Essays, Blogs, and Stories

Without permits to build things, there will be no clean energy boom 9/15/2022

Without permits to build things, there will be no clean energy boom

Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian and Communications Associate Simon Lomax write an opinion piece about how President Joe Biden’s landmark climate and clean energy bill.  American green groups have lauded the legislation, which was signed into law last month and provides $369bn in federal climate and clean energy incentives. But now comes the really hard part: turning hundreds of billions of dollars of incentives into real projects. September 15, 2022.  

More Than Just a ‘School of Mines,’ CSM Is a Major Player in Climate Research 8/25/2022

More Than Just a ‘School of Mines,’ CSM Is a Major Player in Climate Research

Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian contributed to this article about how the Colorado School of Mines, with its historic connection to fossil fuel and mineral extraction, would seem an unlikely place for a high-level pursuit of the transition from a world powered by fossil fuels to a world of clean energy.  However, Mines recognizes that saving our planet depends on transitioning from oil and gas to other forms of energy that reduce or eliminate greenhouse gas emissions.  August 25, 2022.

Lebanon Energy Crisis: Time to Reform 3/7/2022

Lebanon Energy Crisis: Time to Reform

Payne Institute Fellow Jamal Saghir, Communications Specialist Brooke Bowser, and Director Morgan Bazilian write about how the attention of the world’s energy sector is clearly focused on Russia and Ukraine, but the ongoing crisis in Lebanon warrants our collective attention.  The situation is horrifying. Lebanon is being battered by a confluence of crises engulfing national security, politics and government, integrity in public office, the economy and banking sector, social unrest, energy instability and environmental degradation. Each is feeding off the others to create a storm rooted in Lebanon’s failed economic, social, environmental policies.  March 7, 2022.  

Oil Industry Exits Point to Medium Term Supply Challenges and Incremental Renewable Investment 3/3/2022

Oil Industry Exits Point to Medium Term Supply Challenges and Incremental Renewable Investment

Payne Institute Program Manager, Sustainable Finance Lab, and Researcher Brad Handler looks at the energy majors’ exit from Russian relationships seems likely to put pressure on peers and the major Western service companies to follow suit. Such a broad exit points to eventual, and enduring declines in Russian oil production as well as lower Russian gas exports. Higher resulting oil and gas prices should further incentivize clean energy investments in the OECD and beyond.  March 3, 2022.

Lithium Is in Short Supply — But Probably Not for Long 1/27/2022

Lithium Is in Short Supply — But Probably Not for Long

Payne Institute Fellow Liam Denning, with contributions by Payne Director Morgan Bazilian, writes about how given the demand from electric-car makers, suppliers and governments are bound to mine more of it.  When it comes to electric vehicles, there is more concern now that the electric age will fizzle for a lack of lithium.  January 26, 2022.  

Critical Minerals: America’s Achilles Heel? 1/19/2022

Critical Minerals: America’s Achilles Heel?

Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian contributes to this article about how the U.S. lacks minerals and metals and is import-dependent.  The Biden administration has made securing rare earth minerals a priority in its effort to decarbonize the U.S. economy. Texas-based USA Rare Earth LLC is planning to produce half of the rare earth elements crucial to the administration’s projects at this Texas Round Top mining operation. The U.S. Geological Survey is proposing to expand the current list of minerals crucial to the economy and to national defense from 30 to 50.  January 19, 2022.

Will broken supply chains stop Santa Claus? 11/2/2021

Will broken supply chains stop Santa Claus?

Payne Institute Communications Associate Elsa Barron and Program Manager Jordy Lee write about how with supply chains still disrupted by the pandemic, it’s unclear whether your gifts will come on time. What lies at the root of this problem? A lack of knowledge and transparency around supply chains.  November 2, 2021.

Make the climate talks boring 10/19/2021

Make the climate talks boring

Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian writes this opinion piece in the Financial Times newsletter on next month’s UN climate conference in Glasgow and how to make the 26th Conference of the Parties actually do something to help fix the climate crisis?  October 19, 2021.

Climate impacts: After the devastating fires, come dangerous mudslidesm 8/18/2021

Climate impacts: After the devastating fires, come dangerous mudslides

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Paul Santi writes an opinion piece about how after the three largest wildfires in Colorado’s history in 2020, we are experiencing an unfortunately well-known consequence: frequent and dramatic mudslides.  One of our two interstate highways, I-70, has been closed repeatedly over the past two months due to about 20 different mudslides — scientifically known as “debris flows.” These debris flows and closures are expensive, inconvenient and dangerous.  So, how did we get to this place? And more importantly, how can we get out of it?  August 18, 2021.

New US climate pledge: Cut emissions 50% this decade, but can Biden make it happen? 4/22/2021

New US climate pledge: Cut emissions 50% this decade, but can Biden make it happen?

Payne Institute Advisory Board Member David Victor and Director Morgan Bazilian write about how President Joe Biden announced an ambitious new national climate target at a livestreamed summit of world leaders on April 22, 2021: He pledged to cut U.S. carbon emissions in half by the end of this decade and aim for net zero emissions by 2050. The new goal is a big deal because it formally brings together the many different ideas on infrastructure, the budget, federal regulatory policy, and disparate actions in the states and industry for transforming the U.S. economy into a highly competitive, yet very green giant. April 22, 2021.

The Climate Debates: Can America Break Its Natural Gas Addiction? 4/16/2021

The Climate Debates: Can America Break Its Natural Gas Addiction?

Payne Institute Fellow Arvind Ravikumar participates in this discussion about how to wean the U.S. off of natural gas.  As more and more people have come to understand the urgency of the climate crisis in recent years, and Americans have elected a president in Joe Biden who has pledged to make addressing climate the centerpiece of his administration, but there is much debate about exactly how we should go about confronting our collective climate challenge.  April 16, 2021.

Biden can decarbonize electricity with these quick wins 4/15/2021

Biden can decarbonize electricity with these quick wins

Payne Institute Senior Research Associate Greer Gosnell, Director Morgan Bazilian, and Clark Miller write about how bold goals to address climate change are emerging globally, and the U.S. will undoubtedly announce its own shortly. The technical pathways to meet net-zero emissions goals demonstrate an accelerating role for renewable energy, thanks to tremendous recent cost declines. April 15, 2021.

Mobilizing Investment for Clean Energy in Emerging Economies 4/1/2021

Mobilizing Investment for Clean Energy in Emerging Economies

The Payne Institute is proud to be a partner organization with the World Economic Forum on their new initiative Mobilizing Investment for Clean Energy in Emerging Economies. Accelerating clean energy transitions is a global imperative for the world to address the climate emergency. The decarbonization of energy production and use will require trillions of dollars to be invested in the deployment of new clean energy capacity and energy efficiency, as well as to retire existing carbon-intensive energy infrastructure that would otherwise lock-in emissions for decades. April 1, 2021.

Rising oil prices a litmus test for Alberta’s commitment to addressing inactive wells 3/17/2021

Rising oil prices a litmus test for Alberta’s commitment to addressing inactive wells

Payne Institute Senior Research Associate Dr. Sara Hastings-Simon writes an opinion piece on how recently, the Alberta Energy Regulator suspended Sanling Energy’s licences, announcing that the company has $67 million in unpaid security for end-of-life obligations (i.e. abandonment and reclamation of wells). This is but the latest in a long series of bad news regarding the oil and gas sector’s outstanding environmental liabilities in Alberta, which includes a staggering 97,000 inactive wells (wells that are neither producing nor properly abandoned and reclaimed) — up from approximately 84,000 in 2018.  March 17, 2021.

Women should be on the frontlines of climate action 3/8/2021

Women should be on the frontlines of climate action

Payne Institute Advisory Board member Nawal Al-Hosany writes an opinion piece about how the world faces both the immediate threats and long-term impact of climate change, and data shows that women and children are already the most affected. Globally, eight in 10 climate refugees are women. And they are exponentially more likely to die in natural disasters. Despite this, women are still too few and far between in the places and roles where they can make a difference in helping chart a clean energy future.  March 8, 2021.

Actorless Threats 2/26/2021

Actorless Threats

Payne Institute Fellow Andreas Goldthau, Franz Haniel Professor at the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy, and Research Group Leader at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies; and Kirsten Westphal, a Senior Analyst at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, and Director Morgan Bazilian write about our age of the “actorless threats”. As Bazilian and Hendrix argued in a recent essay, “Mitigating or adapting to slow-onset, actorless threats like climate change…requires a reimagining of our national security priorities and architecture.” Climate change gives rise to cascading risks of habitat destruction, infectious disease outbreaks or biodiversity loss. These threats have already started to cause loss of life at significant scales. They have added friction to various aspects of geopolitics and the relationship between states and people.  February 26, 2021.

What can the Texas electricity crisis tell us about the future of energy markets? 2/23/2021

What can the Texas electricity crisis tell us about the future of energy markets?

Payne Institute Fellow Alex Gilbert and Director Morgan Bazilian write an opinion piece about the extreme winter weather in Texas that has caused energy shortages and threatened health and safety.  The energy system failures suggest that better grid planning is needed to meet demand during these difficult conditions, write two experts. A variety of energy sources should be considered moving forward, such as nuclear energy, carbon capture and enhanced geothermal systems.   February 23, 2021.  

The Texas electricity crisis and the energy transition 2/19/2021

The Texas electricity crisis and the energy transition

Payne Institute Fellow Alex Gilbert and Director Morgan Bazilian write an opinion piece about the severe winter weather in Texas that caused the worst energy shortages in the United States since the 2003 blackout in the Northeast and Midwest. Millions of people suffered power outages, which frequently extended beyond 24 hours in areas with freezing temperatures.  Although the political and national debate is turning into a proxy debate on energy resources, the most immediate concern is that the current failure threatens public health and safety.  February 19, 2021.  

Oil prices and demand may be up, but the industry has a host of issues to sort out in 2021 – 2/10/21

Oil prices and demand may be up, but the industry has a host of issues to sort out in 2021

Payne Institute Fellow Brad Handler contributes to this article about how Colorado’s new rules make for a “tricky” business environment.  Tighter spending and the focus on free cash flow that were prevalent in the oil and gas industry before the pandemic are expected to continue even as demand and prices start to rise.  February 10, 2021.

Welcome to the Era of Competitive Climate Statecraft 2/8/2021

Welcome to the Era of Competitive Climate Statecraft

Payne Institute Fellow Carolyn Kissane writes an opinion piece about how in trade, finance, development, and security, governments are racing to get closer to net-zero.  The varying and shambolic responses illustrate the global system’s dysfunction when seeking to respond to a worldwide crisis. Will climate change be a different story?  February 8, 2021. 

Federal land leasing pause is an opportunity 2/2/2021

Federal land leasing pause is an opportunity

Payne Institute Fellow Brad Handler and Director Morgan Bazilian write about how the Biden administration’s recent pause on new oil and gas leases on federal lands amounts to only a small step in achieving our climate change goals but represents an opportunity to devise a sustainable strategy that can support environmental stewardship, help foster green energy development, and help impacted communities effectively — and successfully — transition away from fossil fuels.  February 2, 2021.  

Beyond Keystone XL, U.S. policy poses challenges for Alberta oil sector 1/27/2021

Beyond Keystone XL, U.S. policy poses challenges for Alberta oil sector

Payne Institute Senior Research Associate Sara Hastings-Simon writes an opinion piece on the United States new administration’s plan for vehicle electrification that will trigger a dramatic decrease in oil consumption.  U.S. President Joe Biden’s move to rescind the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline has been in the spotlight lately, but domestic actions from his new government are poised to have a much more significant impact on the Alberta oil industry.  The new administration has announced its intention to dramatically accelerate the electrification of transportation, including passenger vehicles, buses, light and heavy trucks, and rail, and support the build-out of new transportation infrastructure such as high-speed rail across the country.  January 27, 2021.

Accelerating the coal transition 12/25/2020

Accelerating the coal transition

Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian, Fellow Brad Handler, Deb Chattopadhyay, and Chandrasekhar Govindarajalu write about how the cost of wind, solar, and most recently battery storage has fallen dramatically over the last decade, providing the economic rationale for their widespread adoption to help mitigate climate change. This, coupled with the low cost of natural gas, has provided a key challenge in the power sector: how to economically and equitably decommission ∼2000 GW of installed coal capacity? Although a significant part of the existing coal capacity is older, inefficient, and unprofitable, there are complex technical, social and economic challenges that remain.  December 25, 2020.  

Energy and Climate in the Biden Administration 12/23/2020

Energy and Climate in the Biden Administration

Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian on a podcast discussing the realpolitik of the current situation, and weigh up the challenges that face us in rebuilding America, as well as what it will take to restore our relationship with the rest of the world and show leadership on climate and energy transition once again.  December 23, 2020.  

Training Clinical And Public Health Leaders In Climate And Health 12/7/2020

Training Clinical And Public Health Leaders In Climate And Health

Payne Institute Fellow Dr. Jay Lemery, John Balbus, Cecilia Sorensen, Caitlin Rublee, Caleb Dresser, Satchit Balsari, and Emile Calvello Hynes write a commentary article on the effects of climate change that are accelerating and undermining human health and well-being in many different ways. There is no doubt that the health care sector will need to adapt, and although it has begun to develop more targeted strategies to address climate-related challenges, a broad knowledge gap persists. There is a critical need to develop and cultivate new knowledge and skill sets among health professionals, including those in public health, environmental science, policy, and communication roles. This article describes specific initiatives to train future leaders to be proficient in understanding the linkages between climate change and health.  December 7, 2020.

U.S. space policy: Multilateral mining 11/27/2020

U.S. space policy: Multilateral mining

Payne Institute Fellows Alexander Gilbert, George Sowers, and Director Morgan Bazilian write about how the U.S. actions with regards to development of space resources are poised to help jumpstart a new age of space innovation that has the potential to bring scientific and economic benefits to the whole world.  November 27, 2020. 

How Biden and Kerry could rebuild America’s global climate leadership 11/24/2020

How Biden and Kerry could rebuild America’s global climate leadership

Payne Institute Fellow Dolf Gielen and Director Morgan Bazilian write about how John Kerry helped bring the world into the Paris climate agreement and expanded America’s reputation as a climate leader. That reputation is now in tatters, and President-elect Joe Biden is asking Kerry to rebuild it again – this time as U.S. climate envoy.  November 24, 2020.

Carbon Offsets for Climate Conscience Canadians 11/13/2020

Carbon Offsets for Climate Conscience Canadians

Payne Institute Senior Research Associate Dr. Sara Hastings-Simon is featured on this news video discussing the voluntary upcharge at the pump for Canadians who would like to purchase carbon offsets while buying fuel for their vehicles.  Video of news feed starts at 12:43 into the news broadcast.  November 13, 2020.

Mr. President-elect, America needs a Civilian Climate Corps 11/10/2020

Mr. President-elect, America needs a Civilian Climate Corps

Payne Institute Fellow Drs. Jay Lemery and Lewis Goldfrank write this opinion piece as emergency physicians practicing on the frontlines of the pandemic, witnessing firsthand the consequences of a public health response in disarray as COVID-19 continues to flare throughout the country.  November 10, 2020.

Pandemic disruptions in energy and the environment 11/2/2020

Pandemic disruptions in energy and the environment

Payne Institute Fellows Dustin Mulvaney, Joshua Busby, and Director Morgan Bazilian write about how public health measures implemented during the coronavirus pandemic have had significant global impacts on energy systems. Some changes may be ephemeral: as industries go back to work and supply chains relink once production resumes, energy use and emissions have and will continue to rebound. November 2, 2020.

Labor’s evolving support of a clean energy transition 10/28/2020

Labor’s evolving support of a clean energy transition

Payne Institute Fellow Brad Handler and Director Morgan Bazilian write an opinion piece about the concepts of a “just transition” for fossil fuel workers and promoting social equity have evolved to be key tenets of labor platforms in the U.S and Europe. Support for fossil fuel projects have been the basis of dissonance among unions, but common ground is now being found at the state level for well-designed policies.  October 28, 2020.

An Age of Actorless Threats: Rethinking National Security in Light of COVID and Climate 10/23/2020

An Age of Actorless Threats: Rethinking National Security in Light of COVID and Climate

Payne Institute Advisory Board member Cullen Hendrix and Director Morgan Bazilian write about how climate change and the COVID pandemic are highlighting key weaknesses in U.S. national security strategy and policy. Addressing these issues will not just require making traditional national security agencies more climate- and pandemic-aware, but a reimagining of the concept of national security itself.  October 23, 2020.

Sebnem Duzgun one of the 100 Resilience Fellows of the Resilience Engineering (RE) community 10/14/2020

Sebnem Duzgun one of the 100 Resilience Fellows of the Resilience Engineering (RE) community

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Sebnem Duzgun has been appointed appointed as one of the 100 Resilience Fellows of the Resilience Engineering (RE) community!  As a resilience Fellow, Dr. Dugun is now part of the 4TU-programme DeSIRE which was set-up by the 4TU.RE Centre. The 4TU.DeSIRE programme and the 4TU.RE Centre aim to establish and foster an international network of top-level academic scholars, engineers, practitioners and decision-makers who serve as ambassadors of the RE paradigm.  October 14, 2020.  

It’s time for states that grew rich from oil, gas and coal to figure out what’s next 9/23/2020

It’s time for states that grew rich from oil, gas and coal to figure out what’s next

Payne Institute Fellow Brad Handler, Matt Henry, and Morgan Bazilian write about the very challenging times for U.S. fossil fuel-producing states, such as Wyoming, Alaska and North Dakota. The COVID-19 economic downturn has reduced energy demand, with uncertain prospects for the extent of its recovery. Meanwhile, rising concern about climate change and the declining cost of renewable energy are precipitating a sharp decline in demand for coal in particular.  September 23, 2020. 

Beware of climate delay, masquerading as climate action 9/10/2020

Beware of climate delay, masquerading as climate action

Payne Institute Senior Research Associate Sara Hastings-Simon writes an opinion piece about the slow-walking action on climate has almost the same impact as outright denial.  As political leaders face growing calls for climate action, we must be careful to understand where investments in technological development are, in fact, a form of climate delay, masquerading as action.  September 10, 2020.

The oil-sands fundamentals are dire and stark – and Canada shouldn’t spend to revive a dying dream 8/29/2020

The oil-sands fundamentals are dire and stark – and Canada shouldn’t spend to revive a dying dream

Payne Institute Senior Research Associate Sara Hastings-Simon, David Keith, and Ed Whittingham write an opinion piece on Alberta’s potential move to build a greener industry with a major public investment in decarbonizing oil production. There is widespread support for this approach. After all, many of Alberta’s oil producers are in the high-cost, high-carbon quadrant, and for them to follow the world in moving to low-carbon energy, the public needs to help with the Herculean adjustment effort. August 29, 2020. 

Can Distributed Nuclear Power Address Energy Resilience and Energy Poverty? 8/19/2020

Can Distributed Nuclear Power Address Energy Resilience and Energy Poverty?

Payne Institute Fellow Alex Gilbert and Morgan Bazilian write about the three major energy challenges that are driving national and international energy decision making. First, the need to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Second, despite recent progress, many communities in both developed and developing countries remain in energy poverty or lack reliable, low-cost energy services. Finally, due to climate-amplified natural disasters and other threats, the reliability and resilience of energy systems is an increasing public concern. Existing distributed energy resources (DERs), especially solar photovoltaics and battery storage, are attempting to address each of these issues. However, more and faster progress is needed. Recent innovations in advanced nuclear designs could make nuclear power a distributed energy solution for the first time. As a dispatchable and resilient energy source, distributed nuclear could complement and accelerate the ongoing distributed energy revolution.  August 19, 2020.

California power outages underscore challenge of maintaining reliability during climate change, the energy transition 8/19/2020

California power outages underscore challenge of maintaining reliability during climate change, the energy transition

Payne Fellow Alex Gilbert and Director Morgan Bazilian write an opinion piece about a severe heat wave that brought high electric prices and rolling electricity outages to California last week, with as many as two million customers suffering a loss of power. Already, some are trying to politicize the blackouts, blaming renewables and California’s aggressive energy transition. However, the situation is considerably more complex than this simplistic narrative. August 19, 2020.  

We should look beyond the savings in the Heritage fund 8/15/2020

WE SHOULD LOOK BEYOND THE SAVINGS IN THE HERITAGE FUND

Payne Institute Senior Research Associate Sara Hastings-Simon writes an opinion piece on the recent discussion of Alberta’s current state and the missed opportunity to save past resource wealth has focused on the balance of the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund and the contrast to Norway’s trillion-dollar account. But as commentators have rightly pointed out, there are important differences between the two regions that call into question the use of Norway’s bank account as a yardstick for the past or plan for the future.  August 15, 2020.  

Fall in US gas flaring gives cause for optimism 8/11/2020

FALL IN US GAS FLARING GIVES CAUSE FOR OPTIMISM

Payne Institute Senior Research Associate Jordy Lee, Director Morgan Bazilian, and Jamie Webster write about how in the past 12 months, gas flaring in the US has actually declined by 70 per cent, according to numbers provided by the Earth Observation Group.This decline was not driven by policy, Covid-19, or suddenly improved operations, but rather as the result of investors demanding greater capital discipline from a sector that had earned a reputation for prioritising growth over all other concerns. These demands have reduced activity, particularly from smaller operators that have often found it financially difficult to spend capital to improve environmental outcomes. August 11, 2020.

On oilsands, Alberta is still trying to fix yesterday’s problems 8/5/2020

ON OILSANDS, ALBERTA IS STILL TRYING TO FIX YESTERDAY’S PROBLEMS

Payne Institute Senior Research Associate Sara Hastings-Simon opinion piece regarding the decision by French energy giant Total highlights need to focus on today’s real challenges, and their reasons for the recently announced writedown of Canadian oilsands assets and the decision to halt all future investments in new capacity.  While the decision was framed within Total’s broader carbon neutrality goal, the fundamental challenge cited was not the carbon footprint of production from the oilsands, but rather that in a world that is responding to the threat of climate change, oil production will decline, leaving the expansion of higher cost, larger, and longer lifetime Alberta resources uncompetitive. August 5, 2020. 

 

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DISCLAIMER: The opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints expressed are those of the author alone and do not reflect the opinions, beliefs, viewpoints, or official policies of the Payne Institute or Colorado School of Mines.