FSI scholars approach their research on the environment from regulatory, economic and societal angles. The Center on Food Security and the Environment weighs the connection between climate change and agriculture; the impact of biofuel expansion on land and food supply; how to increase crop yields without expanding agricultural lands; and the trends in aquaculture. FSE’s research spans the globe – from the potential of smallholder irrigation to reduce hunger and improve development in sub-Saharan Africa to the devastation of drought on Iowa farms. David Lobell, a senior fellow at FSI and a recipient of a MacArthur “genius” grant, has looked at the impacts of increasing wheat and corn crops in Africa, South Asia, Mexico and the United States; and has studied the effects of extreme heat on the world’s staple crops.
IPP Investment in Turkey's Electric Power Industry
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This paper is part of a larger study on the historical experience of Independent Power Producers (IPPs) in countries undergoing transition in their institutions of governance. The study seeks to explain the patterns of investment in IPPs and project outcomes with the aim of using this information to plot alternative future models for IPP investment. This paper follows the research methods and guidelines laid out in the research protocol, "The Experience with Independent Power Projects in Developing Countries: Introduction and Case Study Methods".
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Program on Energy and Sustainable Development Working Paper #32
Guangdong Electric Power Market Reform: Options and Impact
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The electricity industry of China's Guangdong Province has been in a process of reforms since the 1980s. The reforms have so far greatly promoted the industry development, advancing the provincial electric power system to the largest in the country (Zeng, et al., 1999; Zhang, et al. 2001). Achievements notwithstanding, the industry is facing numerous difficulties that challenge both reform policy makers and academics. The province needs high speed capacity expansion and power imports in the foreseeable future to meet the continued demand surge. End-users in Guangdong are paying the highest tariffs in the nation. The technological structure of the existing generation capacity is highly undesirable because large number of tiny generating units and oil-fired capacity are adversely affecting economic and energy efficiencies of electric power supply.
Power generation is causing increasing environmental damages. However, the most challenging is probably the fact that there lacks an adequate mechanism to solve these problems and promote efficient and sustainable growth of the electric power industry. On one hand, reforms in the past twenty years not only have not fundamentally changed the traditional mode of central government planning of provincial electric power supply and development, but also have contributed to the evolving problems of the industry and showed their limitation. On the other hand, utility de-integration and market competition represents an attractive alternative to policy makers, but little is known of the reform roadmap and the potential impact.
This paper examines the utility market reform scenario in Guangdong Province and provides a basic quantitative assessment of the possible impact of the reform policy on electricity tariffs and system development.
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Program on Energy and Sustainable Development Working Paper #33
Josh House gives presentation at European Commission on US climate change policy
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On Wednesday, Oct. 27 PESD researcher Joshua C. House gave a presentation on the status of climate change policy in the US to the Directorate General of the Environment at the European Commission.
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Electricity Reforms in India: Firm Choices, Emerging Markets, and Externalities
With our partners at the Indian Institute of Management (Ahmedabad), PESD hosted a conference on the 23rd and 24th of Sept. in New Dehli focused on electricity market reforms in India and its effects on technologies and the environment.
Habitat Center
Lodhi Road
New Dehli, INDIA
Chi Zhang
Encina Hall E313
Stanford, CA 94305-6165
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czhang@stanford.edu
zhang.jpg
PhD
Dr. Chi Zhang joined PESD in April 2002. He heads up the Program's studies of the Chinese electricity industry reforms. Dr. Zhang has been with IIS since 1998. He was a member of the China Energy and Global Environment Project under CISAC before joining PESD. Previously, he taught at Monterey Institute of International Studies, and was research associate with the Institute for International Economics in Washington, D.C. and fellow with Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, China.
Chi Zhang received his Ph.D. in economics from the Johns Hopkins University and MA in international economics from the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He also attended Beijing Normal University.
Research Associate
David G. Victor
School of International Relations and Pacific Studies
UC San Diego
San Diego, CA
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david.victor@ucsd.edu
Professor at the School of International Relations and Pacific Studies and Director of the School’s new Laboratory on International Law and Regulation
Conferences
Electricity and the Human Prospect Conference
During the 20th century electricity spread from tiny islands of experimental service to become the world's most important energy carrier. The fraction of energy converted to electrons before consumption has risen inexorably and approaches 40% worldwide. Few would argue with the judgment of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering that electricity was the most important innovation of the past century. Electricity transformed homes, factories, and offices, the work we do, our health and comfort, and how we spend our time. How will electricity transform the 21st century?
More flexible and cleaner for the end-user than the coal, gas, and other sources of energy services that it replaced, electricity will likely be the form that 55%-60% of energy takes in four to five decades as more and new electrical machines appear in the market. How might life change as this imperial technology conquers new domains?
And what about the 1.6 billion people who today lack access to electricity? Will global electrification be achieved in the coming half century or even sooner? If some regions defy electrification, what are the reasons? How might electrification change occupations and lifestyles of the poor?
During a two-day workshop on the implications of global electrification, we aim to assemble a fresh picture of visions for electrification, its trends in time and space, and selected implications for health, environment, and social and economic organization. We are inviting diverse experts to comment on these issues from the vantage of their disciplines, practice, and research. We are asking each to talk about their current work, ideas, and speculations rather than commission new studies. The novelty of the meeting lies in the diversity of perspectives and the chance to contrast and integrate them. Global electrification is far advanced and may be nearly complete in the coming decades. What will it take, and what may result?
Oksenberg Conference Room
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