Video interviews with past speakers and audio recordings of the In Search of ‘Good’ Energy Policy seminars are available below:
2017-2018
2016-2017
2015-2016
Current 2018-2019 media can be found here.
Seminar 9 | 22 May 2018 | Fukushima and the law
Seminar 8 | 8 May 2018 | Electricity market reform and development in China
Seminar 3 | 14 November 2017 | Politics and political ecology of charcoal in Uganda
Seminar 2 | 17 October 2017 | Comparison of air pollution trends and policies in London and Beijing
Seminar 1 | 3 October 2017 | What's under the pot? Rural women and cooking energy in South Asia
Seminar 13 | 23 May 2017 | Institutional innovation in public energy R&D in the United States
Seminar 12 | 9 May 2017 | The role of law in energy transitions: Lessons from community renewables
Seminar 11 | 25 April 2017 | Influence and the role of the expert
Seminar 10 | 14 March 2017 | Clean Air Act Panel
Seminar 9 | 28 February 2017 | Energy transitions in the 20th century
Seminar 8 | 14 February 2017 | Inherent inconsistency of EU energy policy making
Seminar 7 | 31 January 2017 | Ethics and energy
Seminar 6 | 17 January 2017 | The new institutional economics of Chinese power sector reform
Seminar 4 | 15 November 2016 | Investigating cultures of community energy
Seminar 2 | 18 October 2016 | The Highway Boom: Politics, energy demand and emissions in China
Seminar 1 | 4 October 2016 | The history of prediction and energy systems of the future
Seminar 11 | 19 April 2016 | Business and Management Studies of Energy / Energy Mega-Projects
Seminar 10 | 8 March 2016 | Economics of Energy / The German Reaction to Fukushima
Seminar 9 | 23 February 2016 | History of Energy / Swedish Carbon Policies
Seminar 8 | 9 February 2016 | Economics and Politics of Energy / Fracking in the US vs. Europe
Seminar 7 | 26 January 2016 | Political Science of Energy / UK Carbon Capture and Storage Policies
Seminar 6 | 12 January 2016 | Anthropology and Economics of Energy / Danish Heating Policies
Seminar 5 | 1 December 2015 | Theology and Ethics of Energy / Oil Sands
Seminar 4 | 17 November 2015 | History of Energy / Clean Air Policies
Seminar 3 | 3 November 2015 | Ethics of Energy/ Nuclear Energy
Seminar 2 | 20 October 2015 | Geopolitics of Energy/ Russian-European Gas
Seminar 1 | 3 October 2015 | Introduction to the Seminar Series
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2017-2018
Seminar 10 | 5 June 2018 | WEF – water energy food policy: supporting the diffusion of anaerobic digestion
Speaker: Professor Liz Varga, Cranfield School of Management
Respondent: Dr Pablo Salas, Department of Land Economy
Professor Liz Varga discusses the model used in mapping the diffusion of anaerobic digestion, and it's use for for Water-Energy-Food policy adoption.
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Seminar 9 | 22 May 2018 | Fukushima and the law
Speaker: Dr Julius Weitzdörfer, Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge
Respondent: Jim Platts, IfM, University of Cambridge
Dr Julius Weitzdörfer introduces contributory factors which led to the Fukushima incident. He covers the current discourses in policy objectives as well as in science & technology in determining the response for the future.
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Seminar 8 | 8 May 2018 | Electricity market reform and development in China
Speaker: Professor Guy Liu, Peking University HSBC Business School
Respondent: Professor Wang Yu, Tsinghua University, Beijing
Professor Guy Liu discusses the electricity market reforms in China, including the past development and the structural governance of supply and demand.
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Seminar 7 | 13 February 2018 | Is Demand Side Response a woman’s work? Gender dynamics in a field trial of smart meters and Time of Use tariffs in East London
Speaker: Dr Charlotte Johnson, Faculty of Built Environment, UCL
Respondent: Dr Paul Warde, Faculty of History, University of Cambridge
Dr Charlotte discusses the behavioural dynamics in the smart meters field trial and variation of time of use
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Seminar 6 | 30 January 2018 | Slow energy policy in a time of global emergencies: the perils and promises of energy policy and religious communities
Speaker: Dr Jeremy Kidwell, Department of Theology and Religion, University of Birmingham
Respondent: Professor Mike Hulme, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge
Dr Jeremy Kidwell discusses structuring climate change in a world where the narrative should include faith communities.
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Seminar 5 | 16 January 2018 | Behavioural science around policy incentives to reduce energy consumption
Speaker: Dr Sander van der Linden, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge
Respondent: Dr David Reiner, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge
Dr Sander van der Linden presents how behavioural science can be used to incentivise reduction in energy use.
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Seminar 4 | 28 November 2017 | Solar energy, skills development and employment opportunities in India
Speaker: Dr Shailaja Fennell, Centre of Development Studies, University of Cambridge
Respondent: Prof John Miles, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge
Dr Fennell speaks on the subject of solar energy, skills development and employment opportunities in India.
Speaker interview
Seminar 3 | 14 November 2017 | Politics and political ecology of charcoal in Uganda
Speaker: Dr Adam Branch, POLIS, University of Cambridge
Respondent: Dr Paul Warde, Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge
Dr Adam Branch discusses the politics and political ecology of the production, sale and use of charcoal as a fuel in Uganda.
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Seminar 2 | 17 October 2017 | Comparison of air pollution trends and policies in London and Beijing
Speakers: Dr Jacqueline Lam, University of Hong Kong and Visiting Researcher at Judge Business School and Prof Victor Li, University of Hong Kong
Respondent: Prof Jorge Viñuales, Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge
Dr Jacqueline Lam and Professor Victor Lee present and discuss their findings on Comparison of air pollution trends and policies in London (1950-1966) and Beijing (2000-2016)
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Seminar 1 | 3 October 2017 | What's under the pot? Rural women and cooking energy in South Asia
Speaker: Prof Bina Agarwal, Global Development Institute, University of Manchester
Respondent:Dr Pablo Salas, Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge
Professor Bina Agarwal discusses the issues around rural women and the use of firewood for cooking energy in South Asia.
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2016-2017
Seminar 14 | 6 June 2017 | Defining “Good” in “Good Energy Policy”: Insights from theologies and religions
Speaker: Dr Jonathan Chapin, Kirby Laing Institute for Christian Ethics, University of Cambridge
Respondent: Dr Sandy Skelton, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge
Dr Jonathan Chaplin speaks about the insights which the discipline of public theology brings to the question of energy policy, how notions of ‘good’ or ‘just’ should be defined in an energy context and how important the concept of nature and the environment is from different religious faith backgrounds.
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Seminar 13 | 23 May 2017 | Institutional innovation in public energy R&D in the United States
Speaker: Dr Laura Diaz Anadon, POLIS, University of Cambridge
Respondent: Dr Jennifer Howard-Grenville, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge
Dr Laura Diaz Anadon talks about government efforts to accelerate innovation in energy technologies, the impact of startup alliances with government organizations on the ability to innovate and how the study of U.S. cleantech startups advances research on entrepreneurial ecosystems, drawing on insights from her joint paper with Dr Claudia Doblinger (University of Regensburg) and Dr Kavita Surana (Harvard University).
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Seminar 12 | 9 May 2017 | The role of law in energy transitions: Lessons from community renewables
Speaker: Dr Annalisa Savaresi, Law School, University of Stirling
Respondent: Dr David Reiner, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge
Dr Annalisa Savaresi talks about the notion of community renewables, what the broader distributive, recognition and restorative justice questions are associated with energy transitions and how the set of core justice questions concerning energy transitions has been addressed.
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Seminar 11 | 25 April 2017 | Influence and the role of the expert
Speaker: Prof Susan Owens, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge
Respondent: Prof Tim Lewens, Dept of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge
Prof Susan Owens talks about the relationship between expertise and policy, the role the spectrum of influence plays and the key lessons to be learnt from the analysis of the practices and influence of the UK Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution.
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Seminar 10 | 14 March 2017 | Clean Air Act Panel
Speakers: Dr Christine Corton, Wolfson College, Prof Michael Pollitt, Judge Business School and Dr Jacqueline Lam, Visitor at Judge Business School
Dr Christine Corton talks about the London fog up to the 1950’s, how it was depicted in art and literature and what were its lasting effects on our culture and imagination.
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Seminar 9 | 28 February 2017 | Energy transitions in the 20th century
Speaker: Prof Frank Trentmann, Department of History, Classics and Archaeology, Birkbeck University
Respondent: Dr David Good, Dept of Psychology, University of Cambridge
Dr Frank Trentmann talks about ‘freedom of choice’ for household consumers in the 1950’s in the UK, the variation of comfort and use in public housing and domestic energy demand.
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Seminar 8 | 14 February 2017 | Inherent inconsistency of EU energy policy making
Speaker: Dr Oliver Geden, German Institute for International and Security Affairs
Respondent: Dr Paul Warde, University of Cambridge
Dr Oliver Geden talks about what factors effect real-world policymaking, why ‘policy-based evidence-making’ tends to trump ‘evidence-based policy-making’ and what role expert knowledge plays in planned energy system transformations.
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Seminar 7 | 31 January 2017 | Ethics and energy
Speaker: Prof Simon Caney, University of Oxford
Respondent: Dr Marc Ozawa
Professor Caney talks about what is a just way of distributing energy, what other factors, such as intergenerational justice, we should take into account and who makes the decisions.
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Seminar 6 | 17 January 2017 | The new institutional economics of Chinese power sector reform
Speaker: Prof Michael Pollitt, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge
Respondent: Dr Kun-Chin Lin, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge
Professor Pollitt talks about why China chose to embark on electricity reform, what factors make successful power market reform and how the electricity transition process in China draws on the reform experience of other countries.
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Seminar 5 | 29 November 2016 | Europe’s energy security in the wake of TTIP and Brexit: A legal perspective
Speaker: Dr Anna Marhold, Tilburg Law School, Tilburg University
Respondents Prof Martin Daunton, Faculty of History, University of Cambridge
Dr Marhold outlines the legal basis is of EU energy policy and the energy union, how energy security and a fully integrated market are key dimensions of the energy Union. She explains how we define energy security, how TTIP and Brexit are challenges to a European energy union and the ways forward for Europe’s energy security.
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Seminar 4 | 15 November 2016 | Investigating cultures of community energy
Speaker: Rebecca Willis, Independent Researcher and Lancaster University
Respondent: Joe Perkins, Ofgem
In this seminar Dr Rebecca Willis explains community energy projects, the factors which influence it, case studies of countries which are community energy leaders and how it has developed in the UK and what lessons we can learn from elsewhere.
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Seminar 3 | 1 November 2016 | Sino-Russian oil and gas cooperation: Where it stands and how far it can go?
Speaker: Prof Keun-Wook Paik, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, University of Oxford
Respondent: Dr Kun-Chin Lin, Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Cambridge
In this seminar Prof Keun-Wook Paik gives a brief update of Sino-Russian oil and gas cooperation; looking at what is driving closer cooperation between Russia and China in terms of oil and gas trade and the risks and opportunities this poses for the future.
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Seminar 2 | 18 October 2016 | The Highway Boom: Politics, energy demand and emissions in China
Speaker: Dr Kun-Chin Lin, Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Cambridge
Respondent: Prof David Newbery, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge
In this seminar political economist Dr Kun-Chin Lin explains how China's fiscal model for the highway boom over the past two decades has depended on local governments charging exorbitant level of tolls in exchange for bearing the lion's share of fundraising for infrastructure. The resulting oversupply of highways have driven energy-intensive and environmentally damaging passenger and freight traffic, undermining national goals for climate change mitigation and energy efficient transportation.
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Seminar 1 | 4 October 2016 | The history of prediction and energy systems of the future
Speaker: Dr Paul Warde, Faculty of History, University of Cambridge
Respondent: Martin Crouch, Ofgem
In this seminar historian Dr Paul Warde examines why long-term predictions of energy use have been repeatedly made in error, and yet their use persists. He discusses the political, technical and personal factors shape our desire to know about the future, and our adherence to methods that are so often confounded by the course of events.
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2015-2016
Seminar 13 | 31 May 2016 | Theology of Energy / Laudato Si’: Pope Francis’ Encyclical on the Environment and Human Ecology
Speaker: Dr Hilary Marlow, Faraday Institute, University of Cambridge
Respondents: Prof Michael Pollitt, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge and Dr Jim Platts, Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge
In this seminar Dr Hilary Marlow outlined some significant features of Pope Francis’ Encyclical Laudato Sí: On Care for our Common Home, including its critique of contemporary economic models and its limited discussion of energy issues. She argued that the strength of the Encyclical lies in its compelling moral vision and it should be read as a manifesto rather than a policy document. An interesting debate followed with respondents Prof Michael Pollitt (economist) and Dr Jim Platts (wind power engineer).
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Seminar 12 | 3 May 2016 | Law and Energy / International Law and the Environmental and Social Impacts of Energy Policies
Speaker: Dr Leslie-Anne Duvic-Paoli, Department of Land Economy, Cambridge Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resource Governance (C-EENRG), University of Cambridge
Respondent: Prof Michael Pollitt, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge
Dr Duvic-Paoli discusses the role of legal structures in the development of contemporary debates on energy and climate policies. The seminar analyses policy debates in the context of the Espoo and Aarhus Conventions.
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Seminar 11 | 19 April 2016 | Business and Management Studies of Energy / Energy Mega-Projects
Speaker: Dr Atif Ansar, Said Business School, University of Oxford
Respondent: Dr Simon Taylor, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge
Since the 19th century, one prevailing view in the field of economics has been the ‘economies of scale’ and that bigger projects are more efficient in the long run. Is this really the case with respect to energy mega-projects? In this seminar, Dr Atif Ansar (Saïd School of Business, U. of Oxford) challenges these assumptions through a comprehensive analysis of dams.
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Seminar 10 | 8 March 2016 | Economics of Energy / The German Reaction to Fukushima
Speaker: PD Dr Christian Growitsch, University of Hamburg
Respondent: Mr Jiro Kida, Special Advisor to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan, Director of the Japan External Trade Organization in London (JETRO)
The Fukushima nuclear catastrophe raised concerns globally over the future of nuclear energy. However, in the immediate aftermath, Germany was the only country in Europe that committed to phasing out nuclear power even at a time when the UK and Finland sought to build new nuclear plants. This seminar will explore why the German reaction to Fukushima was so unique in Europe.
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Seminar 9 | 23 February 2016 | History of Energy /Swedish Carbon Policies
Speaker: Prof Magnus Lindmark, Geography and Economic History, Umeå University
Respondent: Prof Michael Pollitt, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge
With growing calls from academics and analysts that a durable carbon tax is needed for a sensible energy transition, Swedish carbon policies are exceptional in Europe. Sweden has the highest carbon tax in the EU, and this seminar explores the history of carbon policy developments and how this came to be.
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Seminar 8 | 9 February 2016 | Economics and Politics of Energy / Fracking in the US vs. Europe
Speaker: Prof Paul Stevens, Chatham House-Royal Institute of Intl. Affairs, University of Dundee
Respondent: Dr Andrew Davison, Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge
Prof Stevens explained why fracking has experienced such success in the US epitomised by the ‘Shale Revolution'. Building on a methodology from the US industry, he clarified what obstacles fracking faces in the Europe. Dr Davison framed the fracking debate from a moral and ethical perspective.
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Seminar 7 | 26 January 2016 | Political Science of Energy / UK Carbon Capture and Storage Policies
Speaker: Dr David Reiner, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge
Respondent: Chris Littlecott, E3G
This seminar covered carbon capture and storage (CCS) developments both globally and in the UK. The UK is an interesting case as it illustrates the political and economic obstacles for CCS particularly in light of the Treasury’s recent decision to cut funding. Chris Littlecott expanded on these obstacles through his observations of CCS policy making in the UK.
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Seminar 6 | 12 January 2016 | Anthropology and Economics of Energy / Danish Heating Policies
Speaker: Prof Frede Hvelplund, Department of Planning, Aalborg University
Respondent: Dr Leslie-Anne Duvic Paoli, Department of Land Economy, Cambridge Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resource Governance (C-EENRG), University of Cambridge
Denmark is unique in its heating policies having transitioned from a centralised to a semi-decentralised heating system. Prof Hvelplund explained the process in which the needed co-operation between policy makers, NGOs and industry emerged. Leslie-Anne Duvic-Paoli compared heating policies with clean air policies and clarified why the governance structures for heating are far less developed than air.
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Seminar 5 | 1 December 2015 | Theology and Ethics of Energy / Oil Sands
Speaker: Prof Michael Northcott, Divinity, University of Edinburgh
Respondent: Dr Jonathan Chaplin, Kirby Laing Institute for Christian Ethics, Tyndale House, Divinity, University of Cambridge
Prof Northcott explained the environmental consequences of oil sands (tar sands) development in Canada. Dr Chaplin explored the moral implications of oil sands and introduced a framework of shared responsibilities drawing on political theory. Dr Reiner described how Canadian domestic politics impacts oil sands in Alberta and compared the provincial wealth fund to Norway’s experience.
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Seminar 4 | 17 November 2015 | History of Energy / Clean Air Policies
Speaker: Dr Stephen Mosley, History, Leeds Beckett University
Respondents: Dr Paul Warde, History, University of Cambridge and Prof Jonathan Stern, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies
The clean air policies of the 1950s and 1960s in the UK were the most far reaching and progressive of any industrialised country at the time. Dr Mosley explained how they came about and the social, political and economic constraints that had to be overcome. Dr Warde and Prof Newbery explored the economics of UK clean air policies.
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Seminar 3 | 3 November 2015 | Ethics of Energy/ Nuclear Energy
Speaker: Prof Sabine Roeser, Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, TU Delft
Respondents: Prof Tim Lewens, History and Philosophy of Science, CRASSH, University of Cambridge and Cyril Pinel, Nuclear Adviser, Embassy of France
Prof Roeser introduced the concept of popular emotion as a potential ethical compass for energy policies. Prof Lewens compared frameworks for bioethics while Cyril Pinel explained the origins of France’s nuclear build out in the 1970s and French policy trends today.
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Seminar 2 | 20 October 2015 | Geopolitics of Energy/ Russian-European Gas
Speaker: Prof Jonathan Stern, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies
Respondents: Dr Chi Kong Chyong, Judge Business School, Energy Policy Research Group, University of Cambridge and Dr Richard Fraser, Climate Histories Research Group, University of Cambridge
This seminar focused on the geopolitics of European-Russian energy relations. Specifically, it focused on natural gas pipelines and the geopolitical implications from the end of the Cold War to the recent Ukraine Crisis.
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Seminar 1 | 3 October 2015 | Introduction to the Seminar Series
Speakers: Prof Michael Pollitt, Dr Marc Ozawa, Dr Isabelle de Wouters, Dr Jonathan Chaplin, Prof Tim Lewens, Dr Paul Warde, and Prof David Newbery, University of Cambridge
Why are good energy policies so difficult to design and implement? Why do bad energy policies persist? What constitutes a ‘good,’ ‘bad,’ or ‘just’ policy? In the first seminar, the convenors and associated researchers introduced these questions and presented multiple disciplinary perspectives on energy policies.
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