The Institut D’Economie Industrielle (IDEI) and the Toulouse School of Economics (TSE) are issuing this call for papers for the eleventh conference on the Economics of Energy and Climate Change. The conference will be held in Toulouse on June 6‐7, 2017.
All papers related to the economics of energy and/or climate change are welcome, in particular:
Energy and development: Providing electricity to the billion plus people who do not have access to it today is a moral imperative. Yet, it is a challenge. For example, recent studies suggest that more African people will be without access to electricity in ten years than today, as the population growth rate exceeds the electricity provision growth rate. What lessons have we learnt that could facilitate the access to electricity with or without connection to the grid? In addition, what do we know about the ways energy drives development? For example, what is the value of powering manufacturing (and associated jobs) and improving health care and education?
Evolution of power industry structure: the last ten years have seen the collapse of the historic utility model in Europe and, to a certain extent, in America. Producers claim that they cannot recoup their costs without capacity payment. What is the efficient design for these additional resources? Network operators voice concerns that retail prices and distribution rates have such high volumetric components that they are inefficiently incentivizing distributed generation. How should network access be priced in a world where customers have the option to opt‐out of grid‐supplied electricity, for example with distributed solar generation, to maintain investment incentives?
Innovation: The power industry is at the center of unprecedented wave of technological innovations: electricity storage (and correlative effects on transport), carbon capture and storage, behind the meter "internet of things" applications, smart distribution network applications, fuel cells, etc. Promoters of these technologies extoll their virtues as potentially disruptive. Early economic analysis suggests their benefits may be less than claimed. What are the most recent findings on these technologies? In this context, what ought to be the role of public policy in ushering in the transition to a smart energy world?
Renewables: The increased penetration of renewable sources of energy posits new challenges for the design of electricity markets. How to deal with massive intermittent supply of wind and solar power? How to make consumers react to variable supply? How to adapt thermal and nuclear power equipment? Which market rules and public policy would insure efficient investment in energy sources?
Climate policy: In the last two decades, many countries or states have launched their own carbon tax or CO2 emissions allowance markets. With the Paris agreement on climate change, participant countries committed to take action against climate change, without precise plans. Which technology and policy mix should be implemented to meet these commitments? Is there a trade‐off between near‐ and long‐term goals and commitments? How to better control the supply of fossil energy? How to deal with the uncertainty related to climate change? Or its long term and intergenerational nature?
The future of nuclear: Nuclear power is almost carbon free, yet in many countries nuclear plants retire early for economic or safety reasons or both. Is a "next generation" of nuclear plants to replace the existing stock as it retires a realistic possibility? What – if anything ‐‐ needs to be done to make it a realistic possibility?
Customer engagement: Achieving all of the renewables goals set in the US and many other countries at a reasonable cost, requires active involvement of final consumers along a number of dimensions—manual load‐shifting, investments in automated response technologies, investments in storage. These technologies are also going to need to operate on both short (a few hours) and long (a week) horizons. Yet, most studies document final customers’ lack of engagement. How can this be reversed?
The keynote speakers are Hunt Allcott (NYU) and Richard Schmalensee (MIT).
The scientific committee includes
Lucas Bretschger (ETH Zurich,
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Severin Borenstein (University of California, Berkeley,
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Richard Green (Imperial College London,
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Bård Harstad (University of Oslo,
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William Hogan (Harvard University,
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Paul Joskow (Alfred P. Sloane Foundation,
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Andreas Lange (University of Hamburg, lang@hu‐berlin.de)
Matti Liski (Aalto University,
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Thomas Sterner (University of Gotenburg,
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Jean Tirole (TSE and IDEI, jean‐tirole@tse‐fr.eu)
Frank Wolak (Stanford University,
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Catherine Wolfram (University of California, Berkeley,
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Submission of papers: If you would like to submit a paper, please complete the enclosed form and return it to Ms. Christelle FAUCHIE by email at elecconf@tse‐fr.eu. All proposals to present papers must include an abstract, although a preference will be given to submissions of a complete paper. The proposal must reach IDEI by January 22, 2017 (you can use the Pre‐registration Form).
The program and list of presenters will be confirmed and notification will be made to presenters by March 9, 2017. Completed drafts of accepted papers are due May 15, 2017.
Ticket fares are reimbursed to speakers on a negotiated basis and their hotel room paid directly by the conference organizing committee (this does not apply to co‐authors). Please indicate on your reply form whether you will be able to cover your own travel costs, or whether you will require funding.
Registration fees: 250 € (include lunches, conference dinner and coffee breaks). Waived for speakers and discussants, special rates for certain other attendees.
Pre‐registration for non‐presenters:
Individuals wishing to participate in the Conference but not intending to submit a paper are asked to express their interest in attending by completing and returning the attached “Pre‐registration Form.” Further information on the conference and accommodation will be sent to those who have pre‐registered.
On‐line registration for conference attendance will be available from March 15, to May 28, 2017. Pre‐registrants will be asked to confirm their registration at that time.
We hope you will be able to join us for an intellectually stimulating conference, with
potentially significant academic, strategic, and policy outcomes.
Yours sincerely,
The organizers: Stefan Ambec, Claude Crampes, Thomas‐Olivier Léautier and Jean Tirole
website: www.idei.fr
