Energy

23 Items

A hydrogen fuel cell in a workshop

Adobe Stock

Policy Brief

China: The Renewable Hydrogen Superpower?

| May 2021

Renewable hydrogen offers significant advantages for China. It can help Beijing meet its climate and pollution goals—at a time when coal continues to dominate—while avoiding increased reliance on imported fuels. As a readily dispatchable means of storing energy, hydrogen can help to address intermittency and curtailment issues as renewable energy increases its share of China’s energy mix. As a sustainable mobility energy carrier, it can power fuel-cell electric vehicles or be the base for synthetic fuels. Finally, renewable hydrogen can open new avenues for developing clean technology manufactured goods for both internal and export markets.

A consumer hydrogen fuel pump in Germany

Adobe Stock

Policy Brief

The Geopolitics of Renewable Hydrogen

| May 2021

Renewables are widely perceived as an opportunity to shatter the hegemony of fossil fuel-rich states and democratize the energy landscape. Virtually all countries have access to some renewable energy resources (especially solar and wind power) and could thus substitute foreign supply with local resources. Our research shows, however, that the role countries are likely to assume in decarbonized energy systems will be based not only on their resource endowment but also on their policy choices.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, left, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, wear helmets at the Durusu metering station, near the northern Turkish city of Samsun, Thursday, Nov. 17, 2005.

Reuters/AP

Policy Brief - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

The Russian Reality Check on Turkey's Gas Hub Hopes

| January 2016

On Nov 24, 2015, Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet after it veered into its airspace for 17 seconds. On December 13, a Russian ship fired warning shots at a Turkish vessel in the Aegean Sea. Bilateral tensions, with overt military dimensions, have seemed to quickly replace the goodwill that characterized relations only a year ago.

Gas flares are seen at the Rumaila oil refinery, near the city of Basra, 550 kilometers (340 miles) southeast of Baghdad, Iraq.

AP Photo

Policy Brief - Quarterly Journal: International Security

Oil, Conflict, and U.S. National Interests

    Author:
  • Jeff D. Colgan
| October 2013

The influence of oil on conflict is often poorly understood. In U.S. public debates about the 1991 and 2003 Iraq wars, both sides focused excessively on the question of whether the United States was fighting for possession of oil reserves; neither sought a broader understanding of how oil shaped the preconditions for war.

Policy Brief - Harvard Project on Climate Agreements

Treaty Design and Duration: Effects on R&D, Participation, and Compliance

    Author:
  • Bard Harstad
| January 2013

Climate policy is complicated. For a treaty to be beneficial, one must think through carefully how it will work, once it is implemented. Crucial questions include the following: How should an international treaty be designed? Should one negotiate commitments for a five-year period, or for much longer? Assuming that the treaty specifies aggregate or country-specific emission caps, what should these caps be and how should they change over time? How should the agreement be updated once policymakers, scholars, and the public learn more about the severity of the climate-change problem, or about the effects of the policy? Can the treaty be designed to encourage investments in "green" abatement technology or renewable energy sources? Finally, how can one motivate countries to participate and comply with such an agreement?

A 2011 Nissan Leaf electric vehicle displayed at Plug-in 2010, a plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles conference and exposition in San Jose, Calif., July 28, 2010. The first mass-market electric cars went on sale in December 2010.

AP Photo

Policy Brief - Energy Technology Innovation Policy Project, Belfer Center

Transforming U.S. Energy Innovation

The United States needs a revolution in energy technology innovation to meet the profound economic, environmental, and national security challenges that energy poses in the 21st century. Researchers at Harvard Kennedy School undertook a three-year project to develop actionable recommendations for transforming the U.S. energy innovation system. This research has led to five key recommendations for accelerating U.S. energy innovation.

A tourist takes photos of China's first aircraft carrier, former "Varyag" of Ukraine, which is under restoration in a shipyard in Dalian, China, July 28, 2011. China says the refurbished ship will be used only for research and training.

AP Photo

Policy Brief - Quarterly Journal: International Security

China's Aircraft Carrier: Chinese Naval Nationalism and Its Implications for the United States

    Author:
  • Robert Ross
| October 2011

China's carrier program reflects the Chinese Communist Party leadership's surrender to the forces of nationalism....As Chinese domestic instability has grown, the increasingly insecure Communist Party leadership has used the carrier program to bolster its nationalist legitimacy—just as it used the 2008 Olympics, the 2009 Shanghai Expo, high-speed rail, the 'world largest airport,' and other high-profile projects for this purpose."

China's President Hu Jintao, left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin walk to their positions for a group photo at the Shanghai International Convention Center in China, June 15, 2006.

AP Photo

Policy Brief - Quarterly Journal: International Security

Prestige Matters: Chinese and Russian Status Concerns and U.S. Foreign Policy

    Authors:
  • Deborah Welch Larson
  • Alexei Shevchenko
| April 2010

"China and Russia are more likely to engage in constructive status-seeking behavior if the United States finds ways to recognize their international status and distinctive identities. For example, strategic dialogues, formal summits, and strategic partnerships can help to establish issue agendas for future collaboration and symbolize that states are political equals. Engagement through trade and investment does not resolve conflicting political goals."

A customer prepares to pump gas at a filling station in Springfield, Ill., on Jan. 29, 2010.

AP Photo

Policy Brief - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Reducing the U.S. Transportation Sector's Oil Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

This policy brief is based on Belfer Center paper #2010-02 and an article published in Energy Policy, Vol. 38, No. 3.

Oil security and the threat of climate disruption have focused attention on the transportation sector, which consumes 70% of the oil used in the United States.
This study explores several policy scenarios for reducing oil imports and greenhouse gas emissions from transportation.