Speaker: Joseph E. Aldy (Harvard Kennedy School)
Abstract: The Recovery Act invested more than $90 billion in clean energy and leveraged more than $100 billion in private capital for investments in manufacturing, power generation, and the residential and commercial building sectors to advance the deployment of energy efficiency, wind, solar, geothermal, biomass, low-carbon fossil fuel, and other technologies. This talk will review the rationale, design, and implementation of the act's clean energy package, including a survey of policy principles for clean energy stimulus, a description of the process of crafting this package during the 2008-2009 Presidential transition, and identifying the key elements of the package. Aldy will also discuss the initial employment, economic activity, and energy outcomes associated with these energy investments and focus on the Recovery Act's support for renewable power through grants and loan guarantees.

About the speaker: Joe Aldy is an Assistant Professor of Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, a Nonresident Fellow at Resources for the Future, and a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He also serves as the Faculty Chair for the Regulatory Policy Program at the HKS Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government. His research focuses on climate change policy, energy policy, and mortality risk valuation. In 2009-2010, he served as the Special Assistant to the President for Energy and Environment, reporting through both the National Economic Council and the Office of Energy and Climate Change at the White House. Aldy was a Fellow at Resources for the Future from 2005 to 2008 and served on the staff of the President's Council of Economic Advisers from 1997 to 2000. He also served as the Co-Director of the Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements, Co-Director of the International Energy Workshop, and Treasurer for the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists before joining the Obama Administration. He holds a PhD in economics from Harvard University, a Master of Environmental Management degree from the Nicholas School of the Environment, and a BA from Duke University.