Resources Radio Resources for the Future

In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Dick Schmalensee, a professor emeritus of the MIT Sloan School of Management and a former chair of the board of directors at Resources for the Future. Schmalensee and Raimi cover the takeaways from a recent study on the future of energy storage that Schmalensee coauthored, along with related insights and implications for current and future policy. They discuss the role of energy storage in a net-zero-emissions electricity system, the strengths and weaknesses of key energy storage technologies, and what these technologies might cost.

References and recommendations:

“The Future of Energy Storage” by Robert Armstrong, Yet-Ming Chiang, Howard Gruenspecht, Fikile Brushett, John Deutch, Seiji Engelkemier, Emre Gençer, Robert Jaffe, Paul Joskow, Dharik Mallapragada, Elsa Olivetti, Richard Schmalensee, Robert Stoner, Chi-Jen Yang, Bjorn Brandtzaeg, Patrick Brown, Kevin Huang, Johannes Pfeifenberger, Francis O’Sullivan, Yang Shao-Horn, Meia Alsup, Andres Badel, Marc Barbar, Weiran Gao, Drake Hernandez, Cristian Junge, Thaneer Malai Narayanan, Kara Rodby, and Cathy Wang; https://energy.mit.edu/research/future-of-energy-storage/

“As the Great Salt Lake Dries Up, Utah Faces an ‘Environmental Nuclear Bomb’” by Christopher Flavelle; https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/07/climate/salt-lake-city-climate-disaster.html

“A durable US climate strategy … or a house of cards?” by Richard Richels, Benjamin Santer, Henry Jacoby, and Gary Yohe; https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2022/06/a-durable-u-s-climate-strategy-or-a-house-of-cards/

In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Elke Weber, a social psychology professor at Princeton University who studies how people make choices. Weber and Raimi discuss how people’s choices matter for climate change; the ways that companies, governments, and society shape decisions on energy use and civic engagement; how those decisions get incorporated into policy analysis; and more.

References and recommendations:

Project Drawdown; https://drawdown.org/

“Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming” edited by Paul Hawken; https://drawdown.org/the-book

“Elements of Choice: Why the Way We Decide Matters” by Eric Johnson; https://theelementsofchoice.com/

“All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis” edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katharine K. Wilkinson; https://www.allwecansave.earth/anthology

In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Regan Patterson, an incoming assistant professor at UCLA who recently completed a fellowship as a Transportation Equity Research Fellow at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. Patterson describes how the US transportation system has led to environmental injustice and inequitable access to mobility services. She and Raimi talk about how this situation came to be; potential policy solutions; and how cities, states, and the federal government can address these issues moving forward.

References and recommendations:

“Gender, Climate and Transport in the United States” by Regan Patterson from the Women’s Environment and Development Organization; https://wedo.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/WEDO_PolicyBriefonTransport_July15.pdf

“Dangerous by Design 2021” by Smart Growth America; https://smartgrowthamerica.org/dangerous-by-design/

“Carbon trading, co-pollutants, and environmental equity: Evidence from California’s cap-and-trade program (2011–2015)” by Lara Cushing, Dan Blaustein-Rejto, Madeline Wander, Manuel Pastor, James Sadd, Allen Zhu, and Rachel Morello-Frosch; https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002604

Black in Environment; https://www.blackinenviron.org/

“Black Like Plastic” short film; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ta-IaB8Y0I

In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Bobby Tudor, the chair of the Houston Energy Transition Initiative and the founder and former CEO of the Houston-based investment and merchant bank Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. In his new role with the Houston Energy Transition Initiative, Tudor focuses on how Houston can take the lead in the energy transition away from fossil fuels. He and Raimi talk about the history of Houston, how oil and gas came to play such a big part in the city’s economy, the strengths that the current energy incumbents can leverage in a transition to net-zero emissions, what Houston’s economy might look like in 20 or 30 years, and what roadblocks could stand in the way.

References and recommendations:

“How to Avoid a Climate Disaster” by Bill Gates; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/633968/how-to-avoid-a-climate-disaster-by-bill-gates/

“Once-Oil-Dependent Texas Economy to Keep Growing as Renewable Energy Expands” by Christopher Slijk and Keith R. Phillips; https://www.dallasfed.org/research/swe/2021/swe2103/swe2103b.aspx

This week’s episode is the final installment of a three-part series that celebrates the 70th anniversary of Resources for the Future (RFF). In this episode, host Daniel Raimi looks toward the future of RFF, as seen through the eyes of the organization’s talented and dedicated research analysts and associates. RFF’s research analysts gather and analyze data, review published studies, help write papers and reports, and do it all with dedication and enthusiasm. They’re an essential part of the organization’s research. In this episode, Raimi talks with RFF Research Analysts Emily Joiner, Sophie Pesek, Nicholas Roy, and Steven Witkin, along with Senior Research Associate and Geographic Information Systems Coordinator Alexandra Thompson. While these young scholars share how they first got interested in environmental economics, they mostly focus on the future by lending insights about the topics they think RFF scholars will be working on in 20 or 30 years—and what role they see for themselves in that future.

References and recommendations:

“Chesapeake” by James A. Michener; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/114052/chesapeake-by-james-a-michener/

“Alaska” by James A. Michener; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/114041/alaska-by-james-a-michener/

“Hawaii” by James A. Michener; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/114063/hawaii-by-james-a-michener/

“Caribbean” by James A. Michener; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/114048/caribbean-by-james-a-michener/

“Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future” by Elizabeth Kolbert; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/617060/under-a-white-sky-by-elizabeth-kolbert/

“The Age of Revolution: 1789–1848” by Eric Hobsbawm; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/80964/the-age-of-revolution-1749-1848-by-eric-hobsbawm/

“Rip It Up and Start Again” by Simon Reynolds; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/291130/rip-it-up-and-start-again-by-simon-reynolds/

“A Sand County Almanac” by Aldo Leopold; https://www.aldoleopold.org/store/a-sand-county-almanac/

“Severance” television series; https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11280740/

This week’s episode is the second in a three-part series that celebrates the 70th anniversary of Resources for the Future (RFF). First and foremost, RFF is a research organization—which means that it’s typically the researchers who are the focus of the work and attention at RFF. But on one fateful day, “Resources Radio” podcast hosts Kristin Hayes and Daniel Raimi did something pretty different from their usual podcast routine: they gave listeners a flavor of what RFF looks like today, across the spectrum of the organization. A lot happens behind the scenes at RFF, and many fantastic contributors help get the work done. This quite spontaneous episode involved wandering from office to office, tapping people on the shoulder to hear their thoughts, with precious little advance notice. This episode showcases diverse voices that speak to the various ways people at RFF contribute to the organization’s mission.