Resources Radio

In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Brad Harris, the director of government affairs at Resources for the Future, about the increasing demand for electricity in the United States. Harris discusses the main sources of this surge in electricity demand, also known as load growth; the challenges that load growth poses to goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions that have been set by utilities and the United States; and tools available to utilities and policymakers that can help meet growing demand and mitigate the effects of load growth on ratepayers and emissions. References and recommendations: “Harlan County, USA” documentary; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlan_County,_USA “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room” documentary; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enron:_The_Smartest_Guys_in_the_Room

In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Lisa Rennels, a PhD candidate at the University of California, Berkeley, about a class of synthetic industrial chemicals used in air-conditioners, refrigerators, and other technologies: hydrofluorocarbons. Rennels discusses the proliferation of these chemicals in recent decades, the cost of hydrofluorocarbon emissions to society, the feedback loop between global warming and increased use of these chemicals for air-conditioning, and global efforts to reduce the emissions of hydrofluorocarbons. References and recommendations: “The social costs of hydrofluorocarbons and the benefits from their expedited phase-down” by Tammy Tan, Lisa Rennels, and Bryan Parthum; https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-023-01898-9 “Comprehensive Evidence Implies a Higher Social Cost of CO₂” by Kevin Rennert, Frank Errickson, Brian C. Prest, Lisa Rennels, Richard G. Newell, William Pizer, Cora Kingdon, Jordan Wingenroth, Roger Cooke, Bryan Parthum, David Smith, Kevin Cromar, Delavane Diaz, Frances C. Moore, Ulrich K. Müller, Richard J. Plevin, Adrian E. Raftery, Hana Ševčíková, Hannah Sheets, James Stock, Tammy Tan, Mark Watson, Tony E. Wong, and David Anthoff; https://www.rff.org/publications/journal-articles/comprehensive-evidence-implies-a-higher-social-cost-of-co2/ “The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizen’s Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear” by Paul Rogat Loeb; https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/paul-rogat-loeb/the-impossible-will-take-a-little-while/9780465038589 “Not the End of the World: How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet” by Hannah Ritchie; https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/hannah-ritchie/not-the-end-of-the-world/9780316536752/ “Are we the last generation—or the first sustainable one?” TED Talk by Hannah Ritchie; https://www.ted.com/talks/hannah_ritchie_are_we_the_last_generation_or_the_first_sustainable_one “The High Sierra: A Love Story” by Kim Stanley Robinson; https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/kim-stanley-robinson/the-high-sierra/9780316306812

Susan Tierney discusses the future of fossil fuels in the US, focusing on challenges in meeting climate goals while maintaining energy security and supporting coal, oil, and gas communities. The podcast covers the uncertainties in transitioning away from fossil fuels, the perspectives of electric and gas utilities, and recommendations for a decarbonized future.

In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Simon Greenhill (PhD candidate at the University of California, Berkeley) and Hannah Druckenmiller (university fellow at Resources for the Future and assistant professor at the California Institute of Technology). Along with other coauthors, Greenhill and Druckenmiller recently published an article in the journal Science that uses a new machine learning model to predict which waterways are regulated under the Clean Water Act according to different definitions of what the Clean Water Act calls “waters of the United States.” Greenhill and Druckenmiller discuss the differences in regulation when considering a broader or narrower interpretation of waters of the United States, along with the implications for wetland protection, clean water, and flood mitigation. References and recommendations: “Machine learning predicts which rivers, streams, and wetlands the Clean Water Act regulates” by Simon Greenhill, Hannah Druckenmiller, Sherrie Wang, David A. Keiser, Manuela Girotto, Jason K. Moore, Nobuhiro Yamaguchi, Alberto Todeschini, and Joseph S. Shapiro; https://www.rff.org/publications/journal-articles/machine-learning-predicts-which-rivers-streams-and-wetlands-the-clean-water-act-regulates/ Clean Water Act regulation map; https://simondgreenhill.github.io/wotus-map/ Clean Water Act regulation map explainer video by Simon Greenhill; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jkhz5gVUo2w&ab “Wetlands, Flooding, and the Clean Water Act” by Charles A. Taylor and Hannah Druckenmiller; https://www.rff.org/publications/working-papers/wetlands-flooding-and-the-clean-water-act/ “The Hungry Tide” by Amitav Ghosh; https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-hungry-tide-amitav-ghosh “The High Sierra: A Love Story” by Kim Stanley Robinson; https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/kim-stanley-robinson/the-high-sierra/9780316306812/

In this week’s episode, host Kristin Hayes talks with James Cox, a professor at Duke University, about a rule issued by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that mandates publicly traded firms to disclose certain greenhouse gas emissions associated with business operations. Cox discusses how the rule standardizes the disclosures of certain climate-related risks that firms face, the differences between the final rule and the initial rule proposed by the commission in 2022, the potential challenges of verifying emissions from a company’s suppliers and customers, and the value of transparency and information for investors. References and recommendations: “Special Series: The SEC Climate Disclosure Rule” from the “Common Resources” blog; https://www.resources.org/special-series-sec/

In this week’s episode, host Margaret Walls talks with Lala Ma, an associate professor of economics at the University of Kentucky and a new university fellow at Resources for the Future, about the effect on housing prices in California of informing homebuyers about the risk of wildfire. Ma discusses how California classifies and discloses the risk of wildfire throughout the state, the difference in housing prices between areas in which wildfire risk is disclosed and areas where that disclosure isn’t mandated, and factors that may influence the willingness of an individual to pay more to avoid wildfire risk. References and recommendations: “Risk Disclosure and Home Prices: Evidence from California Wildfire Hazard Zones” by Lala Ma, Margaret A. Walls, Matthew Wibbenmeyer, and Connor Lennon; https://www.rff.org/publications/working-papers/risk-disclosure-and-home-prices-evidence-from-california-wildfire-hazard-zones Books by Emily Oster, including “Expecting Better” and “Cribsheet”; https://emilyoster.net/writing/ “The Two-Parent Privilege: How Americans Stopped Getting Married and Started Falling Behind” by Melissa S. Kearney; https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/T/bo205550079.html

In this week’s episode, host Daniel Rami talks with Jeffrey Rissman, a senior director at Energy Innovation and the author of “Zero-Carbon Industry,” a new book about decarbonizing the global industrial sector. Rissman discusses the sources of greenhouse gas emissions in major subsectors—iron and steel, chemicals, and cement—and some technologies and policies that could help reduce or eliminate emissions from these subsectors. References and recommendations: “Zero-Carbon Industry: Transformative Technologies and Policies to Achieve Sustainable Prosperity” by Jeffrey Rissman; https://zerocarbonindustry.com/ “Daybreak” board game; https://www.daybreakgame.org/

In this week’s episode, host Daniel Rami talks with Heather Randell, an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota, about dams and reservoirs that have been built on Native American reservations in the United States. Reservoirs are built by damming a river and flooding an area of land; in the United States, Native American reservations have been disrupted by the construction of reservoirs, dispossessed of their land despite longstanding treaties with the US government. Randell discusses the history of the development of dams on reservation lands, the social and economic effects of dams on Native nations, and how the repair or removal of dams can benefit Native nations today. References and recommendations: “Dams and Tribal Land Loss in the United States” by Heather Randell and Andrew Curley; https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/acd268 “Dammed Indians” by Michael L. Lawson; https://books.google.com/books/about/Dammed_Indians.html?id=uuPAasyix8EC “Yellow Bird: Oil, Murder, and a Woman’s Search for Justice in Indian Country” by Sierra Crane Murdoch; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/545014/yellow-bird-by-sierra-crane-murdoch/

In this week’s episode, host Margaret Walls talks with Carlos Martín, a project director at the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University and a university fellow at Resources for the Future, about housing adaptation and resilience amid climate change, using as a primary example New Orleans housing infrastructure after Hurricane Katrina. Martín argues that the resilience of housing infrastructure is key to climate adaptation, particularly for economically disadvantaged communities. He also discusses how residential buildings produce emissions and contribute to climate change; achieving US decarbonization goals will require related upgrades and improvements, which not all households can tackle with ease. References and recommendations: “Housing Resilience in Greater New Orleans: Perceptions of and Home Adaptations to Climate Hazards in Post-Katrina Louisiana” by Carlos Martín, Claudia D. Solari, Anne N. Junod, and Rebecca Marx; https://www.urban.org/research/publication/housing-resilience-greater-new-orleans “Exploring Climate Change in US Housing Policy” by Carlos Martín; https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10511482.2022.2012030 “Accelerating Decarbonization in the United States: Technology, Policy, and Societal Dimensions” by Stephen W. Pacala, Danielle Deane-Ryan, Alexandra Fazeli, Julia H. Haggerty, Chris T. Hendrickson, Roxanne Johnson, Timothy C. Lieuwen, Vivian E. Loftness, Carlos E. Martín, Michael A. Méndez, Clark A. Miller, Jonathan A. Patz, Keith Paustian, William Pizer, Ed Rightor, Patricia Romero-Lankao, Devashree Saha, Kelly Sims Gallagher, Susan F. Tierney, and William Walker; https://nap.nationalacademies.org/resource/25931/interactive/ “Pathways to Prosperity: Building Climate Resilience” by Allison Plyer, Alysha Rashid, Elaine Ortiz, Taylor Savell, and John Kilcoyne; https://www.p2pclimate.org/ “The Rise of the American Conservation Movement: Power, Privilege, and Environmental Protection” by Dorceta E. Taylor; https://www.dukeupress.edu/the-rise-of-the-american-conservation-movement

In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Ben Cahill, a senior fellow in the Energy Security and Climate Change Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, about the Biden administration’s recent decision to pause approvals on the construction of new facilities that export liquefied natural gas. Cahill discusses the history of natural gas production in the United States and arguments for and against increasing US exports of natural gas, including considerations of energy security in nations that are allies of the United States, national and global climate goals, and environmental justice. References and recommendations: “Escaping the Resource Curse” edited by Macartan Humphreys, Jeffrey D. Sachs, and Joseph E. Stiglitz; https://cup.columbia.edu/book/escaping-the-resource-curse/9780231141963 “The Nutmeg’s Curse” by Amitav Ghosh; https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/N/bo125517349.html