Chris Gadomski's Introduction to Energy Policy at NYU Center for Global Affairs

New York University
School of Continuing and Professional Studies
M.S. Program in Global Affairs
GLOB1-GC.2400 -- Introduction to Energy Policy
Summer 2012, Monday, Wednesdays, 6:00-9:10pm
DRAFT May 5, 2012

INSTRUCTOR: Chris Gadomski
http://www.smidirect.net/nyu
OFFICE HOURS: Mondays by appointment
OFFICE PHONE:914.993.9060
E-mail:gadomski@nyu.edu

Course Objective

Major drivers of energy policy are social goals, resource availability, pricing, security and climate change. Accordingly, in examing energy policy, we will explore these issues from a social, technological, economic, environmental and political perspective.

Our objective in this course will not only be to understand the drivers that make this web of issues so complex, but to also understand how these issues evolve into a coherent or dysfunctional energy policy. Another primary objective in this course is attempting to tease out politics from energy policy. What are the the objective numbers that illuminate fundamental issues of energy policy. For this we will refer to "Do the math" a blog that empasizes physics and estimation to assess energy growth options.

During the spring of 2012, we have the luxury of observing energy policy in the wake of several remarkable energy events: the Deep Horizon oil spill, the Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami which triggered Fukushima Dai-ichi, the bankruptcy of Solyndra, a solar energy favorite of the current US administration that received $536m in government loans, and near record low natural gas prices. These have impacted US energy policy as well as policy advocated elsewhere in North America and around the globe.

How are energy policy issues now being molded and manipulated? And why? A key objective of this course is differentiating the rhetoric from fact by understanding the data and the technologies that drive decision making. In this regard, we will examine closely the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.

As a result of climate change, energy policy has a much more global dimension. Although countries around the world are unique, the same economic, energy and environmental issues challenge them. An idealist would hope that the governments of the world’s nations would work in harmony to adopt the most effective energy policies that maximize the economic, environmental and social benefits for their citizens. A realist would suggest the global economic environment doesn’t work that way. What benefits one nation may harm another.

In neighboring France and Germany, for example, nuclear power plays and will play a very different role in the future. The same can also be said about Korea and Japan in the wake of Fukushima. In many cases, the best policies or technologies may not yet be evident and/or require significant investment to realize. And, who should make these decisions? Is government qualified, or is the marketplace a better manager? Within a country, lobbyists may sway government to adopt policies that don’t maximize the benefit to the majority, but rather are self serving. Think corn ethanol. Tried and true policies of the past may no longer work as rising levels of CO2 in the atmosphere change the dynamics of energy production. Together we will lay down a solid foundation in energy issues and technologies so that you can better assess, and hopefully, guide energy policy.

I challenge you to set aside partisan views and to think critically about energy technologies, global economic competition, our global environment, and our social responsibility. Through this prism imagine what energy policies may best carry the US and other countries through the 21st century.

Course Structure

This is an applied course that will be taught as a seminar. We will learn about energy policy through extensive reading, lectures, case analysis and class discussion. Our starting point is a great reading list and clips from the daily newspapers that will form the foundation for our class discussions. We will complete our course with a semester-long individual project that will examine the energy policies of selected countries designed to simulate the real decision making issues you would face as experts formulating energy policy.

Required Reading

A book list has not been provided to the bookstore.

• Wade Allison, Radiation and Reason, The Impact of Science on a Culture of Fear, (York, UK: York Publishing Services, 2011) ISBN 9780956275639, http://www.radiationandreason.com
• Robert Bryce, Power Hungary, (New York: Public Affairs, 2010) ISBN 9781586487898 ($9.89)
• Rebecca D. Costa, The Watchman's Rattle, (Vanguard Press, 2010) eISBN 9781593156503 ($10.78)
• David MacKay, Sustainable Energy -- without the hot air, Version 3.5.2, November 3, 2008, (free download), UIT Cambridge Ltd., 2009 ISBN 978-0-9544529-3-3
• Vaclav Smil, Energy Myths and Realities, (Washington, DC:The AEI Press, 2010) ISBN-13: 9780844743288 ($18.35)
• German Energy Policy, 28 September 2010, http://www.bmu.de/files/english/pdf/application/pdf/energiekonzept_bundesregierung_en.pdf
• 10 Years of Experience in Carbon Finance, 2010
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTCARBONFINANCE/Resources/10_Years_of_Experience_in_CF_August_2010.pdf

Additional online Acts/articles/chapters supplementing the reading are:

• American Power Act
• Copenhagen Consensus Papers:

The Challenges
Global Warming Perspective Paper: Christopher Green
Global Warming Perspective Paper: Anil Markandya

• Do the Math, UCSD's Tom Murphy's blog about using physics and estimation to assess energy, growth, options
• Investment: Risk, Return and the Role of Policy
• Energy Policy Recommendations, National Commission on Energy Policy, April 2007.
• Pollin, Robert Heidi Garrett-Peltier, James Heintz, and Helen Scharber with Kit Batten and Bracken Hendricks, “Green Recovery A Program to Create Good Jobs and Start Building a Low-Carbon Economy” September 2008.
• The United Nations Environment Programme, International Labor Organization, International Trade Union Confederation’s Green Jobs Initiative, “Green Jobs: Towards Sustainable Work in a Low-Carbon World.” (Read the executive summary and the conclusions)
• Grossman, Peter Z. (2008). “The History of U.S. Alternative Energy Development Programs: A Study of Government Failure,” Searle Center Conference September 2008 (Bad Public Goods). Northwestern University.
• The Wall Street Journal, or The Financial Times, or The New York Times, or any relevant articles published online. Bring articles to class for discussion.

Your Grade

• Class Attendance and Participation--33%
• Midterm Examination--33%
• Semester Paper/In-Class Presentation--33%

Class Attendance

All students must attend class regularly. Your contribution to classroom learning is essential to the success of the course. Any more than two (2) absences (with an explanation or not) during the Fall and Spring and one (1) absence during the summer will likely lead to a need to withdraw from the course or a failing grade.

I expect you to be prepared for every class by doing the assigned readings. I will open each class by asking you to summarize the topic of the day and to relate news stories you have clipped to present or past discussions.

Incompletes are only granted in extreme cases such as illness or other family emergency and only where almost all work for the semester has been successfully completed. A student’s procrastination in completing his/her paper is not a basis for an Incomplete.

Individual Semester Paper/In-Class Presentation

To start we will examine energy policy from our perspective residing in the largest metropolitan area in the United States. Our view will differ from views of residents in Florida, Texas or California, and much more so, from residents in other countries.

Please identify two countries that interest you (aside from Germany and those countries profiled in chapter four of Howard Geller’s Energy Revolution). Following discussion with me, choose one, and prepare a detailed analysis of the energy challenges facing that country. Suggest energy policy initiatives you would recommend to improve the social, economic, environmental and political conditions in that country. Give thought to the global energy issues that not only abound today, but that will likely be more severe in ten to 15 years—how will the world look then--and try to assess how vulnerable your selected country will be to various social, technological, economic, environmental and political disruptions.

Support your strategy with as much data as feasible regarding country specific data. Quantify the projected economic, environmental and social impact your recommended policy initiatives will produce. Prepare a 10 minute presentation for the class, a one-page executive summary to hand out to the class, and a ten page paper (plus exhibits) due on the second to last class. Presentations will be delivered during the last two classes of the semester.

In your written paper, pay particular attention not only to content, but also to presentation. Often times, great ideas poorly presented, fail to move forward.

Helpful Hints: The goals of this exercise is to leverage your expertise as an expert on the energy issues facing another country, and to formulate effective policies that could improve the economic, environmental and social issues facing that nation. Use the cases in the Geller book as a starting point, they offer good examples of problem resolution through effective policy initiatives. In choosing a country, give thought to your current career interest and how becoming an expert in one particular country can advance your career interest.

A second important objective of this assignment is to help you develop your oral presentation skills and to understand the difference between preparing a written report an delivering an oral presentation.

Getting it done

This is an applied course. Remember this in your writing assignments. I will ask for your opinions, make sure that you articulate them clearly when writing a paper for me and support them completely with approriate data and references. As future policy analysts, I want you to take positions and argue succinctly and have the supporting documentation that strengthens your arguements. If you have any questions about what I expect, please ask me to clarify before you submit anything to me.

I have an affinity for numbers…and I expect you to develop the same in this class. If your work is short on numbers…something is wrong. A strong grasp of, and comfort with, the numbers is crucial in this class and in your careers going forward. Robert Bryce provides good examples.

The professional community places a tremendous premium on executives that can present well. Accordingly, each of you will have plenty of opportunity to do so.

It is the express policy of the class that no late assignments will be accepted under any circumstances. I expect each student to bear individual responsibility for his or her work and to uphold the ideal of academic integrity. All written work must be submitted via the assignment tool on Blackboard.

Plagiarism is presenting someone else’s work as though it were one’s own. More specifically, plagiarism is to present as one’s own a sequence of words quoted without quotation marks from another writer; a paraphrased passage from another writer’s work; creative images, artwork, or design; or facts or ideas gathered, organized, and reported by someone else, orally and/or in writing and not providing proper attribution. Since plagiarism is a matter of fact, not of the student’s intention, it is crucial that acknowledgement of the sources be accurate and complete. Even where there is no conscious intention to deceive, the failure to make appropriate acknowledgment constitutes plagiarism. Penalties for plagiarism range from failure for a paper or course to dismissal from the University.

If for whatever reason the course is progressing in a way that causes you concern, please advise immediately. I look forward to a wonderful semester.

New York University School of Continuing and Professional Studies M.S. Program in Global Affairs GLOB1-GC.2400 -- Introduction to Energy Policy Summer 2012, Monday, Wednesdays, 6:00-9:10pm DRAFT May 5, 2012

INSTRUCTOR: Chris Gadomski http://www.smidirect.net/nyu OFFICE HOURS: Mondays by appointment OFFICE PHONE:914.993.9060 E-mail:gadomski@nyu.edu