In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Resources for the Future (RFF) Research Associate Maya Domeshek and Senior Research Analyst Nicholas Roy about the Inflation Reduction Act and the emissions reductions that the law could achieve, according to projections from various energy models in an analysis they published recently in “Science” magazine. Domeshek and Roy discuss the projections; the law’s potential costs, benefits, and effects on electricity prices; the differences among the models in their analysis; the caveats of economic models; and how decisionmakers can use the modeling results to improve policy.

References and recommendations:

“Emissions and energy impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act” by John Bistline, Geoffrey Blanford, Maxwell Brown, Dallas Burtraw, Maya Domeshek, Jamil Farbes, Allen Fawcett, Anne Hamilton, Jesse Jenkins, Ryan Jones, Ben King, Hannah Kolus, Joh, Larsen, Amanda Levin, Megan Mahajan, Cara Marcy, Erin Mayfield, James McFarland, Haewon McJeon, Robbie Orvis, Neha Patankar, Kevin Rennert, Christopher Roney, Nicholas Roy, Greg Schivley, Daniel Steinberg, Nadejda Victor, Shelley Wenzel, John Weyant, Ryan Wiser, Mei Yuan, and Alicia Zhao; https://www.rff.org/publications/journal-articles/emissions-and-energy-impacts-of-the-inflation-reduction-act/

“Beyond Clean Energy: The Financial Incidence and Health Effects of the IRA” by Nicholas Roy, Maya Domeshek, Dallas Burtraw, Karen Palmer, Kevin Rennert, Jhih-Shyang Shih, and Seth Villanueva; https://www.rff.org/publications/reports/beyond-clean-energy-the-financial-incidence-and-health-effects-of-the-ira/

“The 45V Hydrogen Tax Credit: Considerations for US Treasury Guidance” RFF Live event; https://www.rff.org/events/rff-live/the-45v-hydrogen-tax-credit-considerations-for-us-treasury-guidance/

“After the Flood” by Lydia Barnett; https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/11510/after-flood

“Field Trip” podcast; https://www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/field-trip/

How Much will the Inflation Reduction Act Reduce Emissions?, with Maya Domeshek and Nicholas Roy

In this week’s episode, host Kristin Hayes talks with Chiara Lo Prete, an associate professor of energy economics at Penn State University, about the design of electricity markets in the United States. Lo Prete discusses the differences among electricity markets in different regions of the country; efforts to ensure that electric utilities can meet demand for electricity under adverse conditions, such as extreme weather events; and new designs of electricity markets that aim to accommodate both growing demand for electricity and the further integration of renewable energy resources into the US electric grid.

References and recommendations:

“Time for a Market Upgrade? A Review of Wholesale Electricity Market Designs for the Future” by Chiara Lo Prete, Karen Palmer, and Molly Robertson; https://www.rff.org/publications/reports/review-of-wholesale-electricity-market-designs-for-the-future/

“Superpower: One Man’s Quest to Transform American Energy” by Russell Gold; https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Superpower/Russell-Gold/9781501163593

“4 3 2 1” by Paul Auster; https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250618801/4-3-2-1

Designing the Electricity Markets of the Future, with Chiara Lo Prete

In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Karen Palmer, a senior fellow at Resources for the Future (RFF) and director of RFF’s Electric Power Program; Kevin Rennert, a fellow at RFF and director of RFF’s Federal Climate Policy Initiative; and Margaret Walls, a senior fellow at RFF and director of RFF’s Climate Risks and Resilience Program. Palmer, Rennert, and Walls offer insights on notable stories in energy and the environment in 2024, including an intense Atlantic hurricane season and emerging narratives around climate policymaking in all three branches of government. They also look ahead to developments to watch in environmental and energy policy in 2025.

References and recommendations:

“Storm Watch Series: Weather Volatility in the United States” on the Common Resources blog; https://www.resources.org/special-series-weather-volatility-in-the-united-states/

“Brave the Wild River” by Melissa L. Sevigny; https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393868234

“Troublesome Rising: A Thousand-Year Flood in Eastern Kentucky” edited by Melissa Helton; https://www.kentuckypress.com/9781950564439/troublesome-rising/

“Shift Key” podcast; https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shift-key-with-robinson-meyer-and-jesse-jenkins/id1728932037

“Alone on the Ice” by David Roberts; https://wwnorton.com/books/Alone-on-the-Ice/

“Landman” television series; https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14186672/

“Boomtown” podcast; https://www.texasmonthly.com/podcasts/series/boomtown/

2024 Year in Review on Environmental Economics, with Karen Palmer, Kevin Rennert, and Margaret Walls

In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Jenya Kahn-Lang, a fellow at Resources for the Future, about electricity prices in markets where private companies determine the costs for customers. Kahn-Lang explains why households in the same utility service area may pay different prices for the same amount of electricity, why customers may be unaware that they’re paying excessively high prices, and why low-income communities and communities of color often face higher prices for power.

References and recommendations:

“Competing for (In)attention: Price Discrimination in Residential Electricity Markets” by Jenya Kahn-Lang; https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IClpnaf3gVy3X94YWhLtSSTMWKTzi16K/view

CirclesX lawsuit; https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/winter-storm-uri-2021-texas-market-manipulation-lawsuit-circlesx-electric-grid/

Paying the Price for Inattention: Electricity Costs in Retail Choice Markets, with Jenya Kahn-Lang

In this week’s episode, host Kristin Hayes talks with Ben Hertz-Shargel, global head of a research team at Wood Mackenzie that investigates the connections between energy consumers and the electric grid, about how the increasing energy demand from artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping electricity markets in the United States. In a recent report for Wood Mackenzie, Hertz-Shargel investigates large-load tariffs—a new utility rate plan for large customers, like data centers, whose exceptionally high electricity demand necessitates constructing additional infrastructure. Hertz-Shargel outlines ongoing uncertainty around whether the existing electricity market can accommodate data centers, along with potential avenues for data centers to promote clean energy development and protect individual energy consumers and households from undue electricity price increases.

References and recommendations:

“Large load tariffs: a looming challenge for utilities” by Ben Hertz-Shargel; https://www.woodmac.com/news/opinion/large-load-tariffs-a-looming-challenge-for-utilities/

“Large load tariffs have a problem. Clean transition tariffs are the solution.” by Ben Hertz-Shargel; https://www.utilitydive.com/news/large-load-clean-transition-tariffs-wood-mackenzie/749722/

“Extracting Profits from the Public: How Utility Ratepayers Are Paying for Big Tech’s Power” by Ari Peskoe and Eliza Martin; https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/extracting-profits-from-the-public-how-utility-ratepayers-are-paying-for-big-techs-power/

Large Loads: Who Bears the Costs of Meeting a Growing Demand for Electricity, with Ben Hertz-Shargel

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.

New tracks tagged #electricity sector