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 | | Karen L. Palmer | | Research Director, Senior Fellow, and Associate Director for Electricity, Center for Climate and Electricity Policy | |
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PROFILE |
Palmer has been a researcher at RFF for more than 20 years and is the first recipient of the Darius Gaskins Chair. She specializes in the economics of environmental and public utility regulation, particularly on issues at the intersection of air quality regulation and the electricity sector. Her work seeks to improve the design of incentive-based environmental regulations that influence the electric utility sector, including controls of multi-pollutants and carbon emissions from electrical generating plants. To this end, she identifies cost-effective approaches to allocating emissions allowances, explores policies targeting carbon emissions and other air pollutants, and efficient ways to promote use of renewable sources of electricity.
Palmer’s work has direct links to debates on the design of a federal cap-and-trade program for greenhouse gas emissions and regional efforts to control releases of CO2 – including the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative in the northeastern United States and the implementation of AB32 legislation in California. She is a co-author of the book Alternating Currents: Electricity Markets and Public Policy, published by RFF Press in 2002.
Before joining RFF in 1989, Palmer was a teaching fellow at Boston College and a staff economist at Data Resources, Inc. In 1996-1997, she was a visiting economist in the Office of Economic Policy at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
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| Featured Publications | | Secular Trends, Environmental Regulations and Electricity Markets | | Dallas Burtraw, Karen Palmer, Anthony Paul and Matt Woerman | | The Electricity Journal | July 2012 | Vol 25, No. 6 | pp. 35-47 | Related Discussion Paper 12-15 | | | | A Symmetric Safety Valve | | Dallas Burtraw, Karen Palmer, Danny Kahn | | Energy Policy | Vol. 38, No.19 | pp.4921-4932 | | | | Energy Efficiency Economics and Policy | | Kenneth Gillingham, Richard G. Newell, and Karen Palmer | | Annual Review of Resource Economics | Forthcoming | Related Discussion Paper 09-13 | | | | Compensation Rules for Climate Policy in the Electricity Sector | | Dallas Burtraw and Karen Palmer | | Journal of Public Policy Analysis and Management | Vol. 27, No. 4 | 819-847 | Related Discussion Paper 07-41 | | | | Modeling the Effects of Changes in New Source Review on National SO2 and NOx Emissions from Electricity-Generating Units | | David A. Evans, Benjamin F. Hobbs, Craig Oren and Karen Palmer | | Environmental Science and Technology | forthcoming | Related Discussion Paper 07-01 | | | | Simple Rules for Targetting CO2 Allowance Allocation to Compensate Firms | | Karen Palmer, Dallas Burtraw, Danny Kahn | | Climate Policy | Related Discussion Paper 06-28 | | | | CO2 Allowance Allocation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and the Effect on Electricity Investors | | Dallas Burtraw, Danny Kahn and Karen Palmer | | The Electricity Journal | March 2006 | Related Discussion Paper 05-55 | | | | Retrospective Review of Energy Efficiency Policies | | Kenny Gillingham, Richard Newell, and Karen Palmer | | Annual Review of Environmenta and Resources | 2006 | 31 | pp. 161-192 | | | | Cost-Effectiveness of Renewable Electricity Policies | | Karen Palmer and Dallas Burtraw | | Energy Economics | 2005 | Vol. 27, No. 6 | 873-894 | Related Discussion Paper 05-01 | | | | The Environmental Impacts of Electricity Restructuring: Looking Back and Looking Forward | | Karen Palmer and Dallas Burtraw | | Environment & Energy Law & Policy Journal | 2006 | Vol. 1, No. 1 | pp. 171-218 | | | | SO2 Control by Electric Utilities: What are the Gains from Trade? | | Curtis Carlson, Dallas Burtraw, Maureen Cropper, and Karen L. Palmer | | Journal of Political Economy | December 2000 | Vol. 108, No. 6 | pp. 1292-1326 | Related Discussion Paper 98-44-REV | | | | Winner, Loser or Innocent Victim: Has Renewable Energy Performed as Expected? | | James McVeigh, Dallas Burtraw, Joel Darmstadter, and Karen Palmer | | Solar Energy | Vol. 68, No. 3 | pp. 237-255 | Related Discussion Paper 99-28 | | | | View All Related Publications |
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BOOKS AND BOOK CHAPTERS | | Price Discovery in Emissions Permit Auctions | | Dallas Burtraw, Jacob Goeree, Charles Holt, Erica Myers, Karen Palmer, William Shobe | | Experiments on Energy, the Environment and Sustainability. Series Title: Research in Experimental Economics, Volume 14 | R. Mark Isaac, Douglas A. Norton | Bingley, United Kingdom: Emerald Group Publishing Limited | 2011 | | | | | State Innovation for Environmental Improvements: Experimental Federalism | | Winston Harrington, Karen Palmer, and Margaret Walls | | The RFF Reader in Environmental and Resource Policy, 2nd Edition | Wallace E. Oates, ed. | RFF Press | 2006 | Chapter 22, pp. 123-128 | | | | | Trading Cases: Five Examples of the Use of Markets in Environmental and Resource Management | | James Boyd, Dallas Burtraw, Alan Krupnick, Virginia McConnell, Richard G. Newell, Karen Palmer, James N. Sanchirico and Margaret Walls | | The RFF Reader in Environmental and Resource Policy, 2nd Edition | Wallace E. Oates, ed. | RFF Press | 2006 | Chapter 10 | | | | | Renewable Sources of Electricity: Safe Bet or Tilting at Windmills? | | Joel Darmstadter and Karen Palmer | | The RFF Reader in Environmental and Resource Policy, 2nd Edition | Wallace E. Oates, ed. | RFF Press | 2006 | Chapter 34, pp.188-192 | | | | | The Effectiveness and Cost of Energy Efficiency Programs | | Kenneth Gillingham, Richard Newell and Karen Palmer | | The RFF Reader in Environmental and Resource Policy, 2nd Edition | Wallace E. Oates, ed. | RFF Press | 2006 | Chapter 35, pp. 193-200 | | | | | Cleaning Up Power Plant Emissions | | Dallas Burtraw and Karen L. Palmer | | New Approaches on Energy and the Environment: Policy Advice for the President | Richard D. Morgenstern and Paul R. Portney, eds. | RFF Press | 2004 | Chapter 8 | | | | | State Innovation for Environmental Improvements: Experimental Federalism | | Winston Harrington, Karen L. Palmer, and Margaret Walls | | New Approaches on Energy and the Environment: Policy Advice for the President | Richard D. Morgenstern and Paul R. Portney, eds. | RFF Press | 2004 | Chapter 10 | | | | | Toward an Integrated Theory of Open Economy Environmental and Trade Policy | | Karen L. Palmer, Arvind Panagariya, Wallace Oates, and Alan J. Krupnick | | Environmental Policy and Fiscal Federalism: Selected Essays of Wallace E. Oates | Wallace E. Oates, editor | 2004 | | | | | SO2 Cap-and-Trade Program in the United States: A Living Legend of Market Effectiveness | | Dallas Burtraw and Karen Palmer | | Choosing Environmental Policy: Comparing Instruments andOutcomes in the Inited States and Europe | Winston Harrington, Richard D. Morgenstern, and Thomas Sterner, eds. | RFF Press | 2004 | Chapter 2 | | | | | Alternating Currents | | Timothy J. Brennan, Karen L. Palmer, and Salvador A. Martinez | | RFF Press | 2002 | | Description: Many states within the U.S., and many countries across the world, are opening their electicity markets to competition. Many others are uncertain about their plans. These differences emphasize the complexities involved in the technology and regulatory structure of the electricity industry--an industry for which the introduction of market competition has been notoriously difficult. In response to these challenges, Alternating Currents provides a timely overview and analysis of the concerns facing industry regulators, legislators, and others as they consider whether, when, and how to open electricity markets. Authors Brennan, Palmer, and Martinez offer background on the history of regulatory policy and the technology for producing and delivering electric power. They then provide insights into the policy debates and economic issues involved in eleven important topics, including industry structure, system integrity and reliability, the mitigation of market power, and environmental protection. Alternating Currents describes the recent events leading to the demise of retail competition in California with the intent on drawing lessons for the future. In the end, the authors offer their perspective about what makes electricity a unique resource and how those factors make the potential conflict between competition and reliability the most pressing of the long-term concerns about the transformation of the electric power industry. Electricy Regulation Energy
RFF Press is now an imprint of Earthscan. Click here to buy this book. | | Electricity Restructuring: Shortcut or Detour on the Road to Achieving Greenhouse Gas Reductions? | | Karen L. Palmer | | Climate Change Economics and Policy: An Anthology | Michael A. Toman, ed. | RFF Press | 2001 | | | | | Electricity Restructuring: Consequences and Opportunities for the Environment | | Dallas Burtraw, Karen L. Palmer, and Martin Heintzelman | | International Yearbook of Environmental and Resource Economics, 2001/2002 | Henk Folmer and Tom Tietenberg, eds. | Cheltenham, U.K.: Edward Elgar Publishing, Ltd. | 2001 | | | | | Recycling | | Jhih-Shyang Shih, Garrick Louis, and Karen L. Palmer | | Encyclopedia of Global Change | Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press | November/December 2000 | | | | | A Shock to the System | | Timothy J. Brennan, Karen L. Palmer, Raymond J. Kopp, Alan J. Krupnick, Vito Stagliano, and Dallas Burtraw | | RFF Press | 1996 | | Description: A Shock to the System is a guide to the decisions that will be faced by electricity providers, customers, and policymakers. Produced by a team of analysts at Resources for the Future, this concise and balanced work provides background necessary to understand the increasing role of competition in electricity markets. The authors introduce important concepts and terminology, and offer the history of public policy regarding electricity. They identify the significant proposals for implementing competition, and examine the potential consequences for regulation, industry structure, cost recovery, and the environment. RFF Press is now an imprint of Earthscan. Click here to buy this book. | | The Social Costing Debate: Issues and Resolutions | | Dallas Burtraw, Hadi Dowlatabadi, Alan J. Krupnick, A. Myrick Freeman III, Karen L. Palmer, and Winston Harrington | | Social Costs of Energy: Present Status and Future Trends | O. Hohmeyer and R. Ottinger, eds. | Berlin, Germany: Springer-Verlag | 1994 | | | | | Using Economic Incentives to Regulate Toxic Substances | | Molly K. Macauley, Michael D. Bowes, and Karen L. Palmer | | RFF Press | 1993 | | Description: Incentive-based schemes can offer a flexible alternative to more traditional command-and-control approaches in the regulation of 60,000-plus chemicals that enter into products and services of everday life. However, toxic substances often defy conventional pollution abatement strategies, which typically involve fairly homogeneous pollutants associated with one stage of production at a readily identifiable source. Using case studies, the authors evaluate the potential attractiveness of incentive-based policies for the regulation of four specific toxic substances: chlorinated solvents, formaldehyde, cadmium, and brominated flame retardants. By investigating the potential effectiveness of various combinations of deposit-refund schemes, product labeling, taxation, marketable permits, and performance bonds to reduce risks associated with these substances, they provide a compelling demonstration of the role of case studies in determining the appropriate regulatory approach for specific toxic substances. | | Social Costing of Electricity and the Benefits of Demand Side Management | | Karen L. Palmer | | Regulatory Responses to Continuously Changing Industry Structures | Charles Stalon, ed. | East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press | 1993 | | | | | Power Plant Fuel Supply Contracts: The Changing Nature of Long-Term Relationships | | Karen Palmer, Michael Toman, David Simpson, Peter Fox-Penner | | Arlington, VA: Public Utility Reports | 1992 | | | | |
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