clean energy finance and technology transfer – involve principles common to foreign investment law and are largely compatible with that regime. Moreover, pending the unlikely negotiation of a single global …

The End Of Energy: The Unmaking Of America's Environment, Security, And Independence – Chapters 11 And 12, Michael J. Graetz

Faculty Scholarship

With the permission of MIT Press, this document includes Chapters 11 and 12 from my 2011 book, The End of Energy: The Unmaking of America’s Environment, Security, and Independence. These two chapters discuss some of the history and merits of taxes, subsidies, and regulation (including cap and trade) as mechanisms to implement policies to curb greenhouse gases. In light of the renewed interest in and discussion of command and control regulations and carbon taxes, these chapters may be useful to readers who do not have the book. The bibliographic material relating to these chapters is contained in the book and …

Encouraging Private Investment In Energy Efficiency, Sarah B. Schindler

Faculty Publications

Combating the negative effects of climate change requires finding ways to increase energy production while reducing energy demand. Every New England state has programs in place to encourage home and business owners to improve the energy efficiency of their buildings. Despite the clear fmancial benefits and environmental benefits that result from energy efficiency upgrades, most New Englanders have not taken advantage ofthe programs being offered by their states.

Legal Issues In Financing Energy Efficiency: Creative Solutions For Funding The Initial Capital Costs Of Investments In Energy Efficiency Measures, James M. Van Nostrand

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.