In the 1990s and early 2000s, Newell was a senior associate at the global advisory and digital services provider
ICF International, a teaching fellow at
Harvard University, and a senior fellow at Resources for the Future.[23] During 2005–2006, Newell served as Senior Economist for Energy and Environment on the
President's Council of Economic Advisers, where he worked with chairman
Ben Bernanke, providing economic analysis on issues including energy market disruptions, energy innovation, automobile fuel economy, and renewable fuels.[24]
Newell later joined
Duke University as the Gendell Professor of Energy and Environmental Economics at the
Nicholas School of the Environment. There, he taught from 2007 to 2016, and in 2011 also became a professor in the university's economics department. Newell founded and directed the Duke University Energy Initiative and directed the university's Energy Data Analytics Lab.[23]
Newell took a leave of absence from the university when he was confirmed by the Senate as the seventh administrator of the
U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)[25][21] after being nominated by
President Barack Obama.[26] He held the position from August 3, 2009[22] to July 1, 2011.[27] In the role, he was responsible for directing responsible collection, analysis, and dissemination of unbiased energy information to promote sound policymaking by the
United States government.[28]
Newell left Duke University in 2016, but remained an adjunct professor at the Nicholas School.[4]
In 2016, Newell became the president and CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based environmental economics think tank,
Resources for the Future. He previously worked as a senior fellow at the organization from 1997 to 2006 and has served on its board of directors since 2011.[24] His research work at the organization covers climate policy, energy innovation, the social cost of carbon, energy efficiency, energy markets, and global energy outlooks.[29]
He has also written about the global
energy transition for
Axios.[37] His analysis on this subject has featured prominently in the Financial Times,[38][39] which described it as "thought provoking":
[Newell] argued that "there has never been an energy transition" because, as each new technology has emerged, it has merely added to older sources, rather than replacing them.
Newell goes on that “To avoid the worst impacts of climate change, the story of energy requires a new script. A true energy transition will be a story of addition but also one of subtraction—in particular, reducing carbon emissions.”[38]
Notable Research, Awards, and Memberships
Newell has published widely on topics such as energy innovation,[40] climate policy,[41] and energy efficiency.[42] Newell was awarded the USAEE Adelman-Frankel Award from the
US Association for Energy Economics in 2018 for contributions to the field of energy economics.[43]
His 2002 paper, "The Induced Innovation Hypothesis and Energy-Saving Technological Change," earned the 2017 Publication of Enduring Quality Award from the
Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.[44] His 2003 paper, "Discounting the Distant Future: How Much Do Uncertain Rates Increase Valuations?" was awarded the 2006 Petry Prize for the Economics of Climate Change, and later informed estimation methods for the social cost of carbon.[45][46]
^Gerarden, Todd D; Newell, Richard G; Stavins, Robert N (2017).
"Assessing the energy-efficiency gap"(PDF). Journal of Economic Literature. 55 (4). American Economic Association: 1486–1525. Retrieved 12 October 2023.