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Comparative approach to sustainable cities, with focus on international practices and applicability to China. Tradeoffs regarding land use, infrastructure, energy and water, and the need to balance economic vitality, environmental quality, cultural heritage, and social equity. Student teams collaborate with Chinese faculty and students partners to support urban sustainability projects. Limited enrollment via application; see internationalurbanization.org for details. Prerequisites: consent of the instructor(s).

The two key enablers of renewable energy today are storage and transmission. Storage -- using batteries, thermal systems, compressed air, water pumping and beyond -- is critical to dealing with the intermittency of solar and wind by shifting the use of electricity from when it is generated to when there is greater customer need and economic value -- whether over an hour, day or month. Transmission is critical because resource-rich areas of generation tend to be located far from urban load centers, plus local variations in sun and wind can be smoothed out with significant inter-regional transmission connections. Transmission development in the U.S. is inadequate today largely because of conflicts at the state and federal level over siting and cost allocation. Storage is relatively immature technologically, the costs of a number of promising options are high, and key state and federal policies governing its deployment need further development. Yet, without rapid and cost-effective deployment of storage and transmission, the environmental and economic promise of renewables will not be realized. Dan Reicher and Jeff Brown, who teach energy courses at the Stanford Law and Business schools, will guide the I-REST Policy Practicum research team in exploring policy, finance and technology tools that could accelerate the development and deployment of U.S. storage and transmission projects. Student researchers will work closely with Dan and Jeff to address key issues. Some examples of these issues include: 1. Many storage technologies are not fully cost competitive in the absence of an adequate price for avoided carbon emissions. As a result, gas turbines often have to fill the gap when solar and wind are not available. Without a significant price on carbon, what are the optimum federal policy and finance tools to incentivize storage projects -- grants, tax credits, loan guarantees, MLPs/REITs, contract for differences, credits for low-carbon capacity, etc? 2. Storage is part of a larger package of options -- demand response, efficiency, grid management, fast-firing gas turbines -- to deal with intermittent renewables. What are the state and federal policy options, and associated investment vehicles, that can best ensure smart and cost-effective integration of these approaches. 3. Recent multi-state transmission projects have pitted developers against the states that are in the path of the line but do not benefit from either the generation or sale of the green electricity. In some situations the federal government has had to assert its eminent domain authority, including through the DOE-controlled Power Marketing Administrations. How do we better balance these various interests in siting multi-state transmission projects? 4. Like storage options, major, regionally dispersed transmission networks might be an effective way to move renewable and low-carbon energy to demand centers in response to hourly, daily and seasonal variations in renewable energy production. However, these transmission lines tend to be challenging financially because of relatively low usage levels. What policy and financing tools might advance this different business model? 5. Typically high voltage alternating current (A.C.) transmission lines become economically challenged at distances beyond 600 miles, with load losses and carrying capacity dropping rapidly with distance. More robust and efficient, direct current (D.C.) lines require special converter stations and other major equipment to rejoin local grids. How should federal government policymakers and regulators weigh in on this technological issue and what are potential financing tools? Research results, in the form of memos and an overall white paper or report will help guide the transition team for the new President, the incoming Administration, and the new Congress in formulating policies and supporting investment that can help advance progress on transmission and storage thereby enabling accelerated renewable energy deployment and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Associated briefings in Washington, D.C. may be arranged with students making the trip. As described above, storage and transmission issues present a complex set of legal, regulatory, engineering, economic and financial challenges. Therefore, the research team seeks graduate students from law, business, engineering, economics, and public policy. Through this interdisciplinary research and learning environment, the team will leverage approaches across fields to produce a robust, integrated set of research findings that will also be featured on both the Policy Lab and Steyer-Taylor websites. After the term begins, and with the consent of the instructor, students accepted into the course may transfer from Section 01 (2 units) to Section 2 (3 units), which meets the R requirement. Elements used in grading: Class Participation, Attendance, Written Assignments, Final Paper. -- NOTE: Students may not count more than a combined total of eight units of directed research projects and policy lab practica toward graduation unless the additional counted units are approved in advance by the Petitions Committee. Such approval will be granted only for good cause shown. Even in the case of a successful petition for additional units, a student cannot receive a letter grade for more than eight units of independent research (Policy Lab practicum, Directed Research, Directed Writing, Senior Thesis, and/or Research Track). Any units taken in excess of eight will be graded on a mandatory pass basis. For detailed information, see "Directed Research/Policy Labs" in the SLS Student Handbook. CONSENT APPLICATION: To apply for this course, students must complete and submit a Consent Application Form available on the SLS website (Click Courses at the bottom of the homepage and then click Consent of Instructor Forms). See Consent Application Form for instructions and submission deadline.

The Trump presidency has already brought about considerable shifts in U.S. foreign policy and many more changes are on the horizon. Foreign affairs has traditionally been viewed as a particular province of the federal government, with states limited in their abilities to negotiate with other governments through explicit federal constitutional provisions like the Foreign Commerce Clause and the Treaty Clause and more amorphous but also comprehensive powers like federal foreign affairs preemption. Nevertheless, in recent years, federalism has extended into the sphere of foreign affairs, with states and localities engaging foreign governments and exerting influence on international issues; in the environmental arena alone, a number of states and cities played a role around the negotiations of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and California has entered into a cap-and-trade agreement with Québec. This policy lab is designed to explore the possibilities for more active involvement of sub-national actors on issues of major international concern. Building on the efforts of California and other states, counties, and cities, we will actively consider possibilities of international leadership in diverse areas including the environment, human rights, and anti-corruption. Students in the policy lab will work on one of three projects. One project will entail working with the California Governor's Office to explore opportunities for international leadership on climate change. A second will focus on the Enough Project's efforts to develop a strategy for using state-level regulation of financial markets to address human rights abuses and kleptocracy. The final project will partner with Santa Clara County and the Open Government Partnership to create a pathway for cities, counties, and states to demonstrate leadership on transparency and anti-corruption issues globally. Because of the nature of the issues involved in some of these projects, students will be asked to work within a context of attorney-client privilege. The seminar will meet most weeks of the quarter; the first several sessions will set up the general concerns of international relations and constitutional law that will undergird the various project streams, and the remaining sessions will entail group feedback on the work being undertaken by the teams working on the three projects. Students working on each team will write a memo on a particular research question, which will then be integrated with the products of the other individuals on that team to furnish an answer to a specific question posed at the outset by the California Governor's Office, Santa Clara County, or the Enough Project. During the second half of the quarter, class meetings will be devoted to presentations by one of the research teams to the rest of the participants, who will provide feedback on their work product in anticipation of further revisions, which the members of the relevant team will then complete. After the term begins, students accepted into the course can transfer from section 01 (two units) into section 02 (three units), which meets the R requirement, with consent of the instructor. Elements used in grading: Attendance, Performance, Class Participation, Written Assignments, Final Paper. NOTE: Students may not count more than a combined total of eight units of directed research projects and policy lab practica toward graduation unless the additional counted units are approved in advance by the Petitions Committee. Such approval will be granted only for good cause shown. Even in the case of a successful petition for additional units, a student cannot receive a letter grade for more than eight units of independent research (Policy Lab practicum, Directed Research, Senior Thesis, and/or Research Track). Any units taken in excess of eight will be graded on a mandatory pass basis. For detailed information, see "Directed Research/Policy Labs" in the SLS Student Handbook. CONSENT APPLICATION: To apply for this course, students must complete and submit a Consent Application Form available on the SLS website (Click Courses at the bottom of the homepage and then click Consent of Instructor Forms). See Consent Application Form for instructions and submission deadline.

(Formerly Law 414X) Students in this policy lab will work with the Union of Concerned Scientists to assess the climate assumptions and projections underlying California water planning. Water planning, including decisions about future infrastructure, water use, and water allocation, must account for decades long time scales. Decisions made now will certainly be impacted by the effects of climate change. While many local, state and federal agencies have devoted significant energy and resources to integrating climate change into water planning, California does not have a consistent approach or set of methodologies for doing so. Although water planning is not always conducive to a one size fits all approach, it is important to understand the rationales behind different approaches to incorporating climate change into water planning. This is critical in order to evaluate their effectiveness in meeting legislative, regulatory, and planning objectives, and to ensure the state's various water planning decisions fit together. Students will conduct a comparative analysis of the ways in which climate change is (or is not) taken into account in the variety of water planning documents developed and used in California. This type of analysis is needed in order to assess the impacts of the current methods of incorporating climate science information in water resources planning efforts. In addition, students will develop recommendations to improve the incorporation of climate science into California's water planning processes. By analyzing key pieces of water planning legislation, regulation and guidance material, students will investigate how climate change assumptions and projections are incorporated into water planning and management decisions. This will include examining any legal requirements (through legislation or regulation) to incorporate climate science or projections, and identifying the key climate assumptions or projections that agencies have actually used in water planning decisions or documents. Students will perform more detailed analysis of the planning documents (where applicable) developed under each piece of legislation to assess 1) whether plans meet the legislative requirements for incorporating climate change, 2) the consistency of plans developed in accordance with the same legislation, and 3) the range of technical approaches used across agencies and programs. The class, through the participation of students from relevant departments or outside experts, may also seek to assess whether specific planning decisions are relying on the best and most appropriate climate science. Students will prepare individual papers and work together to convert those papers into a report to be used by the Union of Concerned Scientists. Students may participate in either or both quarters of the class, although we will give an enrollment preference to students who wish to enroll in both quarters. Students wishing to undertake R credit, will perform additional research and writing and may serve as project managers for a formal white paper analyzing the issues. R credit is possible only by consent of the instructor. After the term begins, students accepted into the course can transfer from section (01) into section (02), which meets the R requirement, with consent of the instructor. Elements used in grading: Participation in class and projects; final paper. -- NOTE: Students may not count more than a combined total of eight units of directed research projects and policy lab practica toward graduation unless the additional counted units are approved in advance by the Petitions Committee. Such approval will be granted only for good cause shown. Even in the case of a successful petition for additional units, a student cannot receive a letter grade for more than eight units of independent research (Policy Lab practicum, Directed Research, Directed Writing, Senior Thesis, and/or Research Track). Any units taken in excess of eight will be graded on a mandatory pass basis. For detailed information, see "Directed Research/Policy Labs" in the SLS Student Handbook. CONSENT APPLICATION: To apply for this course, students must complete and submit a Consent Application Form available on the SLS website (Click Courses at the bottom of the homepage and then click Consent of Instructor Forms). See Consent Application Form for instructions and submission deadline.

What are the possibilities in rethinking our food, the way we talk about it, the way we grow it, and the way we eat it? In this course, you will be paired with local organizations concerned with food economies, such as food activists, food banks, farmers, and farm collectives, to collaboratively draft and produce writing specific to the client. You will analyze and respond to a variety of professional writing situations, and practice project management, focusing on benchmarking and deliverables. The end result will be a multimodal, collaboratively-produced document or set of documents you can add to your public-facing portfolios. Students taking this courses as part of the Notation in Science Communication can include their final project in their NSC e-portfolio. This course fulfills the advanced PWR requirement for the Notation in Science Communication (NSC). Prerequisite: first two levels of the writing requirement or equivalent transfer credit. For video course description, see https://undergrad.stanford.edu/programs/pwr/courses/advanced-courses/farmers-scientists-activists-public-discourse-food-economies. (Cardinal Course certified by the Haas Center)

Intensive two-week studio explores the principles underlying vibrant public spaces. Use observation and prototyping tools to inform the process of urban development. Decode public spaces from multiple perspectives: as sites of recreation, interaction, and political contention; as physical infrastructure that municipalities or grassroots citizen groups build and maintain for the common good; and as places with intangible qualities, such as historical memory, identity, and personal stories. In addition to on-campus meetings, this course requires immersive fieldwork in the City of San Francisco, including two weekend overnight stays and the opportunity to re-imagine the design and use of public spaces with local partners. Enrollment by application only. Find more info and apply at dschool.stanford.edu

Comparative approach to sustainable cities, with focus on international practices and applicability to China. Tradeoffs regarding land use, infrastructure, energy and water, and the need to balance economic vitality, environmental quality, cultural heritage, and social equity. Student teams collaborate with Chinese faculty and students partners to support urban sustainability projects. Limited enrollment via application; see internationalurbanization.org for details. Prerequisites: consent of the instructor(s).