I am recruiting PhD students for a NSF funded interdisciplinary program ELEVATE, focusing on equity in the energy transition. Visit the ELEVATE website to know more, including how to apply.

My research is motivated by society’s need to transition to a sustainable energy future. This transition will require the development and adoption of renewable energy technologies and a shift to more efficient use of energy. My research examines policies to incentivize renewable energy, and the environmental, economic and distributional impacts of these policies. Current research topics include:

• Equity and Distributional Impacts of Solar Incentive Programs
• Time and Risk Preferences and Renewable Energy Adoption
• Leasing vs Owning Residential PV Systems

Grants

• National Science Foundation, “NRT: Enhancing resiliency and increasing equity in the transition to a sustainable energy future,” 2020-2025, Matthew Lackner (PI), Erin Baker (Co-PI), Christine L. Crago (Co-PI), Robert DeConto (Co-PI), Golbon Zakeri (Co-PI). Amount ~ $2.7 million
• National Science Foundation, “GCR: Transition to a sustainable energy future,” 2020-2025, Matthew Lackner (PI), Erin Baker (Co-PI), Christine L. Crago (Co-PI), Krista Harper (Co-PI), Prashant Shenoy (Co-PI). Amount ~ $3 million
• UMass Institute for Social Science Research and UMass Clean Energy Center, “Where do the benefits of solar market development go? Distributional impacts of the economic rents from Massachusetts solar programs,” 2019-2020, Christine L. Crago (PI), Dwayne Breger (Co-PI). Amount: $19, 24
• United States Department of Agriculture – Hatch Research Project, “Understanding the choice between leasing and owning for residential solar systems,” 2018-2022, Rong Rong (PI) and Christine L. Crago (Co-PI).  Amount: ~$36,000
• United States Department of Agriculture – National Institute of Food and Agriculture, “Leveraging on-farm field experiment data to examine the efficiency of regulation to limit agricultural pollutants,” 2016-2020, Christine L. Crago (PI). Amount: $126,458 (Sub-contract award from the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, David S. Bullock (PI), Total award: $4,000,000)
• UMass Clean Energy Extension and City of Holyoke Renewable Energy Development Plan, “Incentivizing solar installations: Lessons for design and implementation,” 2015-2016, Ben Weil (PI), Christine L. Crago (Senior Personnel). Amount: $43,691
• UMass Clean Energy Extension and Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources, “Assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of incentive policies for commercial-scale solar PV in Massachusetts and the Northeast,” 2015-2019, Christine L. Crago (PI). Amount: $23,942
• UMass Faculty Research/ Healey Endowment Grant, “A field experiment to evaluate the impacts of incentives for energy efficiency and conservation,” 2014-2015, Christine L. Crago (PI). Amount: $14,000