Tariq Rauf and Zoryana Vovchok Assurance of Supply: A New Framework for Nuclear Energy The increase in global energy demands and pressing concerns over climate change are driving a potential expansion in the use of nuclear energy. Dozens of states have approached the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for guidance as they explore the possibility of building nuclear power reactors for the first time. Mit

Matthew Bunn and Martin B. Malin Enabling a Nuclear Revival— And Managing Its Risks As John Holdren points out in the introduction to this Innovations special issue, the world will need to produce huge quantities of energy in the 21st century to meet the needs of a growing world population, while also working to lift billions of peo- ple out of poverty. Providing this energy

M. Granger Morgan Carbon Capture and Sequestration: How Can It Succeed Commercially? Innovations Case Discussion: Powerspan Corp. In a market economy, people innovate because they think they can develop a com- parative advantage selling a new product or service. This principle does not apply to environmental control technology, as its purpose is to limit a negative external- ität. Unless a regulation directly or indirectly places

Frank Alix Taking Out the CO2 Powerspan Helps Utilities Capture Carbon at the Source Innovations Case Narrative: Powerspan Corp. As indications of global climate change and its inherent risks have become more apparent, the urgency to limit emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other green- house gases (GHGs) has grown. Gleichzeitig, rising worldwide demand for energy, driven by growing populations and improving

Daniel M. Kammen Incremental and Transformational Change Innovations Case Discussion: Better Place Shai Agassi’s story of his evolving personal interest in energy issues, and the evolv- ing business plan of his electric vehicle company, Better Place, provides an impor- tant lens on the pace and drivers of innovation. Erste, as Shai describes, his interest in energy issues evolved from his great suc- cess in the

Thomas C. Schelling International Coordination to Address the Climate Challenge Climate change is real, but its future is marked with uncertainties. We cannot pre- dict the kinds of societies that will be faced with the most severe impacts of climate change 50 years or a century from now: What sort of lives will people lead? What kinds of technologies will they use? Trotzdem, we do

Shai Agassi World Without Oil Better Place Builds a Future for Electric Vehicles Innovations Case Narrative: Better Place So, how exactly would you run an entire country without oil? Early in 2005, at the World Economic Forum for Young Global Leaders in Davos, Schweiz, someone asked me, “How would you make the world a better place by 2020?” No one would have thought to call

Melinda Kimble It’s Not About Ethanol, It’s About Sugarcane Innovations Case Discussion: The Brazilian Experience with Biofuels Brazil’s decision to integrate sugar production with its energy system makes an interesting case study in optimization and economic flexibility. DR. Goldemberg’s first-hand experience with Brazil’s policy of incorporating ethanol into the trans- port fuel mix offers important insights into the steps Brazil took to change fuel blends

Abul Hussam Contending with a Development Disaster SONO Filters Remove Arsenic from Well Water in Bangladesh Innovations Case Discussion: SONO Filters Science means more than fiddling with some instruments, getting results, and fin- ishing with it. Stattdessen, engaging with science for the public good requires one to solve problems in a manner acceptable to the people whom research break- throughs will benefit. This premise has

Joe Madiath It Takes a Faucet Realizing Village Development Through Water and Sanitation Initiatives Innovations Case Narrative: Gram Vikas An often-quoted proverb states that “it takes a village to raise a child.” At Gram Vikas, which means “village development,” we have for a number of years struggled with a different question: how can one raise a village, not into maturity, but out of poverty and

Bindeshwar Pathak Technologies for Human Dignity The Sulabh Sanitation and Social Reform Movement Innovations Case Narrative: Sulabh International I was born in Vaishali district of Bihar, Indien, In 1943, into a Maithil Brahmin fam- ily. For generations, this community has provided India with some of its most emi- nent thinkers, academicians, and civil servants. I went to college in Patna and grad- uated with honors

Allerd Stikker and Dorota Juchniewicz “Water, Water Everywhere…” Innovations to Improve Global Availability of Clean Water and Sanitation The global water situation, which has received increasing public attention during the last decade, is one of the most serious issues confronting the world today. Jedoch, despite numerous efforts to improve the situation, billions of people still lack access to clean drinking water and to sufficient water

Allen Hammond, James Koch, and Francisco Noguera The Need for Safe Water as a Market Opportunity There is a huge unmet need across the globe for access to safe drinking water. This problem kills millions of our brethren each year—780,000 in India alone.1 Diarrheal disease causes 1,600 deaths a day—more than any other. While we in the U.S. and other Western nations simply turn the

Steven Horwitz Best Responders Post-Katrina Innovation and Improvisation by Wal-Mart and the U.S. Coast Guard The unprecedented impacts of Hurricane Katrina provide an interesting study in how organizations innovate and improvise in the face of the unexpected. Most of the attention paid to organizational performance during the disaster has focused, understandably, on the systematic failures of FEMA. But were there any successes? Ja, in fact.

Ignacio Mas The Economics of Branchless Banking If you are a smallholder with all your income concentrated in a particular season; if you are a day laborer who is not sure what employment opportunities there may be tomorrow; if you are a street hawker making $2 a day and know you will have to come up with $20 to send your children to school in

Norka Ruiz Bravo A Conservation Ethic in Practice Preserving Cultural and Biodiversity by Bridging the Generational Knowledge Base Innovations Case Discussion: Amazon Conservation Team A conservation ethic is that which aims to pass on to future generations the best part of the nonhuman world. To know this world is to gain a pro- prietary attachment to it. To know it well is to love and

Erwann O. Michel-Kerjan and Debra K. Decker Insure to Assure A New Paradigm for Nuclear Nonproliferation and International Security With large-scale disasters likely to be part of our future, and the potential for nuclear proliferation to cause such a disaster, can private market mechanisms such as insurance be structured to help avoid the disaster itself? Until recently, few world leaders or thinkers would have pegged

Dane Stangler Creative Discovery Reconsidering the Relationship Between Entrepreneurship and Innovation The severe recession of 2008–09 has brought to the fore deep concerns regarding the U.S. economy’s ability to continue to grow, let alone to keep pace with emerg- ing nations such as India and China. The scale of job losses and the woes of sec- tors that are emblematic of the recession—particularly finance and