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WRITING AND PUBLICATIONS LIBRARY
Writings by Category
Click on a category header to access the archive
"Energy Emergence: Rebound and Backfire as Emergent Phenomena" - Report Overview
"Energy Emergence: Rebound and Backfire as Emergent Phenomena" finds extensive evidence and a strong expert consensus that a large amount of the energy savings from below-cost energy efficiency are eroded by demand 'rebound effects,' and that in some cases the rebound exceeds the savings, resulting in increased energy consumption from efficiency, known as backfire. The report contains a comprehensive review of the expert literature.
February 2011
July 2010
June 2010
March 2010
June 2009
May 2009
July 2011
WSJ: Forget the U.N. Climate Convention, Rethink Innovation Instead
Forcing countries to agree to emissions caps will never work, argue Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger. The duo argues in a special Wall Street Journal column that the global community should think past U.N. climate talks in Cancun and focus instead on energy innovation, adaptation, and no regrets policies that do not require agreement about global warming.
November 2010
After Copenhagen: From Climate Nihilism to Climate Pragmatism
Breakthrough Institute Chairman Ted Nordhaus gives the keynote address at the World Climate Solutions conference at the Bella Center in Copenhagen, Denmark, the very building where international climate negotiations collapsed less than one year ago.
October 2010
Hartwell Paper: A New Approach on Global Climate Policy
Global climate policy should be radically overhauled in the wake of the failure of the United Nations process, an international group of 14 climate policy experts and scientists argue in the "Hartwell Paper." Instead of the failed Kyoto-Copenhagen focus on national emissions targets and timetables, what's needed is a focus on expanding access to energy for the poor, quickly reducing non-CO2 climate forcings, and adaptation to changing climate.
May 2010
April 2010
January 2010
Copenhagen Coverage
This post documents Breakthrough's coverage of the climate negotiations in Copenhagen for those looking to understand the significance of this international event.
December 2009
Scrap Kyoto
Kyoto is dead--and that's a good thing. In its place, we need massive global investment in new clean energy technology. Nordhaus and Shellenberger in Democracy Journal. (PDF)
June 2008
November 2011
Know Your Heritage: The Heritage Foundation's Incoherent Attack On Public Investment in Energy Innovation
The Heritage Foundation recently proposed a near dismantling of the Department of Energy in the name of budget deficit reduction. But their proposal includes numerous inconsistencies and inaccuracies to justify eliminating programs vital to the United States energy innovation system. In response, the Breakthrough Institute, along with ITIF and Americans for Energy Leadership, detail point-by-point the fundamental inaccuracies of Heritage's proposal.
April 2011
October 2010
September 2009
March 2009
June 2008
January 2008
October 2011
Surviving the Coming Clean Tech Crash
The best way for Washington to green America's economy is to employ new innovation and commercialization policies that will replace the old and expiring clean tech deployment subsidies.
August 2011
June 2010
April 2010
A Clean Energy Competitiveness Strategy for America
Accelerating U.S. clean technology innovation, manufacturing, and market creation has become not just an environmental necessity but an economic imperative. A presentation and essay by Jesse Jenkins and Devon Swezey.
April 2010
February 2010
"Rising Tigers, Sleeping Giant" Report Overview
Benchmarking clean-tech competitiveness: A new report by the Breakthrough Institute and Information Technology & Innovation Foundation provides the first comprehensive analysis of competitive positions among the U.S. and key Asian challengers in the global clean energy race.
November 2009
November 2009
March 2010
December 2009
The Steps Not Yet Taken
A chapter from Controversies in Science and Technology Volume 2: From Climate to Chromosomes by Roger Pielke and Dan Sarewitz (PDF)
April 2008
May 2007
May 2009
May 2009
October 2007
October 2007
October 2004
October 2011
Presentation: "Where Good Technologies Come From"
From hybrid crops to blockbuster drugs, nuclear power to wind power, and microchips to the Internet, government support was critical to the productive public-private partnerships that spawned so many revolutionary American technologies.
December 2010
Where Good Technologies Come From: Case Studies in American Innovation
Where do good technologies come from? The history of American innovation shows that an active partnership between the public and private sectors has been key to developing breakthrough technologies, which have driven generations of economic prosperity. In an updated report, the Breakthrough Institute explores this partnership through a set of case studies in American innovation.
December 2010
February 2009
November 2006
November 2006
Toward a Renewed Social Contract
A Proposal to Frame the Debate and Advance a Progressive Values Agenda Around Preparedness and Reconstruction in the Wake of Hurricane Katrina (PDF)
November 2006
Health Care for Hybrids
Investing in Oil Savings, Retiree Health Care, and a Revitalized Auto Industry for a Stronger America by Bracken Hendricks, Ted Nordhaus, Roland Hwang and Nick Shipley. (PDF)
June 2005
November 2009
June 2009
January 2009
June 2007
June 2007
Writings by Type
Click on a category header to expand the archive
Presentations
Why Climate Science Divides Us But Energy Technology Unites Us
Climate science was supposed to unite us, on the left and the right, and result in common, concerted action. Instead, the science of climate change has proved to be ideologically polarizing. In a speech for the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus explain why climate science divides us. By contrast, energy technology may actually be able to transcend politics and unify Republicans and Democrats alike.
January 2011
Presentation: "Where Good Technologies Come From"
From hybrid crops to blockbuster drugs, nuclear power to wind power, and microchips to the Internet, government support was critical to the productive public-private partnerships that spawned so many revolutionary American technologies.
December 2010
Economic Doctrines and Climate Change
Breakthrough's Devon Swezey speaks at an event unveiling a new report by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation about how economic doctrines inform our views on how to address climate change, how conventional doctrines are failing, and what policies are needed for clean energy progress.
October 2010
After Copenhagen: From Climate Nihilism to Climate Pragmatism
Breakthrough Institute Chairman Ted Nordhaus gives the keynote address at the World Climate Solutions conference at the Bella Center in Copenhagen, Denmark, the very building where international climate negotiations collapsed less than one year ago.
October 2010
A Clean Energy Competitiveness Strategy for America
Accelerating U.S. clean technology innovation, manufacturing, and market creation has become not just an environmental necessity but an economic imperative. A presentation and essay by Jesse Jenkins and Devon Swezey.
April 2010
February 2010
June 2009
May 2009
Reports and Policy Memos
November 2011
November 2011
October 2011
July 2011
"Energy Emergence: Rebound and Backfire as Emergent Phenomena" - Report Overview
"Energy Emergence: Rebound and Backfire as Emergent Phenomena" finds extensive evidence and a strong expert consensus that a large amount of the energy savings from below-cost energy efficiency are eroded by demand 'rebound effects,' and that in some cases the rebound exceeds the savings, resulting in increased energy consumption from efficiency, known as backfire. The report contains a comprehensive review of the expert literature.
February 2011
Where Good Technologies Come From: Case Studies in American Innovation
Where do good technologies come from? The history of American innovation shows that an active partnership between the public and private sectors has been key to developing breakthrough technologies, which have driven generations of economic prosperity. In an updated report, the Breakthrough Institute explores this partnership through a set of case studies in American innovation.
December 2010
October 2010
June 2010
June 2010
Hartwell Paper: A New Approach on Global Climate Policy
Global climate policy should be radically overhauled in the wake of the failure of the United Nations process, an international group of 14 climate policy experts and scientists argue in the "Hartwell Paper." Instead of the failed Kyoto-Copenhagen focus on national emissions targets and timetables, what's needed is a focus on expanding access to energy for the poor, quickly reducing non-CO2 climate forcings, and adaptation to changing climate.
May 2010
"Rising Tigers, Sleeping Giant" Report Overview
Benchmarking clean-tech competitiveness: A new report by the Breakthrough Institute and Information Technology & Innovation Foundation provides the first comprehensive analysis of competitive positions among the U.S. and key Asian challengers in the global clean energy race.
November 2009
September 2009
May 2009
May 2009
REPORT: Case Studies in American Innovation
In a 2009 report, the Breakthrough Institute illuminates the stories behind the invention and diffusion of ten technologies that are everyday facets of our modern lives and offers a new look at government involvement in technological development.
April 2009
January 2009
June 2008
October 2007
June 2007
June 2007
November 2006
Global Warming Preparedness
A Proposal to Manage Risk & Invest in Resilient Communities. Created in the Fall of 2006 by The Breakthrough Institute, The Center for American Progress, and American Environics. (PDF)
November 2006
November 2006
Toward a Renewed Social Contract
A Proposal to Frame the Debate and Advance a Progressive Values Agenda Around Preparedness and Reconstruction in the Wake of Hurricane Katrina (PDF)
November 2006
Health Care for Hybrids
Investing in Oil Savings, Retiree Health Care, and a Revitalized Auto Industry for a Stronger America by Bracken Hendricks, Ted Nordhaus, Roland Hwang and Nick Shipley. (PDF)
June 2005
June 2003
Essays and Long Articles
June 2011
WSJ: Forget the U.N. Climate Convention, Rethink Innovation Instead
Forcing countries to agree to emissions caps will never work, argue Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger. The duo argues in a special Wall Street Journal column that the global community should think past U.N. climate talks in Cancun and focus instead on energy innovation, adaptation, and no regrets policies that do not require agreement about global warming.
November 2010
April 2010
March 2010
January 2010
November 2009
November 2009
The Flawed Logic of The Cap-and-Trade Debate
Two prominent -- and iconoclastic -- environmentalists argue that current efforts to tax or cap carbon emissions are doomed to failure and that the answer lies not in making dirty energy expensive but in making clean energy cheap. (Yale e360)
May 2009
May 2009
May 2009
April 2009
December 2008
Scrap Kyoto
Kyoto is dead--and that's a good thing. In its place, we need massive global investment in new clean energy technology. Nordhaus and Shellenberger in Democracy Journal. (PDF)
June 2008
The Steps Not Yet Taken
A chapter from Controversies in Science and Technology Volume 2: From Climate to Chromosomes by Roger Pielke and Dan Sarewitz (PDF)
April 2008
January 2008
October 2007
October 2007
October 2005
October 2004
Op-Eds and Short Articles
October 2011
Surviving the Coming Clean Tech Crash
The best way for Washington to green America's economy is to employ new innovation and commercialization policies that will replace the old and expiring clean tech deployment subsidies.
August 2011
SF Chronicle: "No Nukes" Concert Wholly Misguided
A Breakthrough Institute op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle argues that the revival of the 'No Nukes' concert presents an inexcusable ignorance of the real 21st century threats presented by climate change.
August 2011
June 2011
Green Jobs for Janitors: How Neoliberals and Green Keynesians Wrecked Obama's Promise of a Clean Energy Economy
[Originally published 10.28.10 in The New Republic.] President Obama's strategy for economic renewal through clean energy was flawed from the start, too over-reliant on cap and trade and public works programs to retrofit buildings for energy efficiency. To succeed, a new industrial economy requires large, sustained investments in innovation and manufacturing like the kinds that built America's information technology and biomedical industries.
October 2010
April 2010
March 2010
March 2010
December 2009
July 2009
April 2009
Obama is just blowing smoke
The White House says it's serious about climate change. But its plan to regulate carbon emissions is doomed to fail. ... Nordhaus and Shellenberger in Slate.
April 2009
April 2009
March 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
The Green Bubble Bursts
Amid the energy crisis, Democrats are losing the high ground on the environment to a GOP that is pushing oil drilling. Nordhaus and Shellenberger in the LA Times.
September 2008
June 2008
June 2008
May 2008
December 2007
September 2006
December 2005
April 2005
January 2004
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FEATURED PUBLICATIONS
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"Energy Emergence: Rebound and Backfire as Emergent Phenomena" - Report Overview
"Energy Emergence: Rebound and Backfire as Emergent Phenomena" finds extensive evidence and a strong expert consensus that a large amount of the energy savings from below-cost energy efficiency are eroded by demand 'rebound effects,' and that in some cases the rebound exceeds the savings, resulting in increased energy consumption from efficiency, known as backfire. The report contains a comprehensive review of the expert literature.
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|
Where Good Technologies Come From: Case Studies in American Innovation
Where do good technologies come from? The history of American innovation shows that an active partnership between the public and private sectors has been key to developing breakthrough technologies, which have driven generations of economic prosperity. In an updated report, the Breakthrough Institute explores this partnership through a set of case studies in American innovation.
|
|
WSJ: Forget the U.N. Climate Convention, Rethink Innovation Instead
Forcing countries to agree to emissions caps will never work, argue Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger. The duo argues in a special Wall Street Journal column that the global community should think past U.N. climate talks in Cancun and focus instead on energy innovation, adaptation, and no regrets policies that do not require agreement about global warming.
|
|
Hartwell Paper: A New Approach on Global Climate Policy
Global climate policy should be radically overhauled in the wake of the failure of the United Nations process, an international group of 14 climate policy experts and scientists argue in the "Hartwell Paper." Instead of the failed Kyoto-Copenhagen focus on national emissions targets and timetables, what's needed is a focus on expanding access to energy for the poor, quickly reducing non-CO2 climate forcings, and adaptation to changing climate.
|
|
"Rising Tigers, Sleeping Giant" Report Overview
Benchmarking clean-tech competitiveness: A new report by the Breakthrough Institute and Information Technology & Innovation Foundation provides the first comprehensive analysis of competitive positions among the U.S. and key Asian challengers in the global clean energy race.
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BREAK THROUGH THE BOOK
Winner of the 2008 Green Book Award
"Prescient" - Time
"Could be the most important thing to happen to environmentalism since Rachel Carson's 'Silent Spring.'" - Wired
Break Through: Why We Cant Leave Saving the Planet to Environmentalists
A new politics for a new century, one focused on aspirations, not complaints, human possibility, not limits. In stores now >>
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