Research
Policy
Policy Research Projects: |
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Title: Economic Impacts of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Policies |
| PI: Theodore Kury Research Interests and Contact Information | |
| Description: PURC is engaging in three new research projects that will provide important information for policy makers in Florida. The projects are:Economic and Job Impacts of State Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency PoliciesThis project will provide empirical estimates of state renewable energy and energy efficiency policies on economic development and jobs. Proponents of state and federal policies promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency policies often assert that the policies will have positive impacts on jobs, specifically the so called green jobs.Electric Grid Impacts of State Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency PoliciesThis project will provide an estimate of the impacts of renewable energy policies on the electric grid. It will fill a gap in the literature for Florida, which as to date focused on the impacts on electricity generation.Effects of Energy Commodity Profit Margins on Effectiveness of Energy Efficiency ProgramsThis project will test an assumption that is built into many state energy policies and that is held by many policy makers at the national level, namely that utilities would improve consumer energy efficiency practices if utility prices were decoupled from utility profits. | |
| Budget: $150,000 | |
| University: UF | |
| This project has been completed. | |
| November 2012 Annual Report November 2011 Annual Report May 2011 Progress Report |
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Title:Environmental Impacts of Energy Production Systems: Analysis, Evaluation, Training and Outreach |
| PI: Amy B. Chan-Hilton Research Interests and Contact Information | |
| Co-PIs: Gang Chen, Wenrui Huang, Michael Watts, Ming Ye, and Paul Lee | |
| Description: As Florida develops its long-term energy strategy, multiple efforts are ongoing to develop and apply a wide range of energy technologies that are sustainable and carbon-neutral. But pragmatic issues related to environmental impact and sustainability need to be addressed before these technologies may be implemented. This project directly addresses the FESC’s Thrust 6 on Energy systems and their environmental and economic impacts. This project also directly addresses the IESES’s Objective 4 on unique geographical challenges and Objective 5 on sustainable energy engineering, science and the sustainable energy economy. | |
| Budget: $64,738 | |
| Universities: FSU, FAMU | |
| This project has been completed | |
| November 2011 Annual Report May 2010 Progress Report November 2010 Annual Report May 2011 Progress Report |
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Title:Promoting Energy and Land Use Through Land Use, Transportation, and Green Infrastructure Policie |
| PI: Tim Chapin Research Interests and Contact Information | |
| Co-PIs: Ivonne Audirac, Chris Coutts, Jeffrey Lowe, Greg Thompson, Mark Horner | |
| Description: In response to the many issues related to energy provision, energy sustainability, and GHGs, in 2007 Governor Crist created an Action Team on Energy and Climate Change. This group was tasked with investigating and recommending strategies for reducing GHG emissions, creating more sustainable energy systems in Florida, and for establishing Florida as an international leader in innovative energy provision. Related to this, the 2008 session saw the Florida Legislature pass HB 697 which, among many things, requires every local government in the state to address energy systems and GHG emissions explicitly within their comprehensive plans. Currently, the linkages between energy planning, environmental and economic sustainability, land use and transportation planning, and GHG reductions have never been stronger in Florida. This project is aimed at continuing the momentum in Florida for developing broad-based solutions to these problems by helping to develop a knowledge base for informing state policy in the areas of energy, sustainability, and land use and transportation planning. | |
| Budget: $168,185 | |
| Universities: FSU, Griffith University (Bisbane, Australia), University of Florida | |
| This project has been completed | |
| November 2011 Annual Report May 2010 Progress Report November 2010 Annual Report May 2011 Progress Report |
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Title:Political and Economic Institutions Regarding Siting of Energy Facilities |
| PI: R. Mark Isaac Research Interests and Contact Information | |
| Co-PI: Douglas Norton, Svetlana Pevnitskaya | |
| Description: The “holdout” problem occurs when one economic agent attempts to construct a portfolio of economic assets (often land) from multiple sellers. When a public good has diffuse public benefits but costs concentrated on a few, a “NIMBY” problem (Not In My Back Yard) may exist. | |
| Budget: $43,663 | |
| Universities: FSU | |
| This project has been completed | |
| November 2011 Annual Report May 2010 Progress Report November 2010 Annual Report May 2011 Progress Report |
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Title:Experimental Investigation of Economic Incentives of Policies, Institutions and R&D in Environmental Conservation |
| PI: Svetlana Pevnitskaya Research Interests and Contact Information | |
| Co-PI:Dmitry Ryvkin | |
| Description: Policies and institutions aiming at reducing pollution and battling climate change often do not reach desirable results because actual decisions of governments and economic agents deviate from those predicted by theory. The methods of experimental economics allow for finding such deviations and their causes, and use the findings to modify theory and design better policies and institutions. In this project we construct a theoretical model of decisions in a dynamic environment with costs of pollution and climate change and employ laboratory experiments with human subjects to study actual behavior and explore responses to changes in the environment, production technologies, investment in clean technology and institutions. | |
| Budget: $43,168 | |
| Universities: FSU | |
| This project has been completed | |
| November 2011 Annual Report May 2010 Progress Report November 2010 Annual Report May 2011 Progress Report |
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