UHERO
Energy
UHERO fellows conduct research to evaluate impacts of past and prospective energy-related policies, and engage with policymakers and stakeholders on contemporary and emerging energy issues, such as natural hazard resilience and associated clean air goals, energy efficiency, electric vehicles, and carbon taxes.
Do electric vehicle incentives matter? Evidence from the 50 U.S. states
UHERO congratulates Sherilyn Wee, Makena Coffman, and Sumner La Croix on the publication of, “Do electric vehicle incentives matter? Evidence from the 50 U.S. states,”…
Not All Regions Are Alike: Evaluating the Effect of Oil Price Shocks on Local and Aggregate Economies
Using a sample of 48 contiguous U.S. states for the period 1973-2013, we study how oil price shocks influence state-level economic growth. The analysis incorporates…
Who are Driving Electric Vehicles? An analysis of factors that affect EV adoption in Hawaii
This study uses data on EV registrations by zipcode in Hawaii to analyze a variety of demographic and transportation factors that might affect EV adoption.…
A Pocket Full of PIMs
By Michael Roberts In the arcane parlance of utility regulation, PIMs are “Performance Incentive Mechanisms.” This is where we’re headed because, slightly against my expectation,…
Variable Pricing and the Cost of Renewable Energy
On a levelized-cost basis, solar and wind power generation are now competitive with fossil fuels, and still falling. But supply of these renewable resources is…
Should regulators fear bond-rating agencies?
By Michael Roberts It seems that our political and administrative leaders worry about the bond rating agencies. Their fear is understandable. The cost of capital…
Determinants of Residential Solar Photovoltaic Adoption
Hawaii is a leader in distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) adoption. It has the highest rate of PV-based electricity penetration in the U.S. and rivals global…
Residential Battery Systems and the Best Time to Invest: A case study of Hawaii
Battery storage is a complementary technology to intermittent natural hazard resilience sources. In particular, it pairs well with solar photovoltaic (PV) systems to capture excess…
Bringing together energy and climate change policy
By Sherilyn Wee We hear a lot about Hawaii’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) which requires 100% of the utilities’ net electricity sales to come from…