Readings

Lecture 1

• IEA “Net Zero by 2050” (International Energy Agency, 2021), https://www.iea.org/reports/net-zero-by-2050.
• IRENA “Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2021” (Abu Dhabi: International Renewable Energy Agency, July 2021), https://www.irena.org/publications/2022/Jul/Renewable-Power-Generation-Costs-in-2021.
• Gang He et al. “Rapid Cost Decrease of Renewables and Storage Accelerates the Decarbonization of China’s Power System,” Nature Communications 11, no. 1 (May 19, 2020): 2486, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16184-x.
• Neil Grant et al. “Cost Reductions in Renewables Can Substantially Erode the Value of Carbon Capture and Storage in Mitigation Pathways,” One Earth 4, no. 11 (November 19, 2021): 1588–1601, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2021.10.024.

Lecture 2

• Weston A Hermann “Quantifying Global Exergy Resources,” Energy 31, no. 12 (2006): 1685–1702, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0360544205001805.
• Jonathan Koomey et al. “Defining a Standard Metric for Electricity Savings,” Environmental Research Letters 5, no. 1 (2010): 014017, https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/5/1/014017.
• David Fridley et al. “Impacts of China’s 2010 to 2013 Mandatory Product Energy Efficiency Standards: A Retrospective and Prospective Look” (ACEEE, 2016), https://www.aceee.org/files/proceedings/2016/data/papers/5_131.pdf.
• Jordan Macknick “Energy and CO2 Emission Data Uncertainties,” Carbon Management 2, no. 2 (April 1, 2011): 189–205, https://doi.org/10.4155/cmt.11.10.
• James Hansen, Makiko Sato, and Reto Ruedy “Perception of Climate Change,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 109, no. 37 (September 2012): E2415–23, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1205276109.
• Martin L Weitzman “Gamma Discounting,” American Economic Review 91, no. 1 (2001): 260–71, https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.91.1.260.
• K. Arrow et al. “Determining Benefits and Costs for Future Generations,” Science 341, no. 6144 (July 26, 2013): 349–50, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1235665.
• Louis E. Yelle “The Learning Curve: Historical Review and Comprehensive Survey,” Decision Sciences 10, no. 2 (1979): 302–28, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5915.1979.tb00026.x.
• Arnulf Grübler, Nebojša Nakićenović, and David G Victor “Dynamics of Energy Technologies and Global Change,” Energy Policy 27, no. 5 (May 1999): 247–80, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0301-4215(98)00067-6.
• Goksin Kavlak, James McNerney, and Jessika E. Trancik “Evaluating the Causes of Cost Reduction in Photovoltaic Modules,” Energy Policy 123 (December 1, 2018): 700–710, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.015.
• Arnulf Grubler “The Costs of the French Nuclear Scale-up: A Case of Negative Learning by Doing,” Energy Policy 38, no. 9 (2010): 5174–88, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2010.05.003.
• John Helveston, Gang He, and Michael Davidson “Quantifying the Cost Savings of Global Solar Photovoltaic Supply Chains,” Nature 612, no. 7938 (2022): 83–87, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05316-6.

Lecture 3

• IPCC Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group i to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Book, ed. V. Masson-Delmotte et al. (Cambridge, UK; New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press, 2021), https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009157896.
• Tamma A Carleton and Solomon M Hsiang “Social and Economic Impacts of Climate,” Science 353, no. 6304 (2016): aad9837, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aad9837.
• James E. Neumann et al. “Climate Damage Functions for Estimating the Economic Impacts of Climate Change in the United States,” Review of Environmental Economics and Policy 14, no. 1 (January 2020): 25–43, https://doi.org/10.1093/reep/rez021.
• Valuing Climate Changes: Updating Estimation of the Social Cost of Carbon Dioxide (Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, 2017), https://doi.org/10.17226/24651.
• Solomon M. Hsiang, Marshall Burke, and Edward Miguel “Quantifying the Influence of Climate on Human Conflict,” Science, August 2013, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1235367.
• Seleshi G Yalew et al. “Impacts of Climate Change on Energy Systems in Global and Regional Scenarios,” Nature Energy 5, no. 10 (2020): 794–802, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-020-0664-z.
• Laibao Liu et al. “Climate Change Impacts on Planned Supply–Demand Match in Global Wind and Solar Energy Systems,” Nature Energy 8, no. 8 (August 2023): 870–80, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-023-01304-w.
• Paul R. Ehrlich and John P. Holdren “Impact of Population Growth: Complacency Concerning This Component of Man’s Predicament Is Unjustified and Counterproductive.” Science 171, no. 3977 (March 1971): 1212–17, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.171.3977.1212.
• Yoichi Kaya and Keiichi Yokobori, eds. Environment, Energy, and Economy: Strategies for Sustainable (Tokyo: United Nations Univ, 1997), https://archive.unu.edu/unupress/unupbooks/uu17ee/uu17ee00.htm.
• Stephen Pacala and Robert Socolow “Stabilization Wedges: Solving the Climate Problem for the Next 50 Years with Current Technologies,” Science 305, no. 5686 (2004): 968–72, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1100103.
• Kevin Rennert et al. “Comprehensive Evidence Implies a Higher Social Cost of CO2,” Nature, 2022, 1–3, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05224-9.

Lecture 4

• Ehrlich and Holdren “Impact of Population Growth.”
• Kaya and Yokobori Environment, Energy, and Economy.
• Pacala and Socolow “Stabilization Wedges.”
• Fridley et al. “Impacts of China’s 2010 to 2013 Mandatory Product Energy Efficiency Standards.”
• Gilbert M Masters Renewable and Efficient Electric Power Systems (John Wiley & Sons, 2013).
• Mike H Bergin et al. “Large Reductions in Solar Energy Production Due to Dust and Particulate Air Pollution,” Environmental Science & Technology Letters 4, no. 8 (2017): 339–44.
• Rennert et al. “Comprehensive Evidence Implies a Higher Social Cost of CO2.”
• Sarah C. Armitage, Noël Bakhtian, and Adam B. Jaffe “Innovation Market Failures and the Design of New Climate Policy Instruments,” Working Paper, Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research, August 2023), https://doi.org/10.3386/w31622.
• Annika Stechemesser et al. “Climate Policies That Achieved Major Emission Reductions: Global Evidence from Two Decades,” Science 385, no. 6711 (August 23, 2024): 884–92, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adl6547.
• Kwesi A. Quagraine, Mark Lynas, and Erle C. Ellis “As We Breach 1.5 °C, We Must Replace Temperature Limits with Clean-Energy Targets,” Nature 649, no. 8099 (January 2026): 1103–6, https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-00246-z.

Lecture 5

• Vaclav Smil Energy: A Beginner’s Guide (Simon; Schuster, 2017), https://vaclavsmil.com/2017/02/21/energy-a-beginners-guide-beginners-guides-2nd-edition/.
• IEA “Net Zero by 2050.”
• BMWi “An Electricity Market for Germany’s Energy Transition: White Paper by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy” (Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs; Energy, July 2015), https://www.bmwk.de/Redaktion/EN/Publikationen/whitepaper-electricity-market.html.

Lecture 6

• Masters Renewable and Efficient Electric Power Systems.
• Koomey et al. “Defining a Standard Metric for Electricity Savings.”
• Liu et al. “Climate Change Impacts on Planned Supply–Demand Match in Global Wind and Solar Energy Systems.”
• Shi Chen et al. “Deploying Solar Photovoltaic Energy First in Carbon-Intensive Regions Brings Gigatons More Carbon Mitigations to 2060,” Communications Earth & Environment 4 (October 11, 2023): 369, https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-01006-x.

Lecture 7

• Lukas G. Swan and V. Ismet Ugursal “Modeling of End-Use Energy Consumption in the Residential Sector: A Review of Modeling Techniques,” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 13, no. 8 (2009): 1819–35, https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2008.09.033.
• Paul R Ehrlich and John P Holdren “Impact of Population Growth: Complacency Concerning This Component of Man’s Predicament Is Unjustified and Counterproductive.” Science 171, no. 3977 (1971): 1212–17, https://doi.org/10.1097/00006254-197111000-00014.
• Jiang Lin, Gang He, and Alexandria Yuan “Economic Rebalancing and Electricity Demand in China,” The Electricity Journal 29, no. 3 (2016): 48–54, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tej.2016.03.010.
• Severin Borenstein “A Microeconomic Framework for Evaluating Energy Efficiency Rebound and Some Implications,” The Energy Journal 36, no. 1 (2015), https://doi.org/10.5547/01956574.36.1.1.
• Paul E Brockway et al. “Energy Efficiency and Economy-Wide Rebound Effects: A Review of the Evidence and Its Implications,” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 141 (2021): 110781, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2021.110781.
• Donella H Meadows et al. “The Limits to Growth,” in Green Planet Blues (Routledge, 2018), 25–29.
• Narasimha D Rao and Jihoon Min “Decent Living Standards: Material Prerequisites for Human Wellbeing,” Social Indicators Research 138, no. 1 (2018): 225–44, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-017-1650-0.
• Tao Hong and Shu Fan “Probabilistic Electric Load Forecasting: A Tutorial Review,” International Journal of Forecasting 32, no. 3 (2016): 914–38, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijforecast.2015.11.011.