Organizational Unit:

School of Public Policy

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https://hdl.handle.net/1853/70716

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Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts

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Organizational Unit

Technology Policy and Assessment Center

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https://finding-aids.library.gatech.edu/agents/corporate_entities/1033

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Publication Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 15

BEYOND CARBON MITIGATION: UNDERSTANDING THE CO-BENEFITS AND CO-COSTS OF GREENHOUSE GAS MITIGATION POLICIES IN BROADER CONTEXTS

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2021-05-01) Li, Yufei

The use of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is firmly entrenched in U.S. policy-making and other regulatory processes. The validity of CBA relies on the systematic and comprehensive understanding of the co-benefits and co-costs associated with the public policy evaluated. However, we still don’t have a complete picture or a thorough understanding of the broader impacts of public policies on energy and the environment, especially carbon mitigation policies. Notably, the recent developments from the federal governments have attracted more attention to revisiting the concepts. To address the gaps in understanding the broader impacts of energy policies, this dissertation expands existing research on energy and environment policies by providing more empirical evidence and advanced systematic quantification frameworks. In general, this study highlights critical relationships in intricate modeling systems, thereby enabling insights that might otherwise be obfuscated or overlooked. By applying complex integrated models of energy policies, climate systems, and health evaluations, this dissertation enhances a better understanding of the complexity of features that influence policy markets in the energy-related economy. The three case studies cover the systematic and comprehensive quantifications of co-benefits and co-costs in various sectors and scopes (air quality and health, sectoral and macroeconomic activities). The first study applies integrated macroeconomics and air quality model to evaluate the impacts of relaxing the energy policies on the unintended environmental consequences, ozone standard attainments. The results demonstrate that a relaxation of the energy policies under the Trump administration would significantly increase the ozone levels in many counties, inducing considerable health costs. The impacts are more prominent when considering the synergistic effect of dramatic climate change. Overall, the study demonstrates the critical need to conduct assessments of energy policies in the context of the global climate system, to consider the impacts on local air quality and associated health benefits and costs. The second study focuses on a case of the sectoral economic activities – quantifying the impacts of electric vehicle mandates on grid operations under the current infrastructures and grid management practices of the electric power sector. This chapter explores the benefits and costs of EV-related policies on the electric power grid when the infrastructures are locked-in, and the technological innovations are limited in practice. The third study expands the scope to demonstrate the long-term societal macroeconomic impacts. This chapter targets the impacts of the EV sales mandates beyond the direct effects on the transportation and electric power sectors, including the indirect and induced effects on all sectors through macro-economic activities. Overall, the two studies indicate significant potentials for the grid and other sectors to adapt and reduce both the costs and carbon emissions. The results call for policymakers to move beyond sectoral narratives, adopt a holistic and systematic view, and design policies with great care to address the regional heterogeneity and equity concerns.
Driving green: Employment effects, policy adoption, and public perceptions of electric vehicles

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2020-06-03) Soni, Anmol

Energy for usage in the transportation sector is primarily derived from petroleum products and accounts for 14% (EPA 2017a) of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide and 28% (EPA 2018b) of total emissions in the US. In the US. 60% of these emissions are from light-duty vehicles and passenger vehicles (EPA 2018a). A major push has been made towards alternative fuel vehicles such as electric vehicles (EVs) to mitigate the environmental impact of the transportation sector. This dissertation explores the implications of a growing EV sector by analyzing the employment effects, policy effectiveness, and public perception of EVs. EV adoption stands to affect the overall employment in the automotive sector and allied industries. A typical EV has fewer parts and requires less maintenance than a comparable internal combustion engine (ICE) model. This differential would inevitably change the traditional model of car sales by dealers who also rely on repairs and maintenance revenues. The dissertation uses input-output modeling to examine the implications of growing EVs on employment under different scenarios and cost assumptions. The study finds that while overall employment numbers might not change significantly, the composition of jobs shifts towards more battery production and electricity generation and distribution. The second study in the dissertation examines the effectiveness of different policy choices in increasing EV adoption across states. A supportive policy environment stands to increase EV adoption. In addition to federal-level policies in the US, states have introduced several policies to increase the adoption of EVs by individual consumers and fleets. The study applies econometric analysis to a panel dataset combining EV policies with sales to examine effectiveness and design choices across states. Finally, public perception of EVs must be understood to anticipate whether these vehicles are adopted at a large scale to make an impact on the traditional industry structure. Like any new technology, EV adoption hinges on the current and potential consumers' opinions and acceptance. The dissertation uses survey data and examines the external and internal determinants of public interest in EVs. The study concludes that factors such as political affiliation, environmental efforts of respondents affect their level of interest in EV technology.
Path-dependencies faced by select policies toward solid-state lighting

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2019-12-18) Smith, Alexander M.

The studies in this dissertation – concerning inter-firm R&D collaboration, patent production and sharing, and electric power infrastructure – will illustrate the influence of path-dependency on outcomes delivered by policies stimulating innovation in the lighting sector. This dissertation will build upon prior findings in path-dependency studies by applying path-dependency to distinct policies: collaboration-enhancing policies, patent licensing requirements, and lighting subsidies paired with emissions regulations. In doing so, the studies will highlight the social factors that influence lighting innovation. Just as the dominance of the electric lightbulb was not produced from a good idea alone – needing trade cartels and patent attorneys to achieve just its initial growth – so too do contemporary ideas for changing the way we illuminate the world rely on resources far greater than new technology ideas alone. In highlighting factors that frustrate the aims of contemporary innovation policies towards lighting, this dissertation aims to inform the design of future innovation policies such that future policies may account for influential factors and design strategies that nullify or take advantage of such factors to enact change.
Electricity infrastructure threats and policy response

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2018-11-08) McGrath, Jenna K. C.

The overarching research question of this dissertation is how are policymakers responding to threats to the electricity grid? The database of attacks on the United States electricity system, created and analyzed in Chapter 2, underscores that targeted attacks have been a persistent threat for the electric grid for the past nearly 50 years. In recent years, attacks have become more sophisticated and coordinated. Given this development, Chapter 3 considers how policy makers have responded to grid attacks, focusing on a more recent timeframe of seventeen years and uses risk perception theory as a guide. The results of the regression time series analysis indicate that policymakers respond to malicious attacks on the grid in terms of federal funding and allocation to grid-related improvements. There is no response associated with disruptions caused by severe weather or human or technical failures. This suggests that policymakers are perceiving malicious attacks as a threat and are stating policy priorities to address this issue in the federal budget appropriations. In addition to funding for emergency response and funding for research, federal policy, utilities have proposed measures to improve grid security. Chapter 4 addresses the adequacy of this response. The effectiveness of current grid security standards are simulated when faced with actual attack scenarios as well as possible future attacks that become increasingly more sophisticated and threatening in nature. The simulations indicate that security upgrades involving improved lighting and visibility are not effective, while improved barriers are effective. More broadly, the limited effectiveness of the proposed security upgrades suggests that there is substantial scope for research and testing, and for consideration of how utilities are securing electric infrastructure assets. Chapter 5 considers critical infrastructure as a whole, evaluating federal emergency response and management across the different critical infrastructure sectors. Here, the goal is to determine how electricity sector response compares to the policy responses to the challenges and events impacting other sectors. Analysis across multiple large incidents affecting different components of critical infrastructure shows a largely linear and consistent relationship between the impact of a disaster in terms of both human health and cost, and the sum of the public sector funding and insurance response. Attacks on the U.S. electric grid are a continuing challenge, as demonstrated in Chapter 2. In line with the prevailing risk perception literature, the analysis in Chapter 3 indicates that malicious attacks on the electric grid receive a larger response, in terms of federal R&D funding, than natural disasters or failures. This study finds that threats to national security are a driver of policy priorities and actions to both repair and improve the electric grid. Federal and state governments as well as the utilities and private sector bear significant costs when attacks occur. As concluded in Chapter 4, utility efforts to increase security are not fully public, but those that can be evaluated have significant weaknesses. Across all infrastructures, Chapter 5 demonstrates that government and private insurance payments largely pay fully for the impact of each disaster, irrespective of cause or sector, with terrorist attacks receiving emergency response funding at the same level as accidents and natural disasters. Similarly, federal research and development funding related to grid security has remained largely steady, with increases in response to large incidents irrespective of cause.
Sustainable transitions in energy and water systems

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2017-08-24) Burkhard, Caroline

A Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) of Sustainable Transitions is applied to five case studies of technological and policy innovation in energy and water systems. The MLP framework analysis is supported by the policy and engineering literatures of participatory democracy, policy entrepreneurs, and system analysis. Each case study focuses on the subsystems of actors, policy institutions, and public participation in a sustainable transition. In three of the case studies, I develop system and econometric models to evaluate the value of distributed resources and their opportunities for deployment. When evaluating the actions on niche and intermediary actors and their strategies for sustainable transitions, this research suggests that scale may play a bigger role in the development of niche innovations and policies than simply an exploratory space to analyze the success of actors’ strategies. When evaluating the role of policy institutions, this research suggests that strong user preferences, supportive niche policies, and favorable economic landscapes can be insufficient to facilitate a regime change without qualitative changes to the regulatory models. When evaluating the role of the public, this research suggests that neither the niche nor the regime actors are consistently incorporating public participation. Combined, this dissertation speaks to the need for rigorous analytical work, the expansion of the definition of ‘value’ for these niche technologies, as well as the institutions and regulations which dictate how value is determined.
Accelerating energy innovation: Can energy efficiency policy make a difference?

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2017-04-06) Kim, Yeong Jae

The objective of the first essay is to examine the impact of the voluntary environmental policy on technological innovation in household appliance firms. The key hypothesis is that firms participating in the ENERGY STAR program were more likely to innovate in response to the 1997 ENERGY STAR criteria update than firms that did not participate. Because participation in the voluntary environmental policy is not random, a time-varying instrument variable—a participation in the Green Light Program—is used to account for unobserved heterogeneity. NBER patent data from 1990 to 2003 related to the energy efficiency of household appliances is matched with COMPUSTAT to include firm-level financial information. A Poisson fixed effect model with an instrument variable estimator reveals significant evidence regarding the impact of ENERGY STAR on participating firms’ patents. The environmental innovation literature reveals a positive relationship between environmental policy and innovation. However, the impact of the domestic energy efficiency policy on foreign innovation is underexplored. Using global patent data from the European Patent Office World Patent Statistical Database, an identification comes from two quasi-experiments: the Top Runner Program in 1998 and the Energy Policy Act of 2005. We find strong evidence the domestic energy efficiency policy positively affects domestic patenting. In addition, the analysis provides strong evidence the domestic energy policy leads to technological advances in foreign patenting, especially by Japanese inventors. Moreover, we find strong evidence the domestic policy’s uncertainty negatively affects domestic light-emitting diode patenting, specifically among Japanese inventors. The third essay fills the gaps in cognitive process understanding of human behaviors between future gasoline price perception and the willingness to purchase hybrid vehicles. How consumers form future gasoline price beliefs and its impacts on decision making process in underexplored in literature. Using the monthly Michigan Survey of Consumers conducted in July 2008 to November 2008, we pool five cross sections and run a generalized linear model. We find statistically significant evidence that current and long-term future gasoline price perceptions affect the willingness to buy hybrid vehicles. This chapter also shows the long-term future gasoline price perceptions predict better than the short-term future gasoline price beliefs. Understanding the effect of gasoline price on the willingness to buy more fuel-efficient cars has an important policy implication for the gasoline tax and other economic incentives to internalize negative externalities.
Energy information at home: An analysis and policy projection of the rebound effect and U.S. smart grid

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2016-08-24) Wang, Joy Huan

This dissertation examines residential energy behavior through three studies. First, a meta-analysis of the residential rebound effect, excluding transportation studies, finds an average rebound effect size of 42%. Fixed effects meta-regression findings suggest rebound effect estimates may be impacted by participant selection methods, availability of financial incentives, and implemented measures. The second study finds current residential smart grid deployment, as determined by Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) installations, correlated with reduced average utility household electricity use. The predicted decrease (0.9% reduction at 100% AMI penetration in the residential sector) is lower than some experimental research findings, suggesting current smart grid information feedback may not be fully deployed, optimally designed, or readily accessible. Lastly, twelve smart grid scenarios were developed by varying price elasticity and rebound effect in the National Energy Modeling System to project possible long term impacts of a national residential smart grid. These scenarios are projected to realize energy and environmental benefits over the long term. Residential sector energy savings from are greater than all sector savings, with projected energy increases in the commercial, industrial, and transportation sectors. This suggests cross-sector policies may benefit smart grid implementation.
Three essays on clean energy technology diffusion and policy innovations

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2016-08-01) Zhou, Shan

This thesis is motivated by the challenges and opportunities the energy sector faces as a result of climate change. Traditional power generation based on fossil-fuel use has contributed significantly to the historic increase of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. While low-carbon energy technology is often regarded as a key solution to climate change mitigation, the successful transformation to a clean energy economy requires a solid scientific understanding of the technological change process and the role of public policies. The ultimate goal of this thesis is to examine the interplay between technology and policy to support the design and implementation of effective policy practices for the scaling up of clean energy technologies. It investigates the diffusion mechanisms underlying both technology and policy innovations in the energy infrastructure system, focusing on smart grid and renewable energy technologies. In this thesis, quantitative and qualitative methods are integrated to evaluate the role of public policies in smart metering technology diffusion. In particular, I collect and analyze market penetration data for 50 U.S. states and D.C. between 2007 and 2012 to assess the effectiveness of government interventions in driving smart metering technological change. I also conduct a comparative case study to investigate how the design of policies and the subsequent policy processes have led to the cross-national variation in smart meter deployment in Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands. My study has shown that polycentric energy governance, particularly the interdependencies between different government actions, plays an important role in smart meter deployment in the U.S. context, whereas a coherent policy framework that addresses institutional, financial, and social barriers is proven to be more effective in promoting smart meters in the cases of five European countries. To further explore the driving forces of clean energy policy adoption, I apply logit event history analysis models and stratified Cox conditional gap time models to investigate determinants for the adoption of five types of renewable energy policies by 30 European countries between 1990 and 2012. The results show that initial renewable energy policy spread across countries can be well explained by the learning and competition mechanisms, while the four diffusion theories have largely failed to explain subsequent policy modifications and changes. In addition to each paper’s individual contributions, the findings of this thesis collectively provide important implications for the adoption and implementation of clean energy technologies and policies to enhance the sustainability of the electric grid system.
The role of policy and markets in the development of the solar photovoltaic industry: Evidence from China

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2016-01-19) Sun, Xiaojing

This dissertation looks at the technological innovation and market competitiveness of the solar PV industry in China, and examines the role played by policy and markets in the development of the industry. Using solar cell lab efficiency and the quality and quantity of solar PV patents as indicators, this study finds that, unlike what conventional wisdom assumes, China is closing the innovation gap between itself and the world’s leading innovators. This is mainly due to three reasons: a national strategic vision for innovation, growing public and private R&D investment, and an innovation ecosystem made of government sponsored science and technology programs and technology-specific global innovation networks. Solar PV manufacturing in China thrived on a fully-developed self-sufficient domestic supply chain that features a few highly concentrated industrial clusters, such as the one in the Yangtze River Delta area. The agglomeration economies it created, combined with economies of scale development, commercialization-oriented innovation, and attention to low-cost production are mainly responsible for the competitiveness of the solar PV manufacturing industry in China. However, weakness in tooling and material production due to a lack of advanced scientific knowledge and manufacturing skills constrains the further development of the supply chain. The emphasis on process innovation also renders the industry vulnerable to disruptive technologies. Moving forward, policymakers should continue to promote global research networks and local production networks, and use innovation as a crosscutting lever to integrate R&D conducted in labs with innovation needed in the manufacturing sector and the supply chain.
U.S. electricity end-use efficiency: policy innovation and potential assessment

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2014-07-01) Wang, Yu

Electric end-use efficiency is attracting more and more attentions, but it remains unclear what factors are driving state policy innovations to improve energy efficiency. Controversy also exists over the effectiveness of energy efficiency programs. Several critical problems are facing the policymakers: what factors drive the states taking distinct strategies in policy innovation? Have state policies being able to improve energy efficiency in the past? And, will state policies remain relevant to future efficiency improvements? This dissertation tries to answer these important questions and assumes that policy innovation is relevant to energy efficiency. It first explores the factors that influence the adoption of energy efficiency policies using Internal Determinants models. Results suggest that internal state factors affect policy innovation, including state socioeconomic factors, state fiscal capacity, ideology, and constituent pressure. Policy innovations are found to be correlated with each other. This dissertation also evaluates the impact of policy innovation on energy efficiency by decomposing electricity productivity into activity, structure, and efficiency effects. The findings suggest that financial incentives and building codes have significant impacts on state electricity productivity. Other regulations tend to have mixed effects. In addition, an estimation of the achievable potential of energy efficiency suggests that policies will cost-effectively drive significant electricity savings in the future. Overall, this dissertation offers an in-depth diagnosis of the relationship between policy innovation and energy efficiency. It provides a rigorous statistical analysis covering the most important energy efficiency policies. It represents the first attempt to evaluate policy impact by decomposing electricity productivity. However, the statistical models and energy models are subject to limitations and future research is needed to improve the models.