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This chapter describes how economic models are used to answer questions about policy changes, specifically in the context of a carbon fee-and-dividend system. A carbon fee-and-dividend is a price on carbon dioxide emissions that returns the revenues gained to ordinary households in the form of a monthly check. The chapter describes, in nontechnical terms, the economic models and modeling processes involved and how they are similar and different from climate models…

Wind turbines and Solar Photovoltaic (PV) electric energy generators are the lowest cost producers of electricity available in 2019, costing about half as much as a new coal plant’s electric energy (Lazard’s Levelized Cost of Energy Analysis, 2018). They have the important characteristic of delivering electricity without releasing greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide (CO₂). Yet, almost all experts and plans for the future say that wind and solar will not be dominant contributors to electricity generation for the next couple of decades. They say we must continue fossil fuels with their associated greenhouse gases because of problems with renewable generators…