Energy Institute to hold 18th Annual Power Conference, March 22

The 18th annual Power Conference on Energy Research and Policy, sponsored by the Energy Institute at Haas on March 22, will focus on energy efficiency and emissions trading in California and around the world.

The conference will take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Joseph Wood Krutch Theater on the Clark Kerr Campus and is expected to attract about 175 academics, regulatory agency officials, and industry executives. The presenters represent not only UC Berkeley but also other institutions both in the U.S. and abroad.

Energy Institute co-faculty director and Haas Professor Severin Borenstein will present a paper outlining an economic framework to evaluate energy efficiency rebound. A paper on forecasting supply and demand in California's cap-and-trade market, co-authored by Borenstein and Energy Institute Executive Director Elizabeth Bailey, also will be presented at the conference.

Other papers to be presented by researchers around the world include :

• "How Do Consumers Respond to Dynamic Pricing? Experimental Evidence of Variable Critical Peak Electricity Pricing in Japan," by Takanori Ida, professor of economics, Kyoto University; Koichiro Ito, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research; and Makoto Tanaka, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Tokyo.
   
• "Firm Trading Behavior and Transaction Costs in the European Union’s Emission Trading System: An Empirical Assessment," by Jūrate Jaraitė, Centre for Environmental and Resource Economics, Umeå, Sweden; and Andrius Kažukaukas, Umeå University, Sweden.

Early-bird rates through March 15 are $675 for general admission; $200 for government and academics; $75 for UC faculty and students; and $50 for members of the Berkeley Energy Resource Collaborative, a student club. After that, the prices rise to $750, $250, $125, and $75 respectively.

For more information and to register, visit ei.haas.berkeley.edu/power.html.