Browsing by Author "Konschnik, Kate"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    A Closer Look at RGGI and Grid Reliability
    (2021-11-24) Hill, Sophia; Konschnik, Kate; Monast, Jonas; Ross, Martin
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    Options on a Continuum of Competition for the Southeastern Electricity Sector
    (2020-09) Konschnik, Kate; Chen, Jennie
    Conversations around the future of the southeastern electricity sector are lighting up across the region, from stakeholder discussions on the North Carolina Energy Regulatory Process to RTO study bills and utility negotiations around a Southeast Energy Exchange Market. Stakeholders may come to the table with different perspectives and positions, but they share the common goals of reliability, affordability, and adaptability given new technologies, external threats, and shifting customer demands. Competition comes up a great deal in these conversations; too often the concept sends stakeholders into two distinct camps. And yet, competition is not a yes or no question. Therefore, the purpose of this policy brief is to describe different ways to engender consumer choice, third-party participation, resource sharing, and regional grid management in the power sector, using existing examples from this region. It includes questions stakeholders might think through in these conversations, and fundamentally aims to educate and inform.
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    Policy Options to Achieve the City of Philadelphia’s Climate Change Goals
    (2020-04-24) Anger, Rebecca; Wilson, Gennelle; Conti, Matias; Rollins, Libba
    The purpose of this master’s project is to carry out a thorough policy analysis that will enable the City of Philadelphia to achieve its 2030 and 2050 carbon emission reduction and renewable energy goals. Philadelphia has a plan in place to reach these goals and its current policies are a good first step. However, there is room for their plans and policies to be augmented with strategies beyond what they currently have. This project analyses the potential of various transportation policies and presents the results of cost benefit analysis (CBAs) conducted on three carbon reduction strategies that the city expressed interest in but lacked the resources to explore on their own. A synthesis of actions taken by cities world-wide has also been added to serve as a menu of options for further exploration. With this project we aim to assist our client, the Clean Air Council, by providing insight on additional, cost-effective strategies to advocate for further action in the city, as well as to provide Philadelphia’s Office of Sustainability with valuable information and resources to continue their work towards climate change mitigation.
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    Power Sector Carbon Reduction: An Evaluation of Policies for North Carolina
    (2021-03-09) Konschnik, Kate; Ross, Martin; Monast, Jonas; Weiss, Jennifer; Wilson, Gennelle
    Well-designed clean energy policies can accelerate pollution reduction, make change more affordable for state residents and business, and stimulate job growth. For this reason, the North Carolina Clean Energy Plan—developed pursuant to Governor Cooper’s Executive Order No. 80—recommended the year-long study of carbon reduction policies for the power sector (Recommendation A1). The Duke University Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions and the University of North Carolina’s Center for Climate, Energy, Environment, and Economics jointly conducted the study. This report reflects extensive modeling, policy and economic analysis, and stakeholder engagement. It does not make specific recommendations but evaluates different policies and offers options for decarbonizing the grid.
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    Private Nuisance as a Litigation Strategy for Climate Change
    (2019-12-11) Ryan, Caitlin
    In Bell v. Cheswick Generation Station 734 F.3d 188 (3d Cir. 2013), the 3rd Circuit Court decided that the Clean Air Act could not preempt state based private nuisance claims. In other words, private individuals and parties could sue polluters for interference in the use and enjoyment of their land as though it were any ordinary property dispute. This ran contrary to the way the rule was typically applied: because there was a federal statute (the Clean Air Act) that governed air pollution, state based remedies were not available to injured parties. This research explores how this decision came to be and how it will affect the future of the Clean Air Act and climate change litigation. It seeks to make legal jargon plain and climate change concepts accessible to anyone. The researcher determines that the critics of the Bell decision have based their arguments on faulty logic, and that the decision is both fair and just. The tactic of state based private nuisance claims as a way to litigate greenhouse gas emissions, if used more seriously and more often, would provide a serious incentive to the legislature to take action on combatting climate change.