Student Research

Yale Carbon Charge Pilot: A Statistical Analysis

This study analyzes data from the Carbon Charge pilot in order to answer three key research questions: What was the relative impact of various factors on the change in emissions for buildings during the pilot; Did instituting a carbon charge, no matter the design, influence the emissions of participating Yale buildings, and; which was the most successful carbon pricing scheme at achieving emissions reductions? We found that the Carbon Charge contributed to emissions reductions on campus, a finding that will hopefully motivate more student research and study around policy refinement and implementation.

Brenda Meany (M.E.M. 2018) and Luke Elder (M.E.M. 2018)

Beyond the Bill: Broad Behav​ior Change in Yale’s Carbon Charge Pilot Project

For her senior thesis in the Environmental Studies major at Yale, Sarah Brandt investigated how a carbon charge might be leveraged to engage the broader campus community in energy abatement efforts, using interview and survey data to evaluate a list of factors that enable pro-environmental behavior.

Sarah Brandt (Yale College 2017)

Environmental Performance of Campus Buildings: an Energy Systems Evaluation

Different alternatives for the energy supply system for Yale campus’s electricity, heating, and cooling needs are examined, with results showing that co-generation of heat and power is not necessarily the most efficient or sustainable solution.

Peter Berrill (PhD Student in Industrial Ecology)

Internal Carbon Pricing: Policy Map, Theoretical Models, and Case Studies

This study seeks to address the question of how an organization should design and implement an internal carbon charge. While policy guidance and tools exist for carbon pricing at the national level, it is not clear how implementation might differ for a business or other type of organization. To provide guidance on designing internal carbon charge programs, we provide three core contributions: (1) a policy map of key decisions; (2) a theoretical framework and putative model for evaluating a carbon charge program, and; (3) lessons learned from an examination of case studies on Yale University, Microsoft, Societe Generale , and Delta and Qantas Airlines in the context of our policy map.

Ethan Addicott (MESc 2017), Alhasan Badahdah (MEM 2017), Luke Elder (MEM 2018), and Weiliang Tan (Yale-NUS College 2018)

Modeling Carbon Pricing on Balance of Trade

This study assesses the impact of a consistently applied carbon price throughout the region of sub-Saharan Africa.  In doing so, it also estimates the carbon footprint resulting from final demand in sub-Saharan Africa, and discusses how a carbon charge can effectively mitigate emissions in economies with a trade-emissions deficit.

Ruth Sego (MEM 2017)