1150 Seventeenth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036
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At a time when Congress prepares for a looming battle about the Environmental Protection Agency's plans to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act, could geoengineering, also known as climate engineering, offer a better alternative? In the wake of the failure of the United Nations climate talks in Copenhagen,
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geoengineering seems to be emerging as a possible response to climate change. The Committee on Science and Technology of the U.S. House of Representatives is in the midst of a series of hearings on the concept. Its opposite number in the British House of Commons is conducting a parallel effort, and the European Union has also launched a geoengineering research project.
At this event, Representative Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.), the chairman of the House Committee on Science and Technology, discussed the emergence of geoengineering as a policy option and the congressional hearings being held on the subject. Professor J. Eric Bickel of the University of Texas presented his paper "The Climate Engineering Option: Economics and Policy Implications," and Professor Linda R. Cohen of the University of California, Irvine, author of several books on the economics of technological change, responded. Lee Lane, AEI resident fellow and codirector of AEI's Geoengineering Project, moderated the discussion.
| 1:15 p.m. | Registration | |
| 1:30 | Opening Remarks: | Bart Gordon, U.S. House of Representatives (D-Tenn.) |
| 2:00 | Presenter: | J. Eric Bickel, University of Texas |
| Discussant: | Linda R. Cohen, University of California, Irvine | |
| Moderator: | Lee Lane, AEI | |
| 4:00 | Adjournment |
Speaker biographies
J. Eric Bickel is an assistant professor in the Operations Research/Industrial Engineering Group in the department of mechanical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin and a fellow in the Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy. His research interests include the theory and practice of decision analysis and its application in the energy and climate change arenas. Mr. Bickel's research has addressed the use of climate engineering to combat climate change, valuing testing programs, efficient modeling of risk, probability assessment, and risk preference. His research has appeared in leading academic journals and has been featured by the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Time, and National Public Radio. Mr. Bickel's research has been funded by Schlumberger, the Department of Energy, the National Energy Technology Laboratory, and the National Science Foundation (NSF). He is also an NSF Career award winner. Prior to holding his current position, Mr. Bickel was an assistant professor at Texas A&M University and a senior engagement manager for Strategic Decisions Group. He has consulted around the world in a range of industries, including oil and gas, electricity generation/transmission/delivery, energy trading and marketing, commodity and specialty chemicals, life sciences, financial services, and metals and mining.
Linda R. Cohen is a professor of economics and law at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) and associate dean for research and graduate studies for the UCI School of Social Sciences. Ms. Cohen's research lies at the intersection of economics, law, and political economy. Her current work focuses on government policies for research and innovation and on the relationship between the judicial and legislative branches in formulating administrative policies. She has published extensively on energy policy and the political economy of innovation policy in the United States. Ms. Cohen is a fellow and former council member of the California Council for Science and Technology (CCST), and was a member of the advisory panel for the Public Interest Energy Research Program for the California Energy Commission. She currently serves on the National Research Council's committee assessing the potential for energy efficiency as part of the National Academy project, America's Energy Future, and on the CCST project, California's Energy Future. In 2004, Ms. Cohen held the Gilbert White Fellowship at Resources for the Future in Washington, D.C.
Bart Gordon is a U.S. representative from Tennessee's sixth district serving in his thirteenth term. He is also the dean of Tennessee's congressional delegation. He has served as the chairman of the House Science and Technology Committee since 2007. As chairman, Mr. Gordon authored the landmark bipartisan America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science (COMPETES) Act, which aimed to foster U.S. economic competitiveness by strengthening math and science education with the goal of ensuring that the U.S. workforce has the skills needed for the high-tech jobs of the future. In addition, the COMPETES Act focused on curbing America's dependence on foreign energy sources. The law created the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy in the U.S. Department of Energy, which is tasked with leveraging talent in all sectors—from private industry to universities to government labs—to develop next-generation energy sources and technologies. As chairman, Mr. Gordon has also led the House Science and Technology Committee to hold hearings on geoengineering research and policy options—the first congressional hearings devoted entirely to the subject.
Lee Lane, codirector of the AEI Geoengineering Project, is a resident fellow at AEI and a consultant to Charles River Associates. He formerly served as executive director of the Climate Policy Center, a Washington, D.C.–based policy research organization that analyzes climate policy and promotes economically efficient policy responses to the challenge of climate change. Mr. Lane is the author of Strategic Options for Bush Administration Climate Policy (AEI Press, 2006) and has contributed chapters to several books on climate change and energy policy. He was also the lead author of the 2006 National Aeronautic and Space Administration Ames workshop report on geoengineering. Mr. Lane has consulted with the American and Japanese governments on technology and energy policy and with private sector clients both in the United States and in Australia.
