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Tepper School Faculty Directory



Carnegie Mellon: Tepper School of Business

Lester B. Lave

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(Deceased May 9, 2011) Harry B. and James H. Higgins Professor of Economics and University Professor; Director, Carnegie Mellon Green Design Initiative; Co-Director, Carnegie Mellon Electricity Industry Center

Education:
  • Reed College - B.A., - 1960
  • Harvard University - Ph.D. - 1963
Areas of Expertise:
  • Political Economy
  • Economics
Teaching and Research Interests:
  • Applied economics, particularly identification and structuring of public issues. Setting safety goals for dams and other engineered structures, quantitative risk assessment, exhaustible resources-helium, setting safety standards for nuclear reactors, modeling the effects of global climate change, improving social regulations, risk perception and communication, the value of information in tests for carcinogenicity, highway safety; pollution prevention.
Published Papers: 
  • The Air Quality and Human Health Effects of Integrating Utility-Scale Batteries into the New York State Electricity Grid
    Journal of Power Sources 195(8), 2010; 2405-2413.
    (with: Jay Apt, E. Gilmore, R. Walawalkar, P. Adams)

  • Short Run Effects of a Price on Carbon Dioxide Emissions from U.S. Electric Generators
    Environmental Science & Technology 42(9), 2008; 3139-3144.
    (with: Jay Apt, A. Newcomer, Seth Blumsack, M Morgan)

  • A National Renewable Portfolio Standard? Not Practical
    Issues in Science & Technology 25(1), 2008; 53-59.
    (with: Jay Apt, S. Pattanariyankool)

  • Short Run Effects of a Price on Carbon Dioxide Emissions from U.S. Electric Generators
    Environmental Science & Technology 42(9), 2008; 3139-3144.
    (with: Jay Apt, A. Newcomer, Seth Blumsack, M Morgan)

  • Deregulation/Restructing Part 1: Re-regulation Will Not Fix the Problems
    The Electricity Journal 20(8), 2007; 9-22.
    (with: Jay Apt, Seth Blumsack)

  • Deregulation/Restructuring Part II: Where Do We Go From Here?
    The Electricity Journal 20(9), 2007; 10-23.
    (with: Jay Apt, Seth Blumsack)

  • Planning for Natural Disasters in a Stochastic World
    Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 33, 2006; 117-130.
    (with: Jay Apt)

  • Electricity: Protecting Essential Services, in Seeds of Disaster, Roots of Response: How Private Action Can Reduce Public Vulnerability
    Cambridge University Press: New York, 2006; 211-238.
    (with: Jay Apt, M. Morgan)

  • A More Reliable U.S. Electric System
    Issues in Science & Technology 22(4), 2006; 51-58.
    (with: Jay Apt, M. Morgan)

  • Lessons from the Failure of U.S. Electricity Restructuring
    The Electricity Journal 19(2), 2006; 15-32.
    (with: Seth Blumsack, Jay Apt)

  • Importing Ethanol Solves Many Problems
    Environmental Science and Technology, 2006; 40-42.
    (with: W. Griffin)

  • A Quantitative Analysis of the Relationship Between Congestion and Reliability in Electric Power Networks
    Papers and Proceedings of the 26th North American Conference, U.S. Association for Energy Economics, September 2006.
    (with: Seth Blumsack, Marija Ilic)

  • Should we Transport Coal, Gas, or Electricity: Cost, Efficiency, and Environmental Implications
    Environmental Science & Technology 39(16), 2006; 5905-5910.
    (with: Joule Bergerson)

  • Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Goods and Services: An Input-Output Approach
    Washington, DC: Resources for the Future, 2006.
    (with: C. Hendrickson, H. Matthews)

  • Increasing the Security and Reliability of the US Electricity System
    Edward Elgar Publishing: Cheltenham, 2005; 57-69.
    (with: Jay Apt, A. Farrell, M. Morgan)

  • A Cautionary Tale: U.S. Electricity Reform
    Economic and Political Weekly (Special Issue: Power Sector Reform-International Experience 40(50), 2005; 5279-5290.
    (with: Jay Apt, Seth Blumsack)
    For Further Information

  • Are Renewables Portfolio Standards Cost-Effective Emission Abatement Policy?
    Environmental Science & Technology 39(22), 2005; 8578-8583.
    (with: Jay Apt, Katerina Dobesova)
    For Further Information

  • Restoring Soils to Protect Climate, Food, and Water
    Science 304, 2004; 393-393.
    (with: W. Griffin, Rattan Lal, Jay Apt, M. Morgan)

  • Rethinking Electricity Deregulation
    The Electric Journal 17(8), 2004; 11-26.
    (with: Seth Blumsack, Jay Apt)

  • Alternative Transport Fuels for the Future
    International Journal of Vehicle Design 35(1-2), 2003; 27-49.
    (with: W. Griffin, H. MacLean)

  • Evaluating Automobile Fuel/Propulsion System Technologies
    Progress in Energy and Combustion Science 9, 2003; 1-69.
    (with: H. MacLean)

  • Market Power in Deregulated Wholesale Electricity Markets: Issues in Measurement and the Cost of Mitigation
    The Electricity Journal 15(9), 2002; 1-24.
    (with: Seth Blumsack, Dimitri Perekhodstev)

  • Evaluation of Lignocellulosic Ethanol to Fuel the USA - Canadian Light Duty Transportation Fleet
    SAE Paper No. 2001-01-3729, 2001.
    (with: W. Griffin, H. MacLean, S. Joshi)

  • Promise and Cost of Cellulosic Ethanol for the U.S. Light-duty Fleet
    SAE Paper No. 2001-01-2472, 2001.
    (with: W. Griffin, H. MacLean)

  • The Ethanol Answer to Carbon Emissions
    Issues in Science and Technology, 2001-02; 73-78.
    (with: W. Griffin, H. MacLean)

  • Estimating the Hidden Costs of Environmental Regulation
    The Accounting Review, April, 2001.
    (with: S. Joshi, Ramayya Krishnan)

  • Is There a Role for Benefit Cost Analysis in Environmental, Health, and Safety Regulation?
    Science 272, April 12, 1996; 221-222.
    (with: K. Arrow, L. Cropper, G. Eads, R. Hahn, R. Noll)

  • Economic Input/Output Analysis to Aid Life Cycle Assessment of Electronics Products
    IEEE International Symposium on Electronics and the Environment, May 1995.
    (with: Elisa Cobas, C. Hendrickson, F. McMichael)

  • Environmental Implications of Electric Cars
    Science 268, May 19 1995; 992-995.
    (with: C. Hendrickson, F. McMichael)

  • Formulating Greenhouse Policies in a Sea of Uncertainty
    The Energy Journal, Special Issue on Global Warming 11(4), 1991; 61-64.

  • Safety Goals for High Hazard Dams: Are Dams Too Safe
    Water Resources Research 26(7), July 1990; 1383-1391.
    (with: D. Carrillo, F. McMichael)

  • Information Value of the Rodent Bioassay
    Nature 336, 1988; 631-633.
    (with: F. Ennever, H. Rosenkranz, G. Omenn)

  • Health and Safety Risk Analysis: Information for Better Decisions
    Science 236, 1987; 291-295.

  • Cost Effectiveness of Short Term Tests of Carcinogenicity: An Analytic Framework
    Nature 324, 1986; 29-34.
    (with: G. Omenn)

  • The Strategy of Social Regulation: Decision Frameworks for Policy
    Brookings Institution, 1981.

  • Conflicting Federal Regulations Concerning the Automobile
    Science 11, 1981; 893-899.

  • Helium: Investments in the Future
    The Bell Journal of Economics, Autumn 1980.
    (with: Dennis Epple)

  • Annual Review of Public Health
    Palo Alto, CA: Annual Reviews 1, 1980.
    (with: L. Breslow, J. Fielding)

  • Air Pollution and Human Health
    Resources for the Future, Inc., 1977.
    (with: E. Seskin)

  • Economic Impact of Preventive Medicine
    NIH, Preventive Medicine, USA, 1976.

  • Health Effects of Electricity Generation from Coal, Oil and Nuclear Fuel
    Nuclear Safety 14, 1973.
    (with: L. Freeburg)

  • Hospital Cost Functions: Estimating Cost Functions for Multi Product Firms
    American Economic Review 60(3), June, 1970; 379-395.

  • Medical Care and Its Delivery: An Economic Appraisal
    Law a Contemporary Problems 35(2), Spring 1970; 252-266.

  • Air Pollution and Human Health
    Science 169, 1970; 723-733.
    (with: E. Seskin)

  • Technological Change: Its Conception and Measurement
    Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1966.

  • The Value of Better Weather Information to the Raisin Industry
    Econometrica 31, 1963; 151-164.

  • An Empirical Approach to the Prisoners Dilemma Game
    Quarterly Journal of Economics 76, 1962; 424-436.

Working Papers: 
Awards:
  • George Leland Bach Teaching Award, GSIA - 1987
Boards:
  • Science Advisory Board, EPA, 1986-
  • President, Society for Risk Analysis, 1985-1987
  • Elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, 1981
Consulting:
  • Mead Corporation
  • General Motors
  • Cummins Engine
  • Witco
  • Ontario Hydro
  • Northeast Utilities
  • Armstrong Flooring
  • Dunlop Tire
  • American Petroleum Institute
  • EPA
  • Federal Trade Commission
  • Xerox
  • PanAm
  • NE Utilities
  • RAND Corporation
  • U.S. Departments of Justice, Transportation, Labor and Defense
  • Department of Motor Vehicles Manufacturers' Association
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