Staff information

Biography

Dr. Leon Clarke is a Senior Research Economist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), and he is a staff member of the Joint Global Change Research Institute (JGCRI), a collaboration between PNNL and the University of Maryland at College Park. Dr. Clarke’s current research focuses on the role of technology in addressing climate change, scenario analysis, and integrated assessment model development. Dr. Clarke coordinated the U.S. Climate Change Science Program’s emissions scenario development process, and he was a contributing author on the Working Group III contribution to the IPCC’s Fourth Assessment Report. Prior to joining PNNL, Dr. Clarke worked for RCG/Hagler, Bailly, Inc. (1990-1992), Pacific Gas & Electric Company (1992-1996), and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (2002-2003). He was also a research assistant at Stanford’s Energy Modeling Forum (1999-2002), where he worked on issues related to technological change and integrated assessment modeling. Dr. Clarke received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from U.C. Berkeley and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Engineering Economic Systems and Operations Research at Stanford University.

Research Interests

• Economics of technological change
• Environmental economics
• Research and development strategy

Education and Credentials

• Ph.D., Engineering-Economic Systems and Operations Research, Stanford University
• M.S., Engineering-Economic Systems and Operations Research, Stanford University
• M.S., Mechanical Engineering, University of California at Berkeley
• B.S., Mechanical Engineering, University of California at Berkeley

PNNL Publications

2009

• Calvin KV, JA Edmonds, B Bond-Lamberty, LE Clarke, SH Kim, GP Kyle, SJ Smith, AM Thomson, and MA Wise. 2009. "2.6: Limiting Climate Change to 450 ppm CO2 Equivalent in the 21st Century." Energy Economics 31(2):S107-S120. 
• Calvin KV, PL Patel, AA Fawcett, LE Clarke, K Fisher-Vanden, JA Edmonds, SH Kim, R Sands, and MA Wise. 2009. "The Distribution and Magnitude of Emissions Mitigation Costs in Climate Stabilization Under Less Than Perfect International Cooperation: SGM Results." Energy Economics 31(2):S187-S197 . 
• Clarke LE, and J Weyant. 2009. "Introduction to the EMF 22 special issue on climate change control scenarios." Energy Economics 31(2):63. 
• Clarke LE, JA Edmonds, V Krey, RG Richels, S Rose, and M Tavoni. 2009. "International Climate Policy Architectures: Overview of the EMF 22 International Scenarios ." Energy Economics 31(2):S64-S81. 
• Kyle GP, LE Clarke, G Pugh, MA Wise, KV Calvin, JA Edmonds, and SH Kim. 2009. "The Value of Advanced Technology in Meeting 2050 Greenhouse Gas Emissions Targets in the United States." Energy Economics 31(2):S254-S267. 
• Wise MA, KV Calvin, AM Thomson, LE Clarke, B Bond-Lamberty, RD Sands, SJ Smith, AC Janetos, and JA Edmonds. 2009. "Implications of Limiting CO2 Concentrations for Land Use and Energy." Science 324(5931):1183-1186 . 

2008

• Thomson AM, RC Izaurralde, SJ Smith, and LE Clarke. 2008. "Integrated Estimates of Global Terrestrial Carbon Sequestration." Global Environmental Change. Part A, human and policy dimens 18(1):192-203.  doi::10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2007.10.002
• Baker ED, LE Clarke, and E Shittu. 2008. "Technical Change and the Marginal Cost of Abatement." Energy Economics 30(6):2799-2816.  doi:10.1016/j.eneco.2008.01.004
• Edmonds JA, LE Clarke, JP Lurz, and MA Wise. 2008. "Stabilizing CO2 Concentrations with Incomplete International Cooperation." Climate Policy 8(4):355-376. 
• Edmonds JA, LE Clarke, MA Wise, HM Pitcher, and SJ Smith. 2008. "Implications for the USA of stabilization of radiative forcing at 3.4 W/m2 ." Climate Policy 8:S76 - S92. 
• Kyle GP, LE Clarke, and SJ Smith. 2008. "The Value of Advanced Technologies in the U.S. Buildings Sector in Climate Change Mitigation." In Scaling Up: Building Tomorrow's Solutions : Proceedings from the 2008 ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings, p. 267.  ACEEE, Washington DC. 

2007

• Edmonds JA, LE Clarke, MA Wise, and JP Lurz. 2007. International CO2 Stabilization Scenarios with Less-Than-Perfect "Where" and "When" Flexibility. PNNL-16932, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA. 
• Edmonds JA, and LE Clarke. 2007. "Forum." Issues in Science and Technology 23(2):16-17. 
• Edmonds JA, MA Wise, JJ Dooley, SH Kim, SJ Smith, PJ Runci, LE Clarke, EL Malone, and GM Stokes. 2007. Global Energy Technology Strategy: Addressing Climate Change Phase 2 Findings from an international Public-Private Sponsored Research Program.  Battetlle Memorial Institute, College Park, MD. 
• Kyle GP, SJ Smith, LE Clarke, SH Kim, and MA Wise. 2007. The Value of End-Use Energy Efficiency in Mitigation of U.S. Carbon Emissions. PNNL-17039, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA. 
• Richels RG, T Rutherford, GJ Blanford, and L Clarke. 2007. "Managing the transition to climate stabilization." Climate Policy 7(5):409-428. 
• Rong F, LE Clarke, and SJ Smith. 2007. Climate Change and the Long-Term Evolution of the U.S. Buildings Sector. PNNL-16869, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA. 

2006

• Clarke LE, J Weyant, and A Birky. 2006. "On the Sources of Technological Advance: Assessing the Evidence." Energy Economics 28(5-6):579-595. 
• Baker ED, LE Clarke, and J Weyant. 2006. "Optimal Technology R&D in the Face of Climate Uncertainty." Climatic Change 78(1):157-179 . 
• Clarke LE, MA Wise, M Placet, RC Izaurralde, JP Lurz, SH Kim, SJ Smith, and AM Thomson. 2006. Climate Change Mitigation: An Analysis of Advanced Technology Scenarios. PNNL-16078, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA. 
• Runci PJ, LE Clarke, and JJ Dooley. 2006. "Energy Research (Letter)." Issues in Science and Technology XXII(3):10-11.