Jaccard, Mark 1955- (Mark Kenneth Jaccard)

PERSONAL:

Born April 12, 1955, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Education: Simon Fraser University, B.A., M.R.M.; University of Grenoble, Ph.D.

ADDRESSES:

Office—School of Resource and Environmental Management, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Dr., Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6, Canada; M.K. Jaccard and Associates, Ste. 582-885 Dunsmuir St., Vancouver, British Columbia V6C 1N5, Canada. E-mail—info@mkja.ca; jaccard@sfu.ca.

CAREER:

Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, professor of energy economics, 1986—, and research director of Energy and Materials Research Group; M.K. Jaccard and Associates Inc. (environmental consulting agency), president, 1990—. British Columbia Utilities Commission, chair and chief executive officer, 1992-97; Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 1993-96; China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development 1996-2001. Also a member of Canada's National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy and a special advisor to Canada's Council of Chief Executive Officers.

AWARDS, HONORS:

President's Award for Media, Simon Fraser University, 2007; Donner Prize for best policy book in Canada, for Sustainable Fossil Fuels: The Unusual Suspect in the Quest for Clean and Enduring Energy.

WRITINGS:

(With John Nyboer and Bryn Sadownik) The Cost of Climate Policy, University of British Columbia Press (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada), 2002.

Sustainable Fossil Fuels: The Unusual Suspect in the Quest for Clean and Enduring Energy, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 2005.

(With Jeffrey Simpson and Nic Rivers) Hot Air: Meeting Canada's Climate Change Challenge, McClelland & Stewart (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2007.

Also author of numerous government and research papers on the topic of climate change. Contributor to books, including Encyclopedia of Energy, 2004, and Building Canadian Capacity: Sustainable Production and the Knowledge Economy, UBC Press, 2005. Contributor to periodicals, including the International Journal of Energy Technology and Policy, International Journal of Global Energy Issues, and the Journal of Business Administration and Policy Analysis.

SIDELIGHTS:

Mark Jaccard is an expert on climate change and energy and on the economics of climate change and energy. He teaches on the subject at Simon Fraser University and runs a consultancy company devoted to the topic. Due to his expertise, he has participated in several advisory roles to the government as well. His books Sustainable Fossil Fuels: The Unusual Suspect in the Quest for Clean and Enduring Energy and Hot Air: Meeting Canada's Climate Change Challenge, published in 2005 and 2007, respectively, are highly acclaimed. In Sustainable Fossil Fuels, Jaccard points out that the impending energy crisis revolves around more than fossil fuels and fossil-fuel substitutes. In fact, Jaccard believes that there are enough natural fossil-fuel resources to last for almost another millennium. But, he argues, this is beside the point because fossil fuels, no matter how much there may be, are still a finite and nonrenewable resource. Indeed, Jaccard finds that the need for renewable energy that can meet needs without causing further environmental damage is clear. The forces, he feels, that will influence emerging energies include cost, ease of use, reliability, and the ability to sustain accepted modern lifestyles (including comfort and ease of transportation). Reviewers applauded the book, noting that it is an insightful and comprehensive overview of current and future emerging energy needs. For instance, an African Business contributor called the book a "compelling argument," adding that "it is perhaps surprising that it has not been put forward before now as a solution to what many consider one of the primary conundrums facing the world today." Reviewer's Bookwatch writer Michael J. Carson stated that Jaccard "makes a convincing argument for thorough review of the cost of energy sustainability."

Hot Air, which Jaccard wrote with Jeffrey Simpson and Nic Rivers, makes the claim that the Canadian government must step in to the energy market in order to address Canada's high level of greenhouse gas emissions. To bolster this claim, the authors give background information on existing emissions policies in Canada, ultimately finding them lacking. Still, though Hot Air advocates increased governmental controls, it also warns that those controls must bolster, rather than damage, the Canadian economy. Thus, given this difficult task, the authors suggest a graded emissions tax, which would slowly but increasingly pressure existing industries to develop lower emissions technology. The book was well-received by critics, who found Hot Air to be a reasonable and fully thought-out proposal. According to Ian Angus in Canadian Dimension, the authors "show convincingly that, if government doesn't act, this country's appalling record on greenhouse-gas emissions will get much worse." Writing in the Literary Review of Canada, John Robinson found that the book presents "indispensable information about what went wrong with Canadian climate policy and how that may be fixed."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

African Business, April 1, 2006, "Making the Case for Clean Oil: Re-evaluating Energy Options," p. 64.

Alternatives Journal, December 1, 2006, "Fuelling the Debate," p. 45; March 1, 2008, Robert Page, review of Hot Air: Meeting Canada's Climate Change Challenge.

American Review of Canadian Studies, September 22, 2004, Georges A. Tanguay, review of The Cost of Climate Policy, p. 561.

Canadian Dimension, May 1, 2008, Ian Angus, "Nudging the Free-market Fairy."

Energy Journal, July 1, 2007, Richard L. Gordon, review of Sustainable Fossil Fuels: The Unusual Suspect in the Quest for Clean and Enduring Energy, p. 189.

Guardian (London, England), January 31, 2006, John Sutherland, "The Ideas Interview: Mark Jaccard."

Literary Review of Canada, October, 2007, John Robinson, review of Hot Air.

Reviewer's Bookwatch, August 1, 2006, Michael J. Carson, review of Sustainable Fossil Fuels.

Science News, June 10, 2006, review of Sustainable Fossil Fuels, p. 367.

ONLINE

School of Resource and Environmental Management, Simon Fraser University Web site,http://www.rem.sfu.ca/ (October 17, 2008), author profile.