In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Will Gorman, a research scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, about the interconnection queue. The interconnection queue is the waiting list for developers that hope to connect power plants to the electric grid; regulators must first study the potential effects of connecting a plant to the grid before moving forward with a project. Gorman discusses the reasons for recent growth in queue wait times, the costs that are associated with connecting a new power plant to the grid, a new federal regulation that aims to improve the interconnection queue, and additional reforms that could speed up the process of connecting new power plants to the grid.

References and recommendations:

“Improvements to Generator Interconnection Procedures and Agreements” from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; https://www.ferc.gov/news-events/news/fact-sheet-improvements-generator-interconnection-procedures-and-agreements

“Queued Up: Characteristics of Power Plants Seeking Transmission Interconnection” by Joe Rand, Will Gorman, Seongeun Jeong, Fredrich Kahrl, Julie Mulvaney Kemp, Ben Paulos, Dana Robson, Jo Seel, and Ryan Wiser; https://emp.lbl.gov/queues

“Generator Interconnection Costs to the Transmission System” by Jo Seel, Will Gorman, Fredrich Kahrl, Julie Mulvaney Kemp, Dev Millstein, Joe Rand, and Ryan Wiser; https://emp.lbl.gov/interconnection_costs

“Beyond FERC Order 2023: Considerations on Deep Interconnection Reform” by Tyler H. Norris; https://nicholasinstitute.duke.edu/publications/beyond-ferc-order-2023-considerations-deep-interconnection-reform

“Energy at the Movies” television program; http://energyatthemovies.com/about/

“The Art of Energy Efficiency” by Arthur H. Rosenfeld; https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.energy.24.1.33

The “Parable” book series by Octavia E. Butler; https://www.octaviabutler.com/parableseries

Cutting the Queue and Emissions in the US Power Sector, with Will Gorman

In this week’s episode, host Kristin Hayes talks with Pat Layton, director of the Wood Utilization + Design Institute at Clemson University, about the resurgence in constructing buildings with wood and, in particular, with mass timber. Layton discusses the development and adoption of mass timber in the United States, along with the environmental and architectural benefits of integrating mass timber into construction projects. Layton also discusses the manufacturing process for mass timber and the fire resistance and structural strength of the material compared to more mainstream building materials, such as steel and concrete.

References and recommendations:

Woodworks map of mass timber projects; https://www.woodworks.org/resources/mapping-mass-timber/

Mass Timber Business Case Studies; https://www.woodworks.org/resources/mass-timber-business-case-studies/

Cost comparisons of building with mass timber vs other materials; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIcr0R3w9ZQ

Andy Quattlebaum Outdoor Education Center, a building created with mass timber; https://www.thinkwood.com/construction-projects/andy-quattlebaum-outdoor-education-center

Building projects that use wood and mass timber as the main material; https://www.woodworks.org/award-gallery/

Building with Mass Timber, with Pat Layton

In this week’s episode, host Margaret Walls talks with Seanicaa Edwards Herron, founder and executive director of the Freedmen Heirs Foundation, about challenges facing Black farmers in the United States. Herron discusses historical and systemic barriers that Black farmers have encountered, and continue to encounter, in the US agricultural industry. Their conversation covers access to land, capital, and markets; the importance of government programs that are tailored to support Black farmers; and the mission of the Freedmen Heirs Foundation to bridge gaps in the agricultural industry between Black farmers and the markets that Black farmers tap to sell their products.

References and recommendations:

“Minority Food Producers in the Climate Transition” webinar from Resources for the Future; https://www.rff.org/events/environmental-justice-series/minority-producers-in-the-climate-transition/

Exposure event series from Resources for the Future; https://www.rff.org/topics/environmental-justice/exposure-2024/

Season 3 of “The Heist” podcast; https://publicintegrity.org/inequality-poverty-opportunity/the-heist/theheist-season3/

“Gaining Ground: The Fight for Black Land” film; https://gaininggroundthefilm.com/

Black Farmers in America, with Seanicaa Edwards Herron

In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Nafisa Lohawala, a fellow at Resources for the Future, about sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs). Lohawala discusses the climate impact of the aviation industry, different types of SAFs, and the reductions in greenhouse gas emissions that SAFs can help achieve. Lohawala also discusses policies that support the adoption of SAFs, including international agreements and financial incentives in the United States.

References and recommendations:

“Alternative Fuels for Reducing the Contribution of Aviation to Climate Change” by Nafisa Lohawala, Michael A. Toman, and Emily Joiner; https://www.rff.org/publications/working-papers/alternative-fuels-for-reducing-the-contribution-of-aviation-to-climate-change/

“Promoting Sustainable Aviation Fuels: Considerations for Policymakers” by Nafisa Lohawala; https://www.resources.org/common-resources/promoting-sustainable-aviation-fuels-considerations-for-policymakers

“Supporting Policies for Sustainable Aviation Fuels: Key Areas for Further Research” by Nafisa Lohawla and Michael A. Toman; https://www.resources.org/common-resources/supporting-policies-for-sustainable-aviation-fuels-key-areas-for-further-research

“Mistakes Were Made (but Not by Me)” by Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson; https://www.harpercollins.com/products/mistakes-were-made-but-not-by-me-third-edition-carol-tavriselliot-aronson?variant=40825034276898

“How to Know a Person” by David Brooks; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/652822/how-to-know-a-person-by-david-brooks/

What Are Sustainable Aviation Fuels?, with Nafisa Lohawala

In this week’s episode, host Margaret Walls talks with Matt Chambers, a researcher at the Institute for Resilient Infrastructure Systems at the University of Georgia, about managing floods with nature-based solutions. Chambers discusses the history of levee systems in the United States, the challenges that the widespread use of levees have presented, and approaches to floodplain management that help restore ecosystems while improving community resilience to flooding. He also discusses the economic analysis that informs floodplain management and the evolution of the US Army Corps of Engineers as a key decisionmaker in the management of US rivers.

References and recommendations:

“Nature-based solutions for leveed river corridors” by Matthew L. Chambers, Charles B. van Rees, Brian P. Bledsoe, David Crane, Susana Ferreira, Damon M. Hall, Rod W. Lammers, Craig E. Landry, Donald R. Nelson, Matt Shudtz, and Burton C. Suedel; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213305423000504

“Engineering with Nature” podcast; https://ewn.erdc.dren.mil/podcasts/

“The Control of Nature” by John McPhee; https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374522599/thecontrolofnature

“An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States” by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz; https://www.beacon.org/An-Indigenous-Peoples-History-of-the-United-States-P1164.aspx

“The Gift of Good Land” by Wendell Berry; https://www.counterpointpress.com/books/the-gift-of-good-land/

“The Swamp: The Everglades, Florida, and the Politics of Paradise” by Michael Grunwald; https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Swamp/Michael-Grunwald/9780743251075

Making Room for the River with Nature-Based Solutions, with Matt Chambers

Max Bearak, energy policy and global climate negotiations reporter for the New York Times shared his perspectives on the recently concluded 29th Conference of the Parties (COP 29) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in the newest episode of “Environmental Insights: Discussions on Policy and Practice from the Harvard Environmental Economics Program.” 

The podcast is produced by the Harvard Environmental Economics Program and hosted by Robert Stavins, A.J. Meyer Professor of Energy and Economic Development at Harvard Kennedy School and director of the Harvard Environmental Economics Program and the Harvard Project on Climate Agreements.

Read a transcript of the podcast: https://www.belfercenter.org/sites/default/files/2024-12/max-bearak-podcast-transcript-dec-2024.pdf

Assessing the Outcome of COP29: A Conversation with New York Times Climate Reporter Max Bearak

This week, we’re rebroadcasting an episode from the Resources Radio archive while the team is on a break through the rest of December. We’ll be back with new episodes in the new year; in the meantime, enjoy this throwback and poke around the archive at Resources.org for more topics you might be interested in.

In this week’s episode rerun, host Kristin Hayes talks with Rebecca Epanchin-Niell, a senior fellow at Resources for the Future (RFF) who coauthored a journal article with RFF scholars Alexandra Thompson and Tyler Treakle about the role of the public in detecting invasive species. Pointing to a recent incident in which a member of the public spotted an Asian giant hornet in Washington State, Epanchin-Niell describes how more than a quarter of detections of invasive species—and possibly more—stem from these citizen scientists. Recognizing the essential role of the public, policymakers can make it easier to alert authorities about the presence of unusual species.

References and recommendations:

“Public contributions to early detection of new invasive pests” by Rebecca Epanchin-Niell, Alexandra L. Thompson, and Tyler Treakle; https://www.rff.org/publications/journal-articles/public-contributions-to-early-detection-of-new-invasive-pests/

“Hidden Brain” podcast; https://www.npr.org/series/423302056/hidden-brain

“The Endangereds” by Philippe Cousteau and Austin Aslan; https://www.harpercollins.com/pages/childrens-the-endangereds

Public Engagement in Invasive Species Detection, with Rebecca Epanchin-Niell (Rebroadcast)

In this week’s episode rerun, host Daniel Raimi talks with Kim Stanley Robinson, acclaimed author of many books, most recently “The Ministry for the Future.” Robinson’s books vividly illustrate some of the most devastating potential consequences of climate change, but that’s not all they do—the books also offer innovation and optimism, imagining the ways in which we can prevent some of the worst impacts of climate change and adapt to the impacts that are unavoidable. Robinson discusses his recent visit to COP26 and his views on climate economics, modern monetary theory, space opera, and more.

We’re rebroadcasting this episode from the Resources Radio archive while the podcast team is on a break through the rest of December. We’ll be back with new episodes in the new year; in the meantime, enjoy this throwback and poke around the archive at Resources.org for more topics you might be interested in.

References and recommendations:

“The Ministry for the Future” by Kim Stanley Robinson; https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/kim-stanley-robinson/the-ministry-for-the-future/9780316300162/

“The Price of Peace: Money, Democracy, and the Life of John Maynard Keynes” by Zachary D. Carter; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/563378/the-price-of-peace-by-zachary-d-carter/

“Improving Discounting in the Social Cost of Carbon” by Brian Prest, William Pizer, and Richard Newell; https://www.resources.org/archives/improving-discounting-in-the-social-cost-of-carbon/

“Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist” by Kate Raworth; https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/doughnut-economics-paperback/

The concept of “carbon currency” by Delton Chen; https://globalcarbonreward.org/carbon-currency/

“Hypothesis for a Risk Cost of Carbon: Revising the Externalities and Ethics of Climate Change” by Delton B. Chen, Joel van der Beek, and Jonathan Cloud; https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-03152-7_8

“Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet” by David Attenborough and Johan Rockström; https://www.netflix.com/title/81336476

Facing Fears and Imagining Innovation for Climate Change, with Kim Stanley Robinson (Rebroadcast)

This week, we’re rebroadcasting an episode from the Resources Radio archive while the team is on a break through the rest of December. We’ll be back with new episodes in the new year; in the meantime, enjoy this throwback and poke around the archive at Resources.org for more topics you might be interested in.

In this week’s episode rerun, host Margaret Walls talks with economists Maximilian Auffhammer, Paul J. Ferraro, and John Whitehead. All three guests are recent recipients of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (AERE) Fellows Award. The AERE Fellows Program recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the field of environmental and resource economics, including research, mentorship, service in the AERE community, and policy advising. Auffhammer, Ferraro, and Whitehead reflect on their careers, discuss winning the award, and offer insights into the current state of environmental and resource economics and the evolution of the field.

References and recommendations:

Association of Environmental and Resource Economists; https://www.aere.org/

Berkeley/Sloan Summer School in Environmental and Energy Economics; https://www.auffhammer.com/summer-school

“Pricing the Priceless: A History of Environmental Economics” by Spencer Banzhaf; https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/pricing-the-priceless/417AAD8A445E8B64BAD6BC201D2F2163

“Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King Jr.; https://digitalcollections.libraries.ua.edu/digital/collection/p17336coll22/id/2681/

The Long View: Thoughts on the Economics Field from Three Environmental Economists (Rebroadcast)

Resources Radio is a weekly podcast by Resources for the Future. Each week we talk to leading experts about climate change, electricity, ecosystems, and more, making the latest research accessible to everyone.

Cutting the Queue and Emissions in the US Power Sector, with Will Gorman

Resources Radio

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