Poll: Americans Back Clean Energy, Regs 

Now that President Obama has put climate change back on the table in his second inaugural address, a new national poll finds growing public support for regulating greenhouse gas emissions and requiring utilities to switch to lower-carbon fuel sources. Led by researchers at Duke's Sanford School of Public Policy and Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, the study examined public attitudes regarding climate change and the major policy options that President Obama might pursue in his second term. 

Hedging Natural Gas Price Uncertainty

The U.S. electricity sector faces significant uncertainty as it makes large capital investments to replace aging infrastructure and comply with forthcoming environmental regulations. A new Nicholas Institute paper provides an example analysis illustrating a method to quantify the value of energy efficiency as a hedge against a variety of risks. 

Report: Impacts of Alternative Agriculture 

A new article co-authored by a Nicholas Institute researcher in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics explores alternative crop productivity growth trajectories in the United States and focuses on implications for land use change and emissions on a national scale within the agricultural and forestry systems. 

Regulating CO2 with the Clean Air Act 

A new Nicholas Institute report looks at the options, limits and impacts of regulating existing sources of carbon dioxide under section 111 (d) of the Clean Air Act. The report follows a recent stakeholder workshop hosted by the Nicholas Institute, exploring economic modeling of the regulatory options available to the EPA, as well as remaining areas of legal uncertainty. 

Carbon Markets 15 Year after Kyoto

Fifteen years after the signing of the Kyoto Protocol and the creation of the first major platform for carbon markets, the prospect for a unified global trading system in the foreseeable future is essentially finished. However, carbon markets are a reality and the design of carbon markets is benefiting from actual experience. The challenge now is to figure out how carbon markets can work in a much more complex world. A new article in the Journal of Economic Perspectives offers a comprehensive review of the history of carbon trading to date, lessons learned, and recommendations on where we can go in the near future.

Careers at the Nicholas Institute

The Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions offers a number of career opportunities, with many positions allowing employees the chance to play a role in the leading environmental debates of our time. The Nicholas Institute is currently hiring for the following positions: State Policy Program Research Associate, Water Policy Program Director and an internship in environmental policy research.