Stephen Jarvis

Stephen Jarvis

@stephenjarvis.bsky.social

Assistant Professor in Environmental Economics at LSE. Posting mostly about energy/enviro research. https://stephenjarvis.github.io/

5.5K followers570 following1.1K posts

Stephen Jarvis reposted

Further evidence that substitutability between AI providers will seriously constrain their ability to recover the massive investments they're making: www.nber.org/papers/w3595...

Steve Cicala@stevecicala.bsky.social

One thing driving the AI boom is this relatively unexamined conjecture, here stated as known fact: "It is a high-reward, winner-takes-all market,.." Says who? Progress thus far has yielded relatively good substitutes among firms. That means all this investment for little future producer surplus.

Nice thread on recent bond market events - this last chart is particularly interesting/informative.

Toby Nangle@tobyn.bsky.social

Absent a failed auction/ proper panic, France’s debt service costs rise only slowly. Bond mkt pressure is chronic rather than acute, so competes with other chronic pressures (and likely trumped by those that become acute first).

"The economy is the top issue". "Immigration is the top issue". "Whoa whoa, why are you bringing the economy up in this discussion about immigration?!"

Ian Dunt@iandunt.bsky.social

The fall in immigration is mutilating Healey’s Budget iandunt.substack.com/p/the-fall-i...

If this 5 min grace period applies to the exorbitant dropoff fees that airports charge in the UK (and seemingly only in the UK) then even better. Manchester airport (which Burnham is presumably familiar with) doesn't even have barriers and so will ding you £100 if you're not paying attention.

Politics UK@politicsuk.com

🚨 NEW: Andy Burnham has announced changes to car parking fines - Drivers will have a 5-minute grace period to decide whether to park and 10 minutes to leave after a parking session ends - A £20 maximum charge on appeal for minor mistakes, such as entering the wrong number plate

In general I'm in favour of cars paying their way (congestion pricing, LEZs etc), but UK airports seem uniquely geared towards people arriving/leaving the country with the worst impression. Airport dropoff fees, being forced to walk through duty free, accidentally boarding Heathrow Express. Not good

Still no specifics on numbers but vibes don’t look great. Electrification is probably the most important lever the government has to reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels and stay on track to meet its net zero decarbonisation targets. Big cuts here would be a real hit to both objectives.

theguardian.comMinisters preparing to slash heat pump subsidies to fund defence spendingExclusive: Some of £2bn savings needed from energy budget expected to come from boiler upgrade scheme, sources say
Stephen Jarvis@stephenjarvis.bsky.social

Very bad news if so. It had seemed like some of the CCS/Hydrogen funding could be at risk of cuts too and I had been hoping that would mean things like the BUS would be spared.

£1.75/litre petrol and £2/litre diesel are no doubt motivating factors behind recent uptake too. Cutting various levies/taxes off electricity prices in the coming budget would be nice to see.

Nicolas Fulghum@nicolasfulghum.bsky.social

EVs in the UK are "running out of juice"...except they're not..and never were. Again and again, critics have doubted EVs, yet the market simply keeps on growing. [Original graphic by Carbon Brief, annotations added later]

If cuts do happen I really hope it is CCS and Hydrogen that take the brunt of this, not the Warm Homes Plan.

Jess Shankleman @jessshankleman.bsky.social

NEW: The UK is considering cuts to its £15bn Warm Homes Plan, just months after it was launched to upgrade millions of homes. CCS and hydrogen are also under scrutiny. With @oliviarudgard.bsky.social www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

The solution that people dare not mention: congestion pricing. The ULEZ and camera infrastructure is there. There’s already a congestion charge in the very centre. Time to widen the footprint and modify the rates so you pay more near the centre and for peak vs off-peak. It can be done!

theguardian.comLondon buses in decline? Why public transport in global cities is slowing to a crawl – visualisedAs experts fear for future of UK capital’s bus network, some commuters are giving up entirely. London is not alone – with worrying implications for poorest in society

The mayor did moot an expansion of the congestion charge zone back in 2020, although not clear how serious this was. But would be great to see something like this @centreforlondon.bsky.social proposal for a more comprehensive system of road pricing in London

centreforlondon.orgChapter 3: A next generation scheme for LondonWe have already suggested that new technologies offer the chance to replace the current complex, limited and blunt patchwork of charging regimes, with something simpler, smarter and fairer. As we...

Electrification is a far more important energy/climate policy priority than the current preoccupation with things like oil & gas licenses or clean power 2030. Making EVs and heat pumps cheap to buy and operate just has so much more bang for your buck on emissions, energy security, air quality etc

Ember@ember-energy.org

For a UK household spending £300 per month in energy and transport, deploying a full stack of electrotech and infotech cuts down running costs by 80% 🏠🔋 ember-energy.org/lat...

With zonal market reforms ruled out and a whole bunch more renewable generation on the way, failing to do more to upgrade the grid over the last decade is becoming increasingly costly. These network projects now really do need to happen as fast as possible.

James Murray@james-bg.bsky.social

NAO report on rising constraint costs and the pace of grid projects, plus the headlines it has triggered, will have alarm bells ringing in government. Although in fairness they have been ringing since day one. www.businessgreen.com/news/4535591...

See also...

Steve Cicala@stevecicala.bsky.social

This outcomes was entirely predicted. The UK will now either continue to pay to pretend prices don’t exist, or pay for the transmission needed so that a uniform price actually prevails. The latter will accommodate substantial power generation growth.

Stephen Jarvis reposted

NEW: London has among the lowest violent crime rates in England & Wales, tops a ranking of best cities, and pays more in tax than it gets back – but the public overestimate crime risk, underestimate its standing, and don't know it's a net fiscal contributor. Our latest Mistaken Britain study ⬇️

kcl.ac.ukLondon misperceptions: public often wrong on capital's crime, quality of life, contribution to public finances and Muslim population | King's College LondonA third believe there are "no-go" areas ruled by Sharia law

Have been very much out of office on a hiking trip for the past two weeks but now I’m back I’m excited to share a bit more about this new research. Short version: electricity demand for heating and cooling (particularly on peak days) looks set to rise basically everywhere in coming decades. (1/n)

Stephen Jarvis@stephenjarvis.bsky.social

As the heatwaves keep on coming this summer, I have a timely new @granthamlse.bsky.social working paper out today (joint with Maren Ludwig at UC Berkeley). We show how economic development, climate change, and decarbonisation policy will reshape global electricity demand for cooling and heating.

View full thread

Ultimately all forms of power infrastructure face challenges operating during temperature extremes, from thermal fossil/nuclear plants to power lines and substations. Adequate long-term capacity planning, improved forecasting, and more efficient short-run price incentives will all be key. (19/n)

As our work highlights, ensuring electricity grids around the world can meet critical demands for heating and cooling in the future will require carefully accounting for the combined effect of rising incomes, warming temperatures, and policy-driven electrification in the coming decades. (20/20)

Have been very much out of office on a hiking trip for the past two weeks but now I’m back I’m excited to share a bit more about this new research. Short version: electricity demand for heating and cooling (particularly on peak days) looks set to rise basically everywhere in coming decades. (1/n)

Stephen Jarvis@stephenjarvis.bsky.social

As the heatwaves keep on coming this summer, I have a timely new @granthamlse.bsky.social working paper out today (joint with Maren Ludwig at UC Berkeley). We show how economic development, climate change, and decarbonisation policy will reshape global electricity demand for cooling and heating.

View full thread

A number of key takeaways to keep in mind. First, the central role of AC and electric heating to future electricity demand emphasizes the importance of appliance efficiency, as well as passive cooling, building insulation, and urban planning. All could help mitigate the impacts we find. (17/n)

The costs to the electricity grid of reliably meeting increased demand for cooling and heating will depend on the available generation mix at times of peak demand. Greater use of renewables could present opportunities (solar during heatwaves) and challenges (the dreaded winter Dunkelflaute). (18/n)

Have been very much out of office on a hiking trip for the past two weeks but now I’m back I’m excited to share a bit more about this new research. Short version: electricity demand for heating and cooling (particularly on peak days) looks set to rise basically everywhere in coming decades. (1/n)

Stephen Jarvis@stephenjarvis.bsky.social

As the heatwaves keep on coming this summer, I have a timely new @granthamlse.bsky.social working paper out today (joint with Maren Ludwig at UC Berkeley). We show how economic development, climate change, and decarbonisation policy will reshape global electricity demand for cooling and heating.

View full thread

The global cost of meeting this additional electricity demand exceeds $0.3 trillion per year by mid-century. Most of this reflects the expense of meeting higher average electricity demand, but a significant portion also stems from investments in spare capacity just to meet demand peaks. (15/n)

Cost impacts are also unevenly shared. China and India alone account for nearly half of the global total. Measured relative to local GDP, the burden falls disproportionately on low- and middle-income countries, which face the largest challenge meeting rapidly rising cooling and heating needs. (16/n)

Have been very much out of office on a hiking trip for the past two weeks but now I’m back I’m excited to share a bit more about this new research. Short version: electricity demand for heating and cooling (particularly on peak days) looks set to rise basically everywhere in coming decades. (1/n)

Stephen Jarvis@stephenjarvis.bsky.social

As the heatwaves keep on coming this summer, I have a timely new @granthamlse.bsky.social working paper out today (joint with Maren Ludwig at UC Berkeley). We show how economic development, climate change, and decarbonisation policy will reshape global electricity demand for cooling and heating.

View full thread

We can decompose these changes into the three key underlying drivers: economic development, climate change, and electrification policy. This makes clear how these different drivers are heterogeneous across regions but consistently combine to produce the overall net increases we observe. (13/n)

Income-driven AC uptake dominates in hot, fast-growing economies; warming-driven utilization of existing AC dominates in already-wealthy warm regions; and heating electrification dominates in cold regions, where it generally reverses the reductions that milder winters alone would bring. (14/n)

Have been very much out of office on a hiking trip for the past two weeks but now I’m back I’m excited to share a bit more about this new research. Short version: electricity demand for heating and cooling (particularly on peak days) looks set to rise basically everywhere in coming decades. (1/n)

Stephen Jarvis@stephenjarvis.bsky.social

As the heatwaves keep on coming this summer, I have a timely new @granthamlse.bsky.social working paper out today (joint with Maren Ludwig at UC Berkeley). We show how economic development, climate change, and decarbonisation policy will reshape global electricity demand for cooling and heating.

View full thread

We then bring this all together - our understanding of the electricity-temperature response, the shift in temperatures due to climate change, and the changes in the uptake of AC and electric heating - to model the full 2050 daily electricity demand for countries and regions around the world. (11/n)

The result: the peak electricity demand is likely to increase in basically all parts of the world. These peak demand increases are almost twice as large as average demand increases over the year, precisely because cooling and heating demand is concentrated on the hottest or coldest days. (12/n)

Have been very much out of office on a hiking trip for the past two weeks but now I’m back I’m excited to share a bit more about this new research. Short version: electricity demand for heating and cooling (particularly on peak days) looks set to rise basically everywhere in coming decades. (1/n)

Stephen Jarvis@stephenjarvis.bsky.social

As the heatwaves keep on coming this summer, I have a timely new @granthamlse.bsky.social working paper out today (joint with Maren Ludwig at UC Berkeley). We show how economic development, climate change, and decarbonisation policy will reshape global electricity demand for cooling and heating.

View full thread

To study this we first model adoption of AC and electric heating as a function of a few key variables. We find a clear S-shaped adoption curve as incomes rise, with the shape of the curve varying by how hot/cold the climate is, the level of electricity prices, and the degree of electrification (9/n)

Using this model we estimate the penetration of AC and electric heating globally both today and out to 2050. The uptake of both technologies grows significantly, driven by the combination of higher incomes, a warming climate and active electrification efforts. (10/n).

Have been very much out of office on a hiking trip for the past two weeks but now I’m back I’m excited to share a bit more about this new research. Short version: electricity demand for heating and cooling (particularly on peak days) looks set to rise basically everywhere in coming decades. (1/n)

Stephen Jarvis@stephenjarvis.bsky.social

As the heatwaves keep on coming this summer, I have a timely new @granthamlse.bsky.social working paper out today (joint with Maren Ludwig at UC Berkeley). We show how economic development, climate change, and decarbonisation policy will reshape global electricity demand for cooling and heating.

View full thread

But what does all this mean for the future? Three key drivers are of particular interest here: 1) Rising incomes due to economic development, 2) Warmer temperatures due to climate change, and 3) Decarbonisation policy aiming to electrify heating currently met by fossil fuels. (7/n)

The potential net impacts are complex and heterogeneous. Hotter temperatures and rising incomes clearly combine to increase electricity demand for cooling during heatwaves. But milder winters could reduce heating needs, or be offset by the scale of policy driven heating electrification. (8/n)

Have been very much out of office on a hiking trip for the past two weeks but now I’m back I’m excited to share a bit more about this new research. Short version: electricity demand for heating and cooling (particularly on peak days) looks set to rise basically everywhere in coming decades. (1/n)

Stephen Jarvis@stephenjarvis.bsky.social

As the heatwaves keep on coming this summer, I have a timely new @granthamlse.bsky.social working paper out today (joint with Maren Ludwig at UC Berkeley). We show how economic development, climate change, and decarbonisation policy will reshape global electricity demand for cooling and heating.

View full thread

So, how do we model this more explicitly? Yet more data collection! This time we find surveys that give us some sense of the share of households with either AC or that use electricity as their main heating source. Again, we have a large, diverse sample spanning different incomes and climates. (5/n)

Now we can clearly show how the electricity-temperature relationship varies as the penetration of both AC and electrified heating increase. The results are striking, showing how the uptake of these technologies leads to days with extreme heat or cold placing large demands on the grid. (6/n)

Have been very much out of office on a hiking trip for the past two weeks but now I’m back I’m excited to share a bit more about this new research. Short version: electricity demand for heating and cooling (particularly on peak days) looks set to rise basically everywhere in coming decades. (1/n)

Stephen Jarvis@stephenjarvis.bsky.social

As the heatwaves keep on coming this summer, I have a timely new @granthamlse.bsky.social working paper out today (joint with Maren Ludwig at UC Berkeley). We show how economic development, climate change, and decarbonisation policy will reshape global electricity demand for cooling and heating.

View full thread

When we examine the relationship between fluctuations in electricity demand and temperatures, we see the kind of effect you’d expect based on the prior climate impacts literature: very hot or very cold days see large increases in electricity demand, but only in higher income countries. (3/n)

But income and climate here are acting as rough proxies for what is really driving variability in this electricity-temperature relationship: the availability and use of electric cooling and heating technologies, chiefly air conditioning and electric heating (resistive, heat pumps etc). (4/n)

Have been very much out of office on a hiking trip for the past two weeks but now I’m back I’m excited to share a bit more about this new research. Short version: electricity demand for heating and cooling (particularly on peak days) looks set to rise basically everywhere in coming decades. (1/n)

Stephen Jarvis@stephenjarvis.bsky.social

As the heatwaves keep on coming this summer, I have a timely new @granthamlse.bsky.social working paper out today (joint with Maren Ludwig at UC Berkeley). We show how economic development, climate change, and decarbonisation policy will reshape global electricity demand for cooling and heating.

To study this we first gathered up to ten years of data on hourly electricity demand from national and sub-national grid operators around the world. This gives us a large, diverse sample representing a wide range of climates and income levels (see map). (2/n)

As the heatwaves keep on coming this summer, I have a timely new @granthamlse.bsky.social working paper out today (joint with Maren Ludwig at UC Berkeley). We show how economic development, climate change, and decarbonisation policy will reshape global electricity demand for cooling and heating.

lse.ac.ukThe global consequences of climate change and appliance adoption for peak electricity demand - Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environmentIn this paper, the authors estimate the global impact of changes in electric heating and cooling demand on the electricity grid in the coming decades.

The "o" key on my laptop keyboard has stopped working so am now using "Alt+0" as a remapped stopgap. Also trying to use less words with "o" in. Impressive how annoying this is. Aplgies if I type smething that lks like this.

This kind of behaviour is reckless and stupid. Ban portable BBQs. People caught lighting campfires/fireworks should face severe fines/sanctions. In California during wildfire season you can face thousands of $ in fines and potential jail time for violating regulations around campfires and fireworks

David Higham@oldtrotter.bsky.social

Extraordinary

I don’t know, the utility company probably had to secure some costly debt/equity investment to fund that air fryer. Would have loved to hear them argue for its inclusion ☺️

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