Peer-reviewed journal articles, working papers, and other publications apply Stanford’s interdisciplinary strengths in engineering, economics, business, and energy policy to increase global knowledge of low-carbon energy technologies.
Assessing the Costs of Industrial Decarbonization
Companies in various industries are under growing pressure to assess the costs of decarbonizing their operations. This paper develops a generic abatement cost concept to identify the cost-efficient combination of technological and operational…
Fair Market Valuation of Electric Vehicle Batteries in Second Life Applications
The rapidly growing number of lithium-ion battery packs deployed in electric vehicles (EVs) entails enormous economic potential for used EV batteries to be redeployed in a second life application, e.g., for behind-the-meter stationary energy…
Corporate Carbon Accounting: Balance Sheets and Flow Statements
Current corporate disclosures regarding carbon emissions lack commonly accepted accounting rules. The carbon accrual accounting system described here takes the rules of historical cost accounting for operating assets as a template for generating…
Do Mergers and Acquisitions Improve Efficiency? Evidence from Power Plants
Using rich data on hourly physical productivity and thousands of ownership changes from U.S. power plants, we study the effects of acquisitions on efficiency and underlying mechanisms. We find a 2% average increase in efficiency for acquired…
The Gas Trap: Outcompeting Coal vs. Renewables
We analyze a fundamental dilemma and time-inconsistency problem facing a climate coalition producing natural gas. In the short term, it is tempting to export more to outcompete coal. When this policy is anticipated, however, investments in…
Advances in Power-to-Gas Technologies: Cost and Conversion Efficiency
Widespread adoption of hydrogen as an energy carrier is widely believed to require continued advances in Power-to-Gas (PtG) technologies. Here we provide a comprehensive assessment of the dynamics of system prices and conversion efficiency for…
Area Conditions and Positive Incentives: Engaging Local Communities to Protect Forests
Tropical deforestation for agriculture causes alarming CO2 emissions and loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services. To prevent this, various governments and multinational commodity-buyers offer a positive incentive for locals conditional on no…
Corporate Carbon Reporting: Improving Transparency and Accountability
Numerous multinational firms have recently pledged to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to a net-zero position by the year 2050. These pledges currently lack a unified measurement and reporting structure, leaving the public unsure about the…
Executive Compensation Tied to ESG Performance: International Evidence
Using a wide sample of international publicly traded firms, this paper studies the rapidly increasing practice of incorporating Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) metrics in executive compensation contracts. Our evidence suggests that…
Advances in Power-to-Gas Technologies: Cost and Conversion Efficiency
Widespread adoption of hydrogen as an energy carrier is widely believed to require continued advances in Power-to-Gas (PtG) technologies. Here we provide a comprehensive assessment of the dynamics of system prices and conversion efficiency for…
Economics of Grid-Scale Energy Storage in Wholesale Electricity Markets
I investigate the incentives for investing and operating grid-scale energy storage in electricity markets and the need for policies to complement investments with renewables. I develop a new dynamic equilibrium framework that allows for storage’s…
Energy Storage and Conversion: Reversible Power-to-Gas Systems
In the transition to decarbonized energy systems, Power-to-Gas (PtG) processes have the potential to connect the existing markets for electricity and hydrogen. Specifically, reversible PtG systems can convert electricity to hydrogen at times of…
The Economic Dynamics of Competing Power Generation Sources
Competing power generation sources have experienced considerable shifts in both their revenue potential and their costs in recent years. Here we introduce the concept…
Transparency on the Path to Net-Zero
We propose and describe a corporate carbon reporting framework intended to strengthen the credibility and transparency of the existing net-zero pledges. We refer to this framework as the Time-Consistent Corporate Carbon Reporting (TCCR) standard…
Corporate Carbon Reduction Pledges: An Effective Tool to Mitigate Climate Change?
In this article we first summarize the specific plans articulated by seven major corporations for reducing their Corporate Carbon Footprints (abbreviated as CCF from hereon). Our sample is not intended to be representative of the broader…
Cost Dynamics of Clean Energy Technologies
The pace of the global decarbonization process is widely believed to hinge on the rate of cost improvements for clean energy technologies, in particular renewable power and energy storage. This paper adopts the classical learning-by-doing…
The Impact of Carbon Disclosure Mandates on Emissions and Financial Operating Performance
We examine the impact of a disclosure mandate for greenhouse gas emissions on firms’ subsequent emission levels and financial operating performance. For UK-incorporated listed firms a carbon disclosure mandate was adopted in 2013. Our difference-…
Clean Energy Technologies: Dynamics of Cost and Price
The rapid transition to a decarbonized energy economy is widely believed to hinge on the rate of cost improvements for certain clean energy technologies, in particular renewable power and energy storage. This paper adopts the classical learning-…
Transitioning to Clean Energy Transportation Services: Life-Cycle Cost Analysis for Vehicle Fleets
Comprehensive global decarbonization requires that transportation services cease to rely on fossil fuels for power generation. This paper develops a generic, time-driven life-cycle cost model for mobility services to address two closely related…
Life-Cycle Cost of Transportation Services
The rapid deployment of electric vehicles is widely viewed as a promising path towards decarbonizing the transportation sector. The pace at which electric vehicles will replace those with internal combustion engines will depend to a large extent…
The Impact of Carbon Disclosure Mandates on Emissions and Financial Operating Performance
We examine whether a disclosure mandate for greenhouse gas emissions creates stakeholder pressure for firms to subsequently reduce their emissions. For UK-incorporated listed firms such a mandate was adopted in 2013. Using a difference-in-…
Synergistic Value in Vertically Integrated Power‐to‐Gas Energy Systems
In vertically integrated energy systems, integration frequently entails operational gains that must be traded off against the requisite cost of capacity investments. In the context of the model analyzed in this study, the operational gains are…
The Emergence of Cost Effective Battery Storage
Energy storage will be key to overcoming the intermittency and variability of renewable energy sources. Here, we propose a metric for the cost of energy storage and for identifying optimally sized storage systems. The levelized cost of energy…
Economics of Converting Renewable Power to Hydrogen
The recent sharp decline in the cost of renewable energy suggests that the production of hydrogen from renewable power through a power-to-gas process might become more economical. Here we examine this alternative from the perspective of an…
The Road Ahead for Solar PV Power
Over the past decade, solar photovoltaic (PV) power has experienced dramatic deployment growth coupled with substantial decreases in system prices. This article examines how solar PV power is currently positioned in the electricity marketplace…
The Emergence of Cost Effective Battery Storage
Energy storage will be key to overcoming the intermittency and variability of renewable energy sources, like wind and solar power. This paper proposes a cost metric for measuring the cost of energy storage and for identifying optimally sized…
Managerial Flexibility in Levelized Cost Measures: A Framework for Incorporating Uncertainty in Energy Investment Decisions
Many irreversible long-run capital investments entail opportunities for managers to respond flexibly to changes in the economic environment. However, common levelized cost measures used to guide decision-making, such as the levelized cost of…
Operational Volatility and Synergistic Value in Vertically Integrated Energy Systems
We examine the magnitude of synergistic effects in vertically integrated energy systems that arise when the external market for an intermediate input (electricity) is imperfect and the two subsystems are subject to operational volatility in terms…
The Prospects for Renewable Hydrogen Production
Hydrogen has long been heralded as a potentially critical element in the transition to a low carbon economy. The recent sharp cost declines for renewable energy raise the question whether an economic case can be made to produce hydrogen from…
Managerial Flexibility in Levelized Cost Measures: A Framework for Incorporating Uncertainty in Energy Investment Decisions
Many irreversible long-run capital investments entail opportunities for managers to respond flexibly to changes in the economic environment. However, common levelized cost measures used to guide decision-making, such as the levelized cost of…
Carbon Capture and Utilization in the Industrial Sector
The fabrication and manufacturing processes of industrial commodities such as iron, glass, and cement are carbon-intensive, accounting for 23% of global CO2 emissions. As a climate mitigation strategy, CO2 capture from flue gases of industrial…
Emerging Clean Energy Technology Investment Trends
Early-stage capital providers and clean energy technology incubators are supporting a new wave of innovations focused on end-use efficiency and demand control. This wave complements expanding investments in supply technologies required for…
Relating Product Prices to Long-Run Marginal Cost: Evidence from Solar Photovoltaic Modules
A basic tenet of microeconomics is that for a competitive industry in equilibrium the market price of a product will be equal to its marginal cost. This paper develops a model framework and a corresponding empirical inference procedure for…
Enabling Mini-Grid Development in Rural India
Rural electrification rates in India lag behind government goals, in part due to the inability of distribution companies (discoms) to fund central grid expansion. In the absence of central grid electrification, mini-grids offer significant…
Cost Competitiveness of Residential Solar PV: The Impact of Net Metering Restrictions
The policy of net metering allows operators of residential and commercial solar PV systems to sell surplus electricity back to their utility at the going retail rate. This policy has recently been criticized on the grounds that it provides a…
Dynamic Natural Monopoly Regulation: Time Inconsistency, Asymmetric Information, and Political Environments
This paper quantitatively assesses time inconsistency, moral hazard, and political ideology in monopoly regulation of electricity distribution. We specify and estimate a dynamic model of utility regulation featuring investment and moral hazard.…
The U.S. Investment Tax Credit for Solar Energy: Alternatives to the Anticipated 2017 Step-Down
Solar photovoltaic (PV) installations in the United States have been deployed at a rapid pace in recent years, a development that is attributed in significant part to the federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC). Yet, this credit is scheduled to step-…
Economic Value of Flexible Hydrogen-Based Polygeneration Energy Systems
Polygeneration energy systems (PES) have the potential to provide a flexible, high-efficiency, and low-emissions alternative for power generation and chemical synthesis from fossil fuels. This study aims to assess the economic value of fossil-…
Sustainable Investing at Generation Investment Management
In 2015, Generation Investment Management celebrated the successful 10-year track record of its flagship Global Equity Fund, which outperformed its benchmark index by over 500 basis points per year. A mainstream investment firm whose founders…
Levelized Product Cost: Concept and Decision Relevance
We examine a life-cycle cost concept that applies to both manufacturing and service industries in which upfront capacity investments are essential. Borrowing from the energy literature, we refer to this cost measure as the Levelized Product Cost…
Are the Recent Declines in Solar PV Module Prices Sustainable?
Once dismissed as unrealistically expensive, solar photovoltaic (PV) power has been on a remarkable run lately: according to Bloomberg Professional Service, in comparison to the start of the decade, the annual installations of new solar PV power…
Time of Day Pricing and the Levelized Cost of Intermittent Power Generation
An important characteristic of most renewable energy sources is intermittency in their ability to generate electricity. Yet, intermittency is usually ignored in life-cycle cost calculations intended to assess the competitiveness of electric power…
Incentives for Early Adoption of Carbon Capture Technology
We analyze a policy proposal for regulating the next generation of baseload electricity generation facilities in the United States. The cornerstone of this regulation is a (hypothetical) EPA mandate for an emission standard of 80 kg of CO2 per…
The Effectiveness of Domestic Content Criteria in India's Solar Mission
Often, a goal of renewable energy policies is the development of domestic renewable energy technology manufacturing capacity. The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (NSM) in India is an example; besides targeting an installation of 20 GW of…
The Prospects for Cost Competitive Solar PV Power
New solar Photovoltaic (PV) installations have grown globally at a rapid pace in recent years. We provide a comprehensive assessment of the cost competitiveness of this electric power source. Based on data available for the second half of 2011,…
On the Value of Input-Efficiency, Capacity-Efficiency, and the Flexibility to Rebalance Them
A common characteristic of basic material manufacturers (which account for 85% of all industrial energy use) and of cleantech manufacturers is that they are price-takers in their input and output markets. Variability in those prices has…
Operations Management Challenges for Some “Clean-Tech” Firms
This article describes the production processes of and operations management (“OM”) challenges facing several innovative “clean-tech companies. The organizations under consideration comprise those in the energy-efficient building, transportation…
Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions Through Operations and Supply Chain Management
The experiences of the largest corporation in the world and those of a start-up company show how companies can profitably reduce greenhouse gas emissions in their supply chains. The operations management literature suggests additional…
Dynamics of Rate-of-Return Regulation
Under rate-of-return regulation, a firm’s product prices are constrained by the requirement that investors not earn more than an allowable return on the firm’s assets. This paper examines the dynamic properties of the rate-of-return regulation…
Environmental Performance under Voluntary versus Mandatory Disclosure
Governments are beginning to mandate that firms disclose information about social and environmental impacts in their supply chains (e.g., regarding conflict minerals and greenhouse gas emissions). This paper shows that such a…
Improving Environmental Performance in Your Chinese Supply Chain
It’s not easy, but some leading companies have found that the right incentives and collaborative efforts can help their suppliers achieve better environmental performance. For this MIT Sloan Management Review article, Stanford Professors Hau L.…
The Greening of WalMart’s Supply Chain… Revisited
In 2007, SCMR featured an article on Walmart’s burgeoning sustainability program, focusing on eight specific initiatives being undertaken at the company. Four years later, the author of that article, Erica Plambeck of Stanford, and colleague Lyn…
Carbon Capture by Fossil Fuel Power Plants: An Economic Analysis
For fossil fuel power plants to be built in the future, carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies offer the potential for significant reductions in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. We examine the break-even value for CCS adoptions, that is,…