Benjamin K. Sovacool

Benjamin K. Sovacool is an Assistant Professor and Research Fellow at the National University of Singapore. He has published more than 90 academic papers and is a regular contributor to The Electricity Journal and Energy Policy. In 2007 Sovacool co-edited Energy and American Society: Thirteen Myths and in 2008 he wrote The Dirty Energy Dilemma which won a 2009 Nautilus Award.

Academic appointments

Benjamin K. Sovacool is an Assistant Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. He is also a Research Fellow in the Energy Governance Program at the Centre on Asia and Globalization. Sovacool has a PhD in Science and Technology Studies from Virginia Tech.

Research work

A 2008 synthesis of 103 studies, published by Benjamin K. Sovacool, determined that the value of CO₂ emissions for nuclear power over the lifecycle of a plant was 66.08 g/kWh, based on the mean value of all the 103 studies. Comparative results for wind power, hydroelectricity, solar thermal power, and solar photovoltaic were 9-10 g/kWh, 10-13 g/kWh, 13 g/kWh and 32 g/kWh respectively.

Sovacool's research interests include energy policy, environmental issues, and science and technology policy. He has published more than 90 academic papers and is a regular contributor to The Electricity Journal and Energy Policy. He has also appeared on the BBC World News, Bloomberg Live!, and Channel News Asia and been interviewed by Newsweek International, Associated Press, United Press International. His work on carbon emissions from nuclear power stations has also been reviewed in Nature.

Books

In 2007, Sovacool co-edited Energy and American Society: Thirteen Myths which has been reviewed in Energy Policy and the Annals of the Association of American Geographers. In 2008, he wrote The Dirty Energy Dilemma: What’s Blocking Clean Power in the United States which was published by Praeger and won a 2009 Nautilus Award. His other books include:

• Miguel Mendonça, David Jacobs and Benjamin K. Sovacool (2009). Powering the Green Economy: The Feed-In Tariff Handbook, Earthscan.
• Benjamin K. Sovacool (2010). Climate Change and Energy Security: A Global Overview of Technology and Policy Options, MIT Press.

Selected articles

• “Identifying Future Electricity Water Tradeoffs in the United States,” with Kelly E. Sovacool, Energy Policy, 37(7) (July, 2009), pp. 2763-2773.
• “Preventing National Electricity-Water Crisis Areas in the United States,” with Kelly E. Sovacool, Columbia Journal of Environmental Law, 34(2) (July, 2009), pp. 333-393.
• “The Intermittency of Wind, Solar, and Renewable Electricity Generators: Technical Barrier or Rhetorical Excuse?” Utilities Policy 17(3) (September, 2009), pp. 288-296.
• “Exploring and Contextualizing Public Opposition to Renewable Electricity in the United States,” Sustainability, 1(3) (September, 2009), pp. 702-721.
• “Reassessing Energy Security and the Trans-ASEAN Natural Gas Pipeline Network in Southeast Asia,” Pacific Affairs, 82(3) (Fall, 2009), pp. 467-486.
• “Rejecting Renewables: The Socio-technical Impediments to Renewable Electricity in the United States,” Energy Policy, 37(11) (November, 2009), pp. 4500-4513.
• “The Cultural Barriers to Renewable Energy in the United States,” Technology in Society, 31(4) (November, 2009), pp. 365-373.
• “Who Governs Energy? The Challenges Facing Global Energy Governance,” with Ann E. Florini, Energy Policy, 37(12) (December, 2009), pp. 5239–5248.
• “The Barriers to Energy Efficiency in China: Assessing Household Electricity Savings and Consumer Behavior in Liaoning Province,” with Feng Dianshu and Khuong Minh Vu, Energy Policy, 38(2) (February, 2010), pp. 1202-1209.
• “Building Umbrellas or Arks? Three Alternatives to Carbon Credits and Offsets,” Electricity Journal, 23(2) (March, 2010), pp. 29-40.
• “A Transition to Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs): Why Public Health Professionals Must Care,” Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 64(3) (March, 2010), pp. 185-187.
• “Broken By Design: The Corporation as a Failed Technology,” Science, Technology, & Society, 15(1) (March, 2010), pp. 1-25.
• “A Comparative Analysis of Renewable Electricity Support Mechanisms for Southeast Asia,” Energy, 35(4) (April, 2010), pp. 1779-1793.
• “Symbolic Convergence and the Hydrogen Economy,” with Brent Brossmann, Energy Policy, 38(4) (April, 2010), pp. 1999-2012.
• “The Political Economy of Oil and Gas in Southeast Asia: Heading Towards the Natural Resource Curse?” Pacific Review, 23(2) (May, 2010), pp. 225-259.
• “Critically Weighing the Costs and Benefits of a Nuclear Renaissance,” Journal of Integrative Environmental Sciences, 7(2) (June, 2010), pp. 105-122.
• “A Critical Stakeholder Analysis of the Trans-ASEAN Gas Pipeline (TAGP) Network,” Land Use Policy, 27(3) (July, 2010), pp. 788-797.
• “Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy under Extreme Conditions: Case Studies from Antarctica,” with Tina Tin, David Blake, Peter Magill, Saad El Naggar, Sven Lidstrom, Kenji Ishizawa, and Johan Berte, Renewable Energy, 35(8) (August, 2010), pp. 1715-1723.

See also

• Comparisons of life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions
• Amory Lovins
• Mycle Schneider
• Stephen Thomas (professor)
• Mark Diesendorf
• Renewable energy commercialization