Fuel cells, which use chemistry rather than combustion to generate electricity, have a wide range of potential applications, from large arrays that can be integrated into the electricity grid to small cells that can power vehicles. Experts in the field, however, remain uncertain about a number of important issues, including how efficient fuel cells will become, how much costs will drop, and to what degree hypothesized benefits will be achieved when fuel cells leave the lab and enter the real world. This grant supports an emerging cohort of scholars at Carnegie Mellon University’s Scott Institute for Energy Innovation plan to clarify these uncertainties. A team led by Jay Whitacre will conduct an expansive literature review and background assessment, laying out the current state of development of various fuel cell technologies, their advantages, their drawbacks, and what is and is not known about each. The team will then undertake an in-depth expert elicitation process that utilizes surveys, in-person interviews, and group discussions to identify consensus and critical uncertainties associated with the different fuel cell technologies being studied. The iterative expert elicitation process will provide a method for aggregating this diverse array of expert perspectives and will result in a series of high-profile, peer-reviewed journal articles that will cover topics related both to stationary fuel cell applications and the use of fuel cells in transportation. The effort promises to clarify the current state of fuel cell research, identify gaps in our knowledge, and expose promising ways forward.

This grant supports a series of research projects coordinated by researchers at the National Bureau of Economic Research examining the distributional and efficiency tradeoffs and implications of U.S. energy policy. Sixteen researchers will carry out eight different studies that will look at a variety of interrelated issues, including whether the energy reductions achieved by current policies could be obtained at lower cost, how the costs of current energy policies are distributed across and within different income groups, and whether and to what extent these burdens could be upset by additional tax and transfer policies. Policies to be examined include vehicle and appliance efficiency standards, renewal energy subsidies, electric and hybrid automobile purchasing subsidies, and green building codes. The resulting research papers will be published in a special peer-reviewed issue of the Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.   Though the papers concern U.S. energy policies and will have obvious relevance to environmentalists and policymakers, the focus of each will be strictly empirical. No policy recommendations will be made.