• Energy Research

A combination of reasons is resulting in the reevaluation of cost-benefit analysis of the energy efficiency programs. In particular, the Total Resource Cost test and the Societal Cost test are being questioned as to whether they should be replaced by the Program Administrator Cost test. This paper makes the case against replacing these tests.

Abstract Non-energy benefits of energy efficiency programs have been studied as early as 1993, and there have been hundreds of papers and reports published since then, many of them finding that NEB are significant. Yet many U.S. states do not include NEB in their cost-benefit analyses. This article tries to provide some insight into this mismatch between the findings of NEB research and policy by analyzing the empirical basis of such research.

Abstract Four key factors—bounded rationality, asset specificity, opportunism, and uncertainty—mean the electric power industry cannot function effectively without governance agreements. Three areas of important concern are broadly conceived dispute resolution policies, transparency-enhancing policies, and auditing policies.

A comparison of two studies conducted ten years apart on energy accidents provides important insights into methodological issues and policy implications. Recommendations for further improvements in energy accident studies are developed including accounting for differences between average and incremental accident damages, testing for appropriate levels of aggregation of accidents, making references and databases publicly available, more precisely defining and reporting different types of economic damages, accounting for involuntary and voluntary risks, reporting normalized damages, raising broader public policy and planning implications and updating existing accident databases.

A top-down modeling methodology is proposed as a tool to evaluate the composite reliability performance of a bulk power system. Applications to understanding reliability tradeoffs are examined. Directions for future research are discussed.

Numerous energy policy proposals are being articulated and advanced that vary along many dimensions, including problem definition, disciplinary origination and focus, scope, scale, and comprehensiveness. This paper provides a framework that evaluates the wide range of energy proposals and transcends the particular approach used in a specific proposal. Proposals, if they are to be successful, must be examined within the context of the world energy system (WES), which is a complex, large-scale, integrated, open, sociotechnical system with sunk assets subject to uncertainty and the response to incentives of consumers and producers. Several categories are proposed in order to classify energy policies. Using this categorization scheme and the concept of a WES, generic limitations of various energy policies can be identified. They are the comprehensiveness, boundary, and feedback problems. The result is that policymakers have a tool to classify, understand, and critique energy proposals, enhancing their ability to evaluate them, and analysts have a framework to guide their work.