The paper examined #climate change impacts from #heat and extreme #weather on household budgets--showing costs to U.S. households from climate change are $400 to $900 annually depending on how extreme weather were attributed to climate change.

⚡ While the least-cost approach yields $1.52B (1.13%) greater savings and 28.6M metric tons (3.65%) lower CO2 emissions, policy-driven expansion improves reliability during extreme events by enabling broader electricity change.

Key findings:

⚡ Policy-driven expansion increases transmission by 68%, distributing expansion across regions, whereas the least-cost solution concentrates builds in central USA

The paper, authored by faculty director @knittelmit.bsky.social, policy director Drew Story and colleagues Juan Senga, Audun Botterud and John E. Parsons, explores the "implications of policy-driven #transmission expansion costs, #emissions, and reliability in the US.”

This work began as a collaboration with Senator Hickenlooper’s office on the Big Wires Act and was the first major project of the new @mitclimatepolicy.bsky.social . It’s a great example of how policy questions can guide research that is rigorous, timely, and directly useful for decision-makers.

CPC is looking to partner with policymakers, researchers, and funders who want to use MIT tools to evaluate climate and energy policy. We’re also building support for more researcher capacity. Let’s collaborate.

CPC’s model lets in-house researchers work with MIT faculty to answer real policy questions. This is where Juan shines—his modeling work began with a Senate collaboration and ultimately shaped this Nature Energy paper.