"Regulation or price? Analysis of innovative activity in alternative fuel vehicles in a period of economic bonanza and decline" by Dr David Bonilla

Past Event

Date
23 May 2012, 6:00pm - 7:30pm

Location
Lecture Theatre, Oxford Martin School
34 Broad Street (corner of Holywell and Catte Streets), Oxford, OX1 3BD

This seminar is hosted by the Institute for Carbon and Energy Reduction in Transport


Abstract: For too long, more than a century, a single technology has dominated the motor sector, namely the internal combustion engine. Unlike other sectors, such as Telecommunications, the motor sector urgently needs rapid technological change and radical innovation along with acts of insight and acts of skill within the knowledge product space. The goals of this seminar are threefold: to assess the growth of innovation, in alternative fuel vehicles (AFV); to examine if energy prices and regulatory changes have led to innovative activity, in the 1990-2010 years; and to compare the historical record of innovative activity of AFV with the dominant technology (diesel and ICE technologies). The seminar also explores the debates between induced technological change, endogenous technical change and the wider debate on innovation. Results provoke controversy regarding the role and the level of commitment of global Governments to carbon mitigation efforts.

Speaker: Dr David Bonilla, James Martin Fellow, Institute for Carbon and Energy Reduction in Transport and Senior Research Fellow in Transport, Energy Economics, Transport Studies Unit, University of Oxford.

Biography: David did his first degree in economics at London Guildhall University, London, UK; his MSc in Economics at Queen Mary College, University of London, supervised by Prof. V. Bulmer-Thomas; and his PhD on 'Japan's energy policy' at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology. Prior to his doctorate he was an energy economist, focusing on the transport sector, at the Japanese Institute of Energy Economics located in Tokyo. He has held research fellowships at the Venture Business Laboratory at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology; the Faculty of Economics, Cambridge University; and the Department of Land Economy at the Climate Change Mitigation Research Center (4CMR).

David is interested in the interaction of several disciplines: economics, engineering and political issues affecting energy and environment. He is particularly interested in econometric applications, forecasting and scenario analysis of energy technologies in vehicle and freight markets, as well as on energy policy assessment and design. David is also a reviewer of several well known energy related journals and has been a contributor for the UN's World Energy Assessment.