Balancing Benefits: What should be prioritized in energy efficiency policy?
Energy efficiency offers many benefits: lower energy bills for residents, a more manageable electric grid for utilities, and fewer carbon emissions for us all. The 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) added another policy goal when it asked that energy efficiency also serve as an engine for job growth and economic recovery. Designing a large-scale energy efficiency initiative that satisfies multiple objectives is challenging, and it raises important questions about what the ultimate goal of such policies are and what kinds of performance metrics should be used to gauge success.Water, Water Everywhere? A Method for Managing a Constrained Resource
By all appearances, we are living in an increasingly resource-constrained world. This is particularly true of water, which promises to be a continuing source of conflict among nations and water users of various kinds. But is it possible to forge a new way of thinking about water, one that looks at water rights as an opportunity for mutual gain rather than as a zero-sum competition?
In our new book, Water Diplomacy: A Negotiated Approach to Managing Complex Water Networks, Shafiqul Islam and I propose a new framework for managing water resources that emphasizes negotiation and collaborative decision-making. We note that the dominant model for managing water rights—a systems-based approach that determines optimal managements strategies through quantitative means—is increasingly inadequate for dealing with the messy interactions between science and policy. Instead, the complexity of water management demands a negotiated approached that accounts for the practical difficulties of responding to natural, social, and political considerations simultaneously.
In suggesting this, we step outside the traditional way of thinking about water rights, a zero-sum competition steeped in game theory where hostile actors vie over a limited resource. Instead, we suggest that water be treated as a flexible and frequently noncompetitive resource, and that it be managed through a collaborative process that aims to achieve mutual gains for all parties involved.
Water Diplomacy lays out this new method of water management, and includes an analysis of water management theory to date as well as a model role-play simulation intended to educate readers and stakeholders about the Water Diplomacy Framework. It is available through Routledge and Resources for the Future Press.
Keeping Jordan’s Privatized Water Sector Afloat
Photo by Magh
Water is in short supply in Jordan. To meet the needs of an increasingly modern country, the nation’s leaders must be judicious in how they allocate their water resources for various uses. Due to international pressure, the Jordanian government has trended lately towards corporatization in the water services sector, and it has given private partners substantial responsibility in managing its water supply. But with the great difficulty of regulating a newly liberalized sector, how have Jordan’s water resources fared?
In her dissertation, Nancy Odeh (PhD ‘09) looked at various manifestations of public-private partnerships in the Jordanian water
sector. She found that the effectiveness of private firms—measured both by the quality, sustainability, and efficiency of the water supply as well as the affordability of the new contractual arrangements—was a direct result of the configuration of the organizational and legal context in which the partnership was formed.
Nancy found that Jordanian authorities had erred in several ways when decentralizing their water management system. For example, while contracts tended to be rigid and stifling in urban areas, rural partners were given too much discretion and weren’t held accountable to performance standards. The difficulty in determining an appropriate method of regulation was enhanced by an entrenched system of patronage within Jordanian government.
Nancy suggested best practices for the country to adopt in managing its water supply. These include forming contracts that clearly define targets for private partners, consistently including partners in decision-making and information-sharing processes, and fortifying the legal structures that hold private water suppliers accountable to consumers. To effectively liberalize its water sector, Jordan must build a regulatory system that motivates private actors to work in the public interest. Read more about Nancy’s work and her recommendations in her dissertation.
How the Anti-Regulation Movement Threatens Environmentalism
In the 1970s, an environmental awakening spread through American society and resulted in much 
of the landmark legislation – the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Air Act, and many others – that define our current system of environmental regulation. While additional protections have been added, much of environmentalists’ struggle in the decades since has been focused on maintaining this high-water mark and ensuring that regulations are implemented in an environmentally protective fashion. But as Professor Layzer details in her book, Open for Business: Conservatives’ Opposition to Environmental Regulations, American environmental protections have been the target of a decades-long assault that threatens to drastically reduce their effectiveness.
A conservative, anti-regulatory movement has grown dramatically in response to the implementation of environmental laws. Opponents of environmentalism, fearing the effect of regulation on business and the economy, and distrusting the Federal government, have slowly build a case against environmental protection. While they have not overturned any major pieces of environmental legislation, they have been very effective in influencing the way regulators exercise discretion in implementing environmental rules. Perhaps more significantly, they have made environmentalism a controversial issue and shifted the popular image of the Federal government from one of protector against industrial excesses to a heavy-handed opponent of private enterprise.
Professor Layzer’s book details the growth of the conservative anti-regulator movement over the course of the past few decades, and illustrates many of the tactics and actors involved in provoking the backlash against environmentalism, both at the elite and grassroots level. Open for Business is available through the MIT Press.
Using Utility-Community Partnerships to Enable Deeper Energy Savings
2009’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was a major boon for local energy efficiency programs. With ample federal funding, municipalities were able to achieve substantial energy 
savings. But as ARRA wound down, many important local efficiency programs were in danger of being left unfunded. How can communities continue to make progress on energy efficiency in the absence of federal funding?
In 2011, Professor Harvey Michaels and a group of graduate students in MIT’s Energy Efficiency Strategy Project (EESP) examined this issue and developed a strategy for utility-community partnerships for energy efficiency. Energy utilities—tasked in many states with providing ambitious energy savings—are in a position to offer substantial funding to help underwrite efficiency programs. Local governments and community groups—with their substantial property assets, regulatory authority, and social networks—can provide access to the hard-to-reach energy savings that have historically eluded utility-funded programs.
EESP proposes a model of a mutually beneficial energy efficiency utility-community partnership. The group focuses specifically on delivering savings in public buildings, involving utilities in the development of more stringent energy codes and benchmarking efforts, and conducting better program marketing through existing community organizations. They also demonstrate how a local revolving loan fund could be established to provide continual benefits to utilities, program partners, and local communities. Read more about the group’s suggestion in EESP’s white paper.
Stuck in Traffic: The Failure of New York City Congestion Pricing
By Dom Dada
As is apparent even to the tourists in Times Square, Manhattan’s traffic jams are a consistent source of delays, aggravation, and air pollution. As part of 2007′s PlaNYC, the New York City government’s comprehensive vision for the future, the city proposed implementing a congestion pricing system similar to those in place in London and Singapore. The goal was to ease the flow of traffic, encourage the use of public transportation, and nudge residents towards more sustainable patterns of everyday life.
As Patrick Lynch (MCP ’10) shows in his thesis, the city’s congestion pricing plans were initially promising. Proponents had strong support from residents, state politicians, and the federal government. However, implementation died in the New York State Assembly, which refused to even vote on the measure. Patrick notes several reasons for this, including a byzantine program approval process and disagreement over how revenues should be spent.
The biggest problem with congestion pricing, however, was the conflict between winners and losers. While the measure enjoyed the support of local politicians in Manhattan and the Bronx, representatives of the city’s other boroughs felt that their constituents were being unjustly targeted. Proponents did little to address these concerns, and they did a poor job of building a supportive coalition to counter their opponents. Ultimately, opposition from a politically important and geographically concentrated bloc created a hostile political climate and doomed efforts for congestion pricing in the city.
Read Patrick’s conclusions about New York City’s failure to implement congestion pricing and his thoughts on implementation of related schemes elsewhere in his thesis.
From Grey to Green: Building a More Sustainable Infrastructure for Stormwater
By Dom Dada
As is apparent even to the tourists in Times Square, Manhattan’s traffic jams are a consistent source of delays, aggravation, and air pollution. As part of 2007′s PlaNYC, the New York City government’s comprehensive vision for the future, the city proposed implementing a congestion pricing system similar to those in place in London and Singapore. The goal was to ease the flow of traffic, encourage the use of public transportation, and nudge residents towards more sustainable patterns of everyday life.
As Patrick Lynch (MCP ’10) shows in his thesis, the city’s congestion pricing plans were initially promising. Proponents had strong support from residents, state politicians, and the federal government. However, implementation died in the New York State Assembly, which refused to even vote on the measure. Patrick notes several reasons for this, including a byzantine program approval process and disagreement over how revenues should be spent.
The biggest problem with congestion pricing, however, was the conflict between winners and losers. While the measure enjoyed the support of local politicians in Manhattan and the Bronx, representatives of the city’s other boroughs felt that their constituents were being unjustly targeted. Proponents did little to address these concerns, and they did a poor job of building a supportive coalition to counter their opponents. Ultimately, opposition from a politically important and geographically concentrated bloc created a hostile political climate and doomed efforts for congestion pricing in the city.
Read Patrick’s conclusions about New York City’s failure to implement congestion pricing and his thoughts on implementation of related schemes elsewhere in his thesis.
Bringing the Outsiders In: Social Movement Advocacy in the Planning Process
In 2008, the Massachusetts Green Communities Act opened up new sources of funding to help the state reach its ambitious energy efficiency goals. The responsibility for allocating these funds was given to a group of diverse stakeholders, the Massachusetts Energy Efficiency Advisory Council. One stakeholder, Community Labor United (CLU), was intent on using the process to push its environmental justice mission aimed at generating high-paying jobs and community-level benefits.
Eric Mackres (MCP ’10) studied how CLU incorporated both organizational efforts and collaboration into its activities. In doing so, CLU blurred the line between traditional social movement strategies (from the outside) and participation (from the inside) in the planning process. CLU had to learn to find the middle ground both among its own constituency—which included labor groups, environmental advocates, and community organizers—and with utilities and other parties with an interest in energy efficiency funding.
While CLU made occasional missteps in shifting between collaboration and organizing, in the end they were effective in securing funding for community-based pilot programs that would further their environmental justice goals. Eric credits much of CLU’s success to its hybrid strategy that combined social movement theory and collaborative decision-making. He suggests that the two styles of planning can be combined more frequently with good results. Read more about CLU and how these two schools of thought can be combined in Eric’s thesis here.
How the Tea Party Killed Climate Legislation
The vast majority of the effort to confront climate change in America has happened at the state and local level. Hamstrung by political discord and a poor economy, the Federal government has been largely silent in enacting legislation that addresses global warming. One of the best chances and more heartbreaking recent failures was 2010’s American Power Act. Initially a bipartisan proposal of Senators John Kerry, Lindsey Graham, and Joe Lieberman, the act sputtered in the Senate after conservative pressure led Senator Graham to rescind his support.
Kate Dineen (MCP ‘11) examines the convergence of forces that opposed the legislation, and she credits Tea Party activists with mobilizing the pressure that forced Graham to withdraw. Her thesis describes the party as a particularly energetic manifestation of political views that are surprisingly grounded in traditional concerns of the Republican party establishment. She also details the robust media and institutional infrastructure that supports and amplifies the efforts of Tea Party populists. These factors combine, Kate shows, to produce a political situation in Washington in which it is difficult for environmental advocates to effectively address climate change through legislation.
While her thesis paints a dark picture of environmentalism’s prospects on the Federal scale, Kate closes with a note of optimism. If populist pressure has been able to pressure the Senate into inaction, perhaps an equal and opposite grassroots force could successfully force it to act. Read more in Kate’s thesis here.
Making a Toolkit for Green Blocks
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Across the nation, small groups of citizens are coming together to promote sustainability in their own neighborhoods. Neighbors in Los Angeles are taking a communal approach to green living at the block scale. People are meeting on weekends for de-paving parties in Portland and home weatherization barn raisings in Cambridge. And in Boulder, homeowners are literally bringing the movement to their own backyards by converting lawns to urban farms. In her thesis, Ingrid Heilke (MCP ’10) took stock of these efforts and considered the opportunities for proliferating community-scale sustainability.
Neighborhood-level sustainability is the middle ground between building- and city-scale initiatives. Community-organized efforts can offer economy-of-scale advantages over what an individual could accomplish alone, but have a degree of access to and control over property that surpasses that of city planners. But despite their advantages, these projects are few and far between and there is no current way for these communities to share stories with each other and provide tips for overcoming common barriers.
Ingrid proposes a Green Blocks toolkit that would bring these groups together and provide specific resources for their programs. She envisions an online resource center that provides a menu of tried-and-true community initiatives, a social network that allows local and national allies to interact, and basic management and analytic tools needed for day-to-day operations. These resources would accomplish the dual goals of helping local efforts succeed and creating a network that can grow the neighborhood model.
Community-based sustainability efforts have the potential to go viral and become a legitimate movement. But first, they need a way of spreading good ideas throughout their neighborhoods, cities, and country. Read more about Ingrid’s ideas of how to achieve this in her thesis.
