Session Abstract
The clean energy transition is reshaping how we produce and consume electricity. These changes will determine not only how quickly we reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but also how we adapt to climate change and who bears the costs along the way. In this lecture, Professor Fowlie examines how the prices consumers pay for electricity can influence the pace, fairness, and effectiveness of the transition. Drawing on research from rural India to wildfire-prone California, she shows how electricity rate design affects when households use power, how quickly electrification advances, and who ultimately pays the costs of climate adaptation in the power sector. Together, these studies underscore the central role of electricity market design in aligning billions of individual energy choices with our collective climate goals.
Speaker Bio
Meredith Fowlie is a Professor in the Agriculture and Resource Economics department, faculty co-director at the Energy Institute at Haas, an affiliated faculty of the Energy and Resources Group, and co-director of the Energy and Environmental Economics group at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Fowlie has worked extensively on the economics of energy markets and the environment. Her research investigates real-world applications of market-based environmental regulations, the economics of energy efficiency, the demand-side of energy markets, and energy use in emerging economies. Her work has appeared in the American Economic Review, the Journal of Political Economy, Quarterly Journal of Economics, the Review of Economics and Statistics, and other academic journals.