Ketan Ahuja

Who gets left behind when electrification isn't coordinated? Very interesting question highlighted in a recent paper published by Jaime Garibay Rodríguez, Morgan Edwards, Zeyneb Magavi, and Ann Fink. Their work focuses on what happens to natural gas customers when electrification efforts move forward without a plan to manage the legacy costs of the gas system. Their findings show that households that don’t electrify (often because they can’t afford to) could see their gas bills rise by 46% over the next 15 years. These affordability risks are important to include in our public discourse since new gas infrastructure will need to be paid for by a shrinking customer base. #Affordability #EnergyTransition Paper: https://lnkd.in/ehvtp8Mf

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Glad to see Evan Coleman of MIT Energy and Climate quoted in this The Wall Street Journal article about automation in the voluntary #carbon market. As he points out, there is a need for more transparency of automation approaches in order to increase confidence in their outcomes. Fortunately, his project with Sherrie Wang on the use of #machinelearning for hyperspectral remote sensing of #soil organic carbon, funded by the MIT Climate & Sustainability Consortium (MCSC), is developing an open data platform that will demonstrate transparency in this field.

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American Enterprise Institute and The Brookings Institution just released our policy paper on how states can lead the EV transition with data transparency. The solution is simple and cheap.  States can require highway fast chargers share real-time data in an open format. Real-time status and price transparency let drivers reliably locate a working, affordable plug, slashing charging anxiety—the top cited barrier to EV purchases. The report includes turnkey legislation that states can adopt to encourage EV adoption while costing them virtually nothing. https://lnkd.in/eiDi57JP  #EV #charging

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We have a new paper out on "Estimating the climate impacts of hydrogen emissions in a net-zero US economy". Main takeaway: hydrogen emissions (from leaks, purging, etc.) have a non-zero impact on global warming potential, but in net-zero scenarios those emissions are much smaller than other residual emissions in the system. This work was led by Ansh Nasta Derek Wissmiller Chris Moore Esther Goita at GTI Energy with additional contributions from me Emily Beagle Webber Energy Group and published in IOP Publishing Progress in Energy. Please check it ou! And if this topic is of interest, please check out the 2nd annual HEX@TEX (Hydrogen Emissions eXchange at Texas) conference later this year. #FutureOfEnergy #Hydrogen #HydrogenEmissions #NetZero CC: Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin The LBJ School of Public Affairs Cockrell School of Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin https://lnkd.in/g84HuuJC

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In our latest policy brief, DOE Staff Crunch Slows American Innovation, the EFI Foundation team continues its analysis of U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s staffing level issues and funding mechanisms that call for a greater workforce. The United States is at a critical inflection point, as load growth and energy affordability become increasingly important. Now more than ever, the DOE has the opportunity to support end-to-end energy innovation that can confront these problems. Cooperating with the private sector and building a staff that boosts U.S. competitiveness in the energy sector is the answer. Our paper offers sharp analysis of the impact that staffing cuts have had on DOE’s ability to move funding from appropriation to implementation. Read the analysis: https://lnkd.in/e-sN8yR7

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