Blogs
Revisiting the Energy Paradox: Do Quantity and Price of Energy Efficient Appliances Respond to Changes in Energy Prices and Interest Rates?
The WEER Student Blog Series features student reviews of presentations from UHERO’s Workshop on Energy and Environmental Policy Abstract: The notion of an energy efficiency gap posits that people under-invest in energy efficiency, since the present value of savings from more energy-efficient appliances, cars and other energy-consuming durable goods tends to far exceed their additional up-front cost. A […]
Read MoreCan Cheap Oil Hurt Net Importers? Evidence from the Philippine Economy
The WEER Student Blog Series features student reviews of presentations from UHERO’s Workshop on Energy and Environmental Policy Abstract: Conventional wisdom suggests that oil price increases have a negative effect on the output of oil-importing countries. This is grounded in the experience of the US between 1940s and late 1980s where recessions are generally preceded […]
Read MoreInforming Water Policy in Hawaii with Transformative Interdisciplinary Research: UHERO’s Role in ʻIke Wai
By Kimberly Burnett and Christopher Wada UHERO’s Project Environment will be leading the economic analysis for a new National Science Foundation project addressing critical gaps in the understanding of Hawaii’s fresh water supply that limit decision making, planning and crisis responses. ‘Ike Wai (from the Hawaiian ‘ike, (knowledge), and wai, (water) spans geophysics, microbiology, cyberinfrastructure, […]
Read MoreHawaii Innovation Matters
By Carl Bonham Innovation is the key to economic growth and prosperity. In the US, innovation-led productivity growth accounts for roughly half of all the increase in US GDP. And despite our increasingly connected global economy, innovation occurs at the regional level. While there is no shortage of reports that provide snapshots of Hawaii’s innovation […]
Read MoreWhat a Difference a Rate Makes
By Michael Roberts UHERO’s Energy Planning and Policy Group has been writing about how variable pricing of electricity, both wholesale and retail, can lower the cost of intermittent renewables. Get the rates right, and facilitate easy open-access to the grid for both buyers and sellers, and amazing things can happen. The idea is that variable […]
Read MoreCost-Effectiveness of Controlling Invasive Miconia via Herbicide Ballistic Technology
By Kimberly Burnett and Christopher Wada Miconia calvescens is an invasive tree native to South and Central America that grows up to 50 feet with shallow root systems that promote erosion. The trees form thick monotypic stands, shading out native plants and threatening the watershed function of Hawaii’s forests. The quick growing miconia can mature […]
Read MoreIncentives for the Utility
By Michael Roberts *This post follows up on two previous installments in the Sustainable Energy Blog Series: Embrace Policy Experiments for Demand Response and Four Years to Improve Renewable Energy. Perhaps the greatest obstacle to a renewable-energy future is that our utility, Hawaiian Electric Industries (HEI), has little or no incentive to transform its operation into a […]
Read MoreEmbrace Policy Experiments for Demand Response
By Michael Roberts *This post follows up on the previous post in the Sustainable Energy Blog Series: Four Years to Improve Renewable Energy. HECO has recently proposed new time-of-use rates and is developing pricing for various kinds of demand response programs. The proposed programs are a long ways from the open-access, marginal-cost pricing, but they […]
Read MoreFour Years to Improve Renewable Energy
By Michael Roberts Without the debt-ceiling hijinks of earlier years, the federal budget bill passed at the end of last year with a lot less drama and press coverage. But little news turned out to be good news, at least for Hawai`i and renewable energy interests. The spending bill included an extension of the 30% […]
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