The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners has partnered with the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions to present the National Energy Risk Lab Feb. 12-13 in Washington, D.C. The lab will bring together decision makers from every corner of the electricity world in an interactive simulation game that explores where the power sector is headed. At the event participants will work in a team to shape the electricity sector, facing real-world challenges under Clean Air Act Section 111(d) compliance options, in order to see how their choices can help or inhibit meeting Section 111(d) in the coming decades. Reserve your place today.  

A new working paper scrutinizes the use of ecosystem services valuation for marine planning. It highlights steps in the marine planning process during which valuation can inform marine planning and policy making as well as discusses methodological challenges to applying ecosystem services valuation techniques to marine planning. 

The Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions and the University Program in Environmental Policy's Spring 2014 Seminar Series begins Jan. 31. Join us for discussions ranging from sustainability ratings and shale gas to transportation fuels and climate. 

Linwood Pendleton, director of the Ocean and Coastal Policy Program, recently talked with Duke's Office of Federal Relations about a Washington, D.C., event covering emerging issues in deep sea policy. A panel of experts discussed everything from the history of the United States' involvement in deep sea mineral exploration to ocean-related international governance challenges. 

The Nicholas Institute appointed the CEO of Enduring Hydro and the dean of Duke's Sanford School of Public Policy to its Board of Advisors this month. 

A new article in the Journal of the American Water Resources Association aims to characterize drought in the South Atlantic. It explores whether drought has become more severe in this region over time using monthly streamflow to characterize hydrological drought. 

Nicholas Institute staff co-authored a chapter in the report "Deep Sea Minerals Mining and the Green Economy." The chapter focuses on the potential benefits and costs of deep sea mining to the economic and environmental capital of coastal and small island developing states in the Pacific Island region. It also looks at traditional and emerging ways to determine the economic, environmental, and social costs and benefits of mining.