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Batteries, Fuel Cells, or Fuel Economy: Where Will Gasoline-Saving Policy Lead?
Event Summary
Gasoline-saving policies could have a considerable impact in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Today, passenger vehicles are the source of 19 percent of carbon dioxide emissions in the United States. This panel will discuss the different gasoline-saving policies and their intended and unintended consequences. Such policies include: economic incentives from fuel economy standards (CAFE); the effects and future of subsidies to battery-electric vehicles; the role of hydrogen fuel cells in the vehicle fleet; and the environmental impacts of electricity, hydrogen and other gasoline substitutes.
William Chernicoff
Manager, Energy and Environmental Research Group, Toyota Motor North America, Inc.William Chernicoff’s work includes analyzing sustainability, climate change, and energy impacts of technology development and deployment coupled with energy and environmental policy on Toyota’s North American vehicle and technology mix.
Andrew Stober
Vice President of Planning and Economic Development, University City DistrictAndrew Stober is Vice President of Planning and Economic Development at UCD where he oversees a portfolio that includes public space development and management, commercial corridor development, and transportation improvements for University City.
Mark Jacobsen
Professor, University of California San DiegoMark Jacobsen is a professor of economics at the University of California, San Diego and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. In 2015-2016, he was a visiting scholar at the Kleinman Center.
Arthur van Benthem
Associate Professor of Business Economics and Public PolicyArthur van Benthem is an expert in environmental and energy economics, exploring the economic efficiency of energy policy. He is a faculty fellow at the Kleinman Center and an associate professor of Business Economics and Public Policy at Wharton.
William Chernicoff
Manager – Energy and Environmental Research Group, Toyota Motor North America, Inc.
Chernicoff leads efforts at Toyota in technology policy and communication, providing key input into their North American strategy and direction. His work includes analyzing sustainability, climate change, and energy impacts of technology development and deployment coupled with energy and environmental policy on Toyota’s North American vehicle and technology mix. Externally, he chairs the ITS- America Sustainability Forum’s Vehicle, Fuels, & Infrastructure Working Group, the Fuel Cell & Hydrogen Energy Association’s Transportation Working Group, and is on the KU Transportation Research Institute’s advisory board.
Prior to joining Toyota in 2009, Chernicoff served as the hydrogen and alternative fuel program manager in US DOT’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration. His work focused on hydrogen and alternative fuel technology safety, development, demonstration, & deployment, and climate change mitigation.
Chernicoff earned a Bachelor of Science degree in materials science and engineering at M.I.T., a Master of Science in manufacturing engineering from Boston University, and his Doctorate in systems engineering and engineering management at George Washington University.
Mark Jacobsen
Associate Professor of Economics
University of California, San Diego;
Research Associate
National Bureau of Economic Research
Jacobsen received his Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University. Dr. Jacobsen’s research focuses on environmental regulation and taxes, and addresses two main themes: environmental regulation of transportation and the automobile industry, and optimal environmental policy in the context of the broader economy. Jacobsen will be a visiting scholar at the Kleinman Center for two weeks in Spring 2016.
Andrew Stober
Vice President of Planning and Economic Development
University City District
Stober joined the University City District (UCD) as the Vice President of Planning and Economic Development in January 2016, after working for more than six years for the City of Philadelphia. At UCD Andrew oversees a portfolio that includes public space development and management, commercial corridor development, and transportation improvements for University City. With the City, he served as the Chief of Staff for the Mayor’s Office of Transportation and Utilities, where he had lead responsibility for launching Philadelphia’s Indego bike share program, reestablishing a City energy office that has saved millions of dollars in utility costs, and for raising tens of millions of dollars in competitive public and private grants aimed at improving transportation infrastructure.
Andrew also acted as Mayor Michael Nutter’s spokesman on transportation and energy issues. Andrew earned his undergraduate degree in business administration from Northeastern University and a Master of Public Policy degree from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
Dr. Arthur van Benthem (Moderator)
Assistant Professor
The Wharton School
Van Benthem is an Assistant Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy at Wharton. His research specializes in environmental and energy economics. His recent work focuses on unintended consequences of environmental legislation and the economic efficiency of energy policies.
He received his Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford University in 2012, a master’s degree in Management Science & Engineering from Stanford, and his undergraduate degree from the University of Amsterdam. Before pursuing his doctoral studies at Stanford, he worked in various roles at Royal Dutch Shell, most recently in corporate strategy as an energy economist in the Long-Term Energy Scenarios Team. During his undergraduate studies, Arthur enjoyed working as an evening stock trader at IMC Trading in Amsterdam.
