Featured and Recent Publications

Brown, M.A., A. Favero, V.M. Thomas, and A. Banboukian. (2019) “The Economic and Environmental Performance of Biomass Power as an Intermediate Resource for Power Production,” Utilities Policy, 58: 52-62. https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1YzH53Peo9VR76

Monyei, C., B. Sovacool, M. Brown, K. Jenkins, S. Viriri, and Y. Li. (2019) “Justice, Poverty, and Electricity Decarbonization,” The Electricity Journal, 32(1), 47-51. This paper discusses the “decarbonization paradox”: a situation where apparently beneficial increases in electricity supply capacity coupled with more diversified and renewable energy mix is being achieved at the expense of household energy security and affordability. Data from Germany, California, and Australia are examined. We point to several strategies to avoid the paradox, including load-shifting, EE, coal-to-gas switching, and CCS.

Brown, M. A., Zhou, S., & Ahmadi, M. (2018) Smart grid governance: An international review of evolving policy issues and innovations. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, DOI: 10.1002/wene.290. The electric power systems of many industrialized nations are challenged by the need to accommodate distributed renewable generation, increasing demands of a digital society, growing threats to infrastructure security, and concerns over global climate change. The “smart grid” – with a two-way flow of electricity and information between utilities and consumers – can help address these challenges. This paper describes the many barriers and concerns that hinder smart-grid deployment and the drivers and motivations that promote it.

Hongyang Zou, Huibin Du, Marilyn A. Brown, Guozhu Mao, Large-scale PV power generation in China: A grid parity and techno-economic analysis, Energy, Available online 31 May 2017, ISSN 0360-5442, DOI 10.1016/j.energy.2017.05.192. (Image: Figure 1. The world cumulative and new added PV installed capacity from 2009 to 2013)

Johnson, Erik, Ross Beppler, Christopher Blackburn, Benjamin Staver, Marilyn Brown, and Daniel Matisoff. (2017) “Peak Shifting and Cross-Class Subsidization: The Impacts of Solar PV on Changes in Electricity Costs” Energy Policy 106: 436-444. (Image: Figure 5. Percent changes in non-participant bills: 2015 – 2030)

Brown, M.A. & Wang, Y. 2017. Energy-efficiency skeptics and advocates: the debate heats up as the stakes rise. Energy Efficiency. DOI 10.1007/s12053-017-9511-x (Image: Figure 2. Typology of contentious EE issues)

Brown, M.A. 2017. Commercial cogeneration benefits depend on market rules, rates, and policies. Environmental Research Letters 12 (2017) 031003. DOI 10.1088/1748-9326/aa6044

Brown, Marilyn A. and Daniel D'Arcy. 2017. "Energy Resources and Use," in The International Encyclopedia of Geography:People, the Earth, Environment, and Technology Edited by Douglas Richardson, Noel Castree, Michael F. Goodchild, Audrey  Kobayashi, Weidong Liu, and Richard A. Marston. John Wiley & Sons, Oxford, DOI 10.1002/9781118786352.wbieg1030.