"It turns out that most of the greenhouse-gas reductions from Japan’s biggest fuel-economy subsidy didn’t happen in Japan. They happened in the United States."

Aaron Smith responds to Sustainable Aviation Advisory Council arguments. A proposed sustainable aviation fuels tax credit in California will reduce funds for roads, increase gasoline and diesel prices and fail to lower greenhouse gas emissions. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2026/04/20/c...

The Climate Policy Paradox: Why Voters Reject the Tools that Economists Advocate Most A new Energy Institute Blog post and working paper by Joseph Shapiro, Maximiliano Lauletta, Ro’ee Levy and Dmitry Taubinsky. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2026/04/13/t...

My new Energy Institute Blog post on the US Department of Energy's orders to prevent coal-fired power plants from retiring. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2026/03/30/d...

"[T]he current system [in the EU] is arbitrary and inefficient. It also intrinsically punishes smaller countries, which was not the intention of the policy." Lucas Davis's new blog post on research by Charlotte De Cannière. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2026/03/16/s...

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In a new blog post Meredith Fowlie explores how proposals to carve out publicly-owned utilities from larger, investor-owned utility territories raise questions about how costs are spread among customers. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2026/03/09/t...

Come to UC Berkeley for the POWER Conference on Energy Research and Policy on 3/20/26. Early bird registration rates available through 3/6/26. See new research on energy markets and regulation and exchange ideas with energy policy and business professionals. haas.berkeley.edu/energy-insti...

Registration is open for the POWER Conference on Energy Research and Policy. 3/20/26, Berkeley, CA. See new research on energy markets and regulation and exchange ideas with energy policy and business professionals. Early Bird rates now available. haas.berkeley.edu/energy-insti...

A new Energy Institute at Haas working paper models how solar and batteries can use the existing grid to meet the needs of data centers. Research by Duncan Callaway, Emilia Chojkiewicz and Amol Phadke. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2026/02/02/a...

New analysis showing how recent changes in electricity rates have varied considerably across states. By @severinborenstein.bsky.social. @ucenergyinstitute.bsky.social energyathaas.wordpress.com/2026/01/26/l...

"Under the current standards nobody is forcing any automaker to buy credits. Automakers have freedom of choice. They are buying credits because this is cheaper for them than developing their own fuel-efficient models." Lucas Davis on proposed CAFE changes. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2026/01/05/t...

@auffhammer.bsky.social is longing for understandable utility bills.

The shrinkage of government funding for clean energy leaves state legislatures facing difficult choices. My new blog post...

In my EI blog post today, I discuss the CA debate over how to return some of the cap and trade revenue to households and explain why I think a fixed rebate for every household the utility serves should be replace by a discount per-kilowatt-hour. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/11/10/s... 🔌💡

Earlier this year countries and industry came together to develop and adopt a groundbreaking carbon policy, applied to 85% of global shipping. Earlier this month the policy ran aground due to US opposition. James Sallee looks at the policy. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/10/20/c...

Whether data centers bring higher or lower electric bills for other consumers could depend on the actions of regulators. @severinborenstein.bsky.social discusses in his new @ucenergyinstitute.bsky.social Blog post.

Meredith Fowlie on newly passed California legislation aimed at getting electricity bills under control "The promising bill restructuring and cost reallocation initiatives will fall short if that third lever — cost containment — is not working well."

"So, overall, I want to give credit to EPA/DOT. This is about the best you can do with a national label. That said, it would be even better if the labels could be customized by state." Lucas Davis takes a look at the labels you'll see when shopping for a new electric vehicle.

Range anxiety was on my mind this summer. I wrote this blog post about recent research by on the topic by Asensio, Buckberg, Cole, Heeney, @knittelmit.bsky.social and Stock.

My Energy Institute blog post today reviews California's options for dealing with impending refinery closures. There's really only one sustainable approach: the state must plan today for the import capacity that can smooth the transition off of gasoline. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/08/18/c... 💡🔌

US policy has been supporting electric vehicles through a number of separate policies. James Sallee describes how the President and Congress are killing these policies and holds out for the possibility that some policies survive. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/07/28/f...

"The coverage I’ve seen of the removal of the IRA subsidies shares the same weakness of much of the coverage of the IRA’s passage. There is too much focus on overly specific numbers..." James Bushnell's new Energy Institute Blog post. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/07/21/n...

@severinborenstein.bsky.social differentiates between demand reductions that save society's resources and demand reductions that are wasteful.

Meredith Fowlie describes how the EPA case for regulatory repeal hinges on private sector cost reductions and ignores health and environmental impacts.

My new blog post addressing the DOE's take down of minimum energy efficiency standards for products.

Aaron Smith explores the US renewable diesel market and puzzles through why US producers are developing so much more capacity than required by federal requirements. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/06/02/b...

James Bushnell addresses the politics that are holding back geoengineering.

"Recent research suggests that a bit of flexibility at peak times –ratcheting down demand during less than 1% of annual hours – could drastically reduce the grid constraints that are causing planners to slow interconnections" @severinborenstein.bsky.social energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/04/14/c...

New Energy Institute Blog Post: Winners and Losers from Interregional Transmission - by Lucas Davis energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/04/07/w...

My working paper with @bistline.bsky.social is the subject of today's @ucenergyinstitute.bsky.social blog post by Meredith Fowlie. Honored! energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/03/31/a...

New Energy Institute Blog Post: Universities – The Origin of Many Electrifying Ideas - by @auffhammer.bsky.social energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/03/24/u...

@severinborenstein.bsky.social summarizes my new blog post well...

New Energy Institute Blog Post: Should the Price of Electricity Depend On What You Use It For? @severinborenstein.bsky.social energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/03/10/s...

About half of U.S. households with a heat pump have some kind of backup heating. Lucas Davis digs into the data and the implications.

Early Bird Deadline Ends March 7th for our POWER Conference on March 21st! #energyresearch #energypolicy #energymarkets #electrification #electricvehicles #electricalgrid #renewableenergy #solarenergy #electricityprices #greenhousegases #climatechange #electricity #cleanenergy tinyurl.com/5cen87dh

"Assessing the net impact on global greenhouse gas emissions hinges on understanding how LNG exports move energy prices and shift global energy substitution patterns across the globe." Meredith Fowlie discusses research on how new US LNG exports could impact US consumers and the global climate.

"While the idea of providing different levels of at least financial – if not physical – reliability to different customers, or even utilities, seems to make electricity operators’ heads’ explode, I don’t see why it has to be so difficult." Jim Bushnell in the @ucenergyinstitute.bsky.social Blog.

"A far simpler way forward is to restructure existing annual registration fees for trucks to reflect vehicles’ pollution impacts." James Sallee looks at steps California can still take to reduce pollution from the trucking fleet by increasing adoption of new trucks.

Aaron Smith works through a comparison between planting corn to produce ethanol and deploying solar panels to generate electricity.

My EI blog post today addresses the claim from CA's rooftop solar industry that the 2023 change in net energy metering rules devastated their business. State's DG database shows it didn't. Just pulled forward sales to beat the new policy. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/01/27/g... #EnergySky

Lucas Davis addresses the significance of Constellation's proposed acquisition of Calpine - both large power generators. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/01/21/c...

Meredith Fowlie explains why California politicians' should address energy affordability by extending the state's cap-and-trade program, but revisit how program revenues are allocated. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/01/13/c...

Shopping for a car for your new-driver child? @auffhammer.bsky.social describes what he did. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/01/06/g...

Top 10 most viewed Energy Institute Blog posts of 2024. Enjoy! energyathaas.wordpress.com/2024/12/16/t...

Electric utilities are being asked to expand their systems and energy sources to serve massive data centers. @severinborenstein.bsky.social addresses the challenge of how to fairly recover the costs.

"What we need is a vision of how to construct a climate policy portfolio that has wide enough political appeal so that its core components can be sustained for several decades." James Sallee discusses how climate-oriented energy policies could play out. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2024/11/18/m...

"Despite the bold campaign rhetoric from Trump, unchanged futures prices suggest that oil and gas traders believe Trump’s victory is not so important to U.S. oil and natural gas production." Lucas Davis on oil and gas prices after the election. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2024/11/12/h...

Time-of-use (TOU) electricity pricing follows a predictable daily pattern, but peak prices on the electric grid do not. New work by Kevin Novan and Aaron Smith finds that TOU pricing can, nonetheless, drive down demand during peak periods. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2024/11/04/d...

"Killing programs like Cap-and-Trade and [the Low Carbon Fuel Standard] while maintaining the underlying carbon reduction goals will only limit compliance options and increase the ultimate cost to businesses and consumers." Jim Bushnell on conflicts between consumer costs and ambitious climate goals