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Robert M. La Follette
School of Public Affairs
1225 Observatory Drive
Madison, WI 53706

Telephone: 608.262.3581
Fax: 608.265.3233

Last updated:
January 24, 2013

Gregory Nemet. La Follette School photo taken Dec. 17, 2009, by Andy Manis

Gregory F. Nemet

Assistant Professor of Public Affairs and Environmental Studies

Office: 209 Observatory Hill Office Building
Phone: 608-265-3469
Fax: 608-265-3233
E-mail:

La Follette School of Public Affairs
University of Wisconsin - Madison
1225 Observatory Drive
Madison, WI 53706

Gregory Nemet is an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the La Follette School of Public Affairs and the Nelson Institute's Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment. He is also a member of the university's Energy Sources and Policy Cluster.

His research and teaching focus on improving analysis of the global energy system and, more generally, on understanding how to expand access to energy services while reducing environmental impacts. He teaches courses in energy systems analysis, governance of global energy problems, and international environmental policy.

Professor Nemet's research analyzes the process of technological change in energy and its interactions with public policy. These projects fall in two areas: (1) empirical analysis identifying the influences on past technological change and (2) modeling of the effects of policy instruments on future technological outcomes. The first includes assessment of public policy, research and development (R&D), learning by doing, and knowledge spillovers. An example of the second is work informing allocation between R&D and demand-side policy instruments to address climate change.

He has been an author Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Global Energy Assessment. He received his doctorate in energy and resources from the University of California, Berkeley. His A.B. is in geography and economics from Dartmouth College.

CV [pdf]

Journal articles

Jenni, K., E. Baker, and G.F. Nemet (2013) “Expert Elicitations of Energy Penalties for Carbon Capture Technologies.” International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, 12: 136– 145.
Altwies, J. and G.F. Nemet (2013) “Innovation in the U.S. building sector: an assessment of patent citations in building energy control technology.” Energy Policy, 52(1): 819–831.
Nemet, G.F. (2012) “Inter-technology knowledge spillovers for energy technologies.” Energy Economics, 34(5): 1259–1270 [preprint].
Wilson, C., A. Grubler, K.S. Gallagher, and G.F. Nemet (2012) “Marginalization of end-use technologies in energy innovation for climate protection.” Nature Climate Change, 2(11): 780–788.
Nemet, G.F. (2012) “Subsidies for new technologies and knowledge spillovers from learning by doing.” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 31(3). [preprint]
Gallagher, K.S., A. Grubler, L. Kuhl, G.F. Nemet, and C. Wilson (2012) “The Energy Technology Innovation System” Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 37(1): 137–162.
Nemet, G.F. and E. Johnson (2012) “Do important inventions benefit from knowledge originating in other technological domains?” Research Policy, 41(1): 190–200. [preprint]
Nemet, G.F. and A.R. Brandt. (2012) “Willingness to pay for a climate backstop: liquid fuel producers and direct CO2 air capture” The Energy Journal, 33(1): 53–82. [preprint]
Rasmussen, D.J. , T. Holloway, and G.F. Nemet (2011) “Opportunities and challenges in assessing climate change impacts on wind energy” Environmental Research Letters, 6(2):024008.
Nemet, G.F. (2010) “Cost containment in climate policy and incentives for technology development.” Climatic Change, 103, 423-443. [preprint]
Nemet, G.F. (2010) “Robust incentives and the design of a climate change governance regime” Energy Policy, 38(11)7216–7225. [preprint]
Nemet, G.F., T. Holloway, and P. Meier (2010) “Implications of incorporating air-quality benefits into climate change policymaking.” Environmental Research Letters 5(1):014007.
Nemet, G.F. and E. Baker. (2009). "Demand Subsidies Versus R&D: Comparing the Uncertain Impacts of Policy on a Pre-commercial Low-carbon Energy Technology." The Energy Journal, 30:4, pp. 49-80. (Campbell Watkins Award for the best paper published in The Energy Journal in 2009). [preprint]
Nemet, G.F. (2009). “Demand pull, technology push, and government-led incentives for non-incremental technical change.” Research Policy 38(5): 700-709.
Nemet, G.F. (2009). "Net radiative forcing from widespread deployment of photovoltaics." Environmental Science & Technology 43(6): 2173–2178.
Nemet, G.F. (2009). “Interim monitoring of cost dynamics for publicly supported energy technologies." Energy Policy 37(3): 825-835.
Nemet, G.F. and D.M. Kammen (2007). “U.S. energy R&D: declining investment, increasing need, and the feasibility of expansion.” Energy Policy 35(1): 746-755.
Nemet, G.F. (2006). “Beyond the learning curve: factors influencing cost reductions in photovoltaics.” Energy Policy 34(17): 3218-3232.
Kammen, D.M. and G.F. Nemet (2005). “Reversing the incredible shrinking energy R&D budget.” Issues in Science and Technology 22(1): 84-88, Fall.
Nemet, G.F. and A.J. Bailey (2000). “Distance and health care utilization among the rural elderly.” Social Science and Medicine 50:1197-1208.

Full list of publications

Research projects

Courses

Envir St 900 Seminar: Governance of Global Energy Problems: fall 2010, fall 2009
PA 866 Global Environmental Governance: spring 2013, spring 2012, spring 2010, spring 2009, spring 2008
PA 809 Introduction to Energy Analysis and Policy: fall 2012, fall 2011, fall 2010, fall 2009, fall 2008