“The idea behind the birth of Economics of Energy and Environmental Policy seemed like a good one. A journal concentrating on policy issues. No equations. However, from the very first issue I could see that something was wrong…. [I]n the area of renewable energy, EEEP did not fulfill the function of encouraging open debate.”
I am Jim Plummer, the 74 year old founder of the International Association for Energy Economics (IAEE). In 1977, I had just moved from the federal government (EPA and then the Executive Office of the President under Gerald Ford) to Occidental Petroleum. I observed that there were very competent energy economists in the private sector, public sector, and academia, but there wasn’t a lot of communication among them.
So, I founded the IAEE, and was its second president.…