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Incisive commentary from RAP experts
RAP experts keep their finger on the pulse of the energy sector and provide timely analysis of topics impacting stakeholders TODAY.
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August 10, 2022
An Escape from the “Jaws of Delusion”: Planning for the End of Cheap Gas
In 2013, Marty Kushler, senior fellow at the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), gave a presentation in Chicago on gas efficiency programs. He argued that one should not make decisions about programs with lengthy multi-year effects based on… View Summary +
July 20, 2022
‘Game on’ for Germany’s heat pump transformation
Time is of the essence if Germany hopes to meet its ambitious net-zero emissions target by 2045. To achieve this goal, the country will have to rapidly transform how it heats its buildings while ridding itself of Russian gas. Alongside… View Summary +
July 8, 2022
Making sense of India’s fast-changing policy landscape: Integrated modelling to inform decision-making
- Kakali Mukhopadhyay ,
- Ranjit Bharvirkar ,
- Frederick Weston
With several notable recent economic reforms, India is one of the fastest-growing emerging economies. The country aspires to become a $5 trillion economy by 2024-25 and a $10 trillion one by 2030. There is ample evidence that India’s growth… View Summary +
July 8, 2022
The E3-India model: It’s come a long way
- Hector Pollitt ,
- Ranjit Bharvirkar ,
- Frederick Weston
In 2016, the Regulatory Assistance Project approached Cambridge Econometrics about building a new macroeconomic modelling tool for India. The rationale for the model was simple: India needed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, but much of the policy to… View Summary +
July 6, 2022
House power: the hidden powerhouse of the new energy landscape
- Sophie Yule-Bennett
Raoul Dufy’s 1937 fresco La Fée Électricité — an arresting 600 square metre tribute to “the great adventure of electricity” — depicts science and technology leaps such as Faraday’s discovery of electromagnetic induction, Gramme’s direct current dynamo, Baudot’s… View Summary +
June 22, 2022
Utilities Want to Provide EV Fleet “Advisory Services.” Should Regulators Approve?
- Jeff Ackermann
As the electrification of vehicle fleets goes mainstream, fleet owners are facing a gauntlet of challenges, starting with engaging their electric service provider. The utility response of providing “advisory services” is both creative and presents new challenges for utility and… View Summary +
June 16, 2022
Navigating towards net-zero power system: it is not the ‘heading’ but the ‘course’
The energy price and supply risks we are facing today are making the decarbonisation of the power sector by 2035 an even more significant challenge. But if we deviate the heading of our ship from the course for longer than… View Summary +
May 24, 2022
A Song in the Key of E: Emissions, Efficiency, Equity, and Electrification
- Frederick Weston
A lot of folks out there (including we at RAP) have, for the last four decades, been devising ways to make utilities more economically efficient, their customers more energy-efficient, and the power system cleaner, sustainable, more equitable, and non-emitting. But… View Summary +
May 19, 2022
Surf’s Up: Catching the IIJA Wave
I’m learning how to surf. For my birthday, my kids got together and bought me a surfboard. One day last summer I spent about three hours in the waves off of Popham Beach in Maine trying to figure things… View Summary +
May 18, 2022
Cutting ties, forging alliances: how transport electrification and renewable electricity can reshape Europe’s economic landscape
Along with the existing environmental and economic rationale for ending reliance on fossil fuels, the war in Ukraine has motivated many in the European Union to increase energy sovereignty. One of the larger fossil fuel consuming sectors is transportation, for… View Summary +