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Energy Policy

The striking shift in climate politics in a post-Sandy New York City
Person standing outside in front of a dark column, arms crossed.

Daniel Aldana Cohen directs the Socio-Spatial Climate Collaborative and is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology in the School of Arts & Sciences.

The striking shift in climate politics in a post-Sandy New York City

Analysis of conversations with 75 disaster responders, social activists, and others revealed that immediately following the superstorm, the city moved away from cutting greenhouse gas emissions and toward adaptation.

Michele W. Berger

Offsetting carbon emissions, one ton at a time
solar panels in a field

Offsetting carbon emissions, one ton at a time

Carbon offsets are a small but meaningful market in its mission to contribute to greenhouse gas reducing industries and practices in order to compensate for emissions made elsewhere.
A shaky future for U.S. transit systems, and why we need to save them
Sign on the wall inside an empty public transit trolley that reads Please practice social distancing.

A shaky future for U.S. transit systems, and why we need to save them

The pandemic lockdown in cities has impacted transit systems around the world. While the federal stimulus package includes transit agencies, experts at Kleinman Center for Energy Policy argue that the decrease from local and state sources could be substantial.

From Kleinman Center for Energy Policy

Penn signs Power Purchase Agreement for largest solar project in Pennsylvania
Aerial view of large greens landscape with solar panels set out over a large field.

Keystone Solar, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Photo courtesy of Community Energy, Inc.

nocred

Penn signs Power Purchase Agreement for largest solar project in Pennsylvania

The agreement will result in the construction in central Pennsylvania of two new solar energy facilities that combined can generate 220 megawatts of electricity.
Bailout or subsidy: Oil in the age of pandemic
Silhouette of oil pumps that transforms to the chart with oil price vs USD

Bailout or subsidy: Oil in the age of pandemic

COVID-19 is disrupting all sectors of the global economy, and the energy sector is far from immune. Energy storage has implications for both the government stimulus efforts and the shape of our future economic recovery.

Greener economy ‘not science fiction anymore’
Two people standing outside on a lawn covered in leaves, holding a book titled "A Planet to Win, Why we need a Green New Deal."

In November 2019, Cohen presented Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with a copy of the book outside the Pelham Parkway Houses in the Bronx, where they led a training on the Green New Deal for Public Housing Act. (Image: Gabriel Hernandez Solano)

Greener economy ‘not science fiction anymore’

A new book from Penn sociologist Daniel Aldana Cohen and colleagues describes four key facets of the Green New Deal and why they could become a reality in the not-too-distant future.

Michele W. Berger

What to do when cutting emissions alone is no longer enough
power plant  emitting carbon dioxide into atmosphere on a sunny day, surrounded by trees and roadways..

What to do when cutting emissions alone is no longer enough

Four factors to consider in the race to solve the climate crisis, including how to scale up a tool called negative emissions and why the oceans can only help so much.

Michele W. Berger

The many lives of charcoal
Penn alumna Catherine Nabukalu examines a bag of charcoal as two people work in a field in the background

Environmental Studies master’s student Catherine Nabukalu worked with Professor Reto Gieré to study the charcoal supply chain. She visited and interviewed workers involved with its production and trade in a number of sites in Uganda. 

The many lives of charcoal

Catherine Nabukalu, an alumna of the Master in Environmental Studies program, worked with School of Arts and Sciences Professor Reto Gieré to track the charcoal supply chain through research in Nabukalu’s native Uganda.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Battling longer, more intense fire seasons
Fire crews tend to a using controlled burns at night to prevent further uncontrolled fires

Battling longer, more intense fire seasons

In a Q&A, doctoral student Clare Super describes her research into wildland firefighting, the impact on firefighters, U.S. policy around wildfires, and parallels to what’s happening in Australia.

Michele W. Berger