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This dataset holds information on data and methods for the Melvin et al., 2016 publication entitled Climate change damages to Alaska public infrastructure and the economics of proactive adaptation. The abstract for this paper is as follows: Climate change in the circumpolar region is causing dramatic environmental change that is increasing the vulnerability of infrastructure. We quantified the economic impacts of climate change on Alaska public infrastructure under relatively high and low climate forcing scenarios [representative concentration pathway 8.5 (RCP8.5) and RCP4.5] using an infrastructure model modified to account for unique climate impacts at northern latitudes, including near-surface permafrost thaw. Additionally, we evaluated how proactive adaptation influenced economic impacts on select infrastructure types and developed first-order estimates of potential land losses associated with coastal erosion and lengthening of the coastal ice-free season for 12 communities. Cumulative estimated expenses from climate-related damage to infrastructure without adaptation measures (hereafter damages) from 2015 to 2099 totaled $5.5 billion (2015 dollars, 3% discount) for RCP8.5 and $4.2 billion for RCP4.5, suggesting that reducing greenhouse gas emissions could lessen damages by $1.3 billion this century. The distribution of damages varied across the state, with the largest damages projected for the interior and southcentral Alaska. The largest source of damages was road flooding caused by increased precipitation followed by damages to buildings associated with near-surface permafrost thaw. Smaller damages were observed for airports, railroads, and pipelines. Proactive adaptation reduced total projected cumulative expenditures to $2.9 billion for RCP8.5 and $2.3 billion for RCP4.5. For road flooding, adaptation provided an annual savings of 80–100% across four study eras. For nearly all infrastructure types and time periods evaluated, damages and adaptation costs were larger for RCP8.5 than RCP4.5. Estimated coastal erosion losses were also larger for RCP8.5.

Please cite as: Wuebbles, D., J. Angel, K. Petersen, and A.M. Lemke, (Eds.), 2021: An Assessment of the Impacts of Climate Change in Illinois. The Nature Conservancy, Illinois, USA. https://doi.org/10.13012/B2IDB-1260194_V1 Climate change is a major environmental challenge that is likely to affect many aspects of life in Illinois, ranging from human and environmental health to the economy. Illinois is already experiencing impacts from the changing climate and, as climate change progresses and temperatures continue to rise, these impacts are expected to increase over time. This assessment takes an in-depth look at how the climate is changing now in Illinois, and how it is projected to change in the future, to provide greater clarity on how climate change could affect urban and rural communities in the state. Beyond providing an overview of anticipated climate changes, the report explores predicted effects on hydrology, agriculture, human health, and native ecosystems.

AbstractIncreasing resource scarcity and what has been called “the end of cheap nature” are prompting policymakers and scholars to foster more circular economies to reduce waste and lengthen the lifespan of material goods. Our essay critically examines the political and economic relationships between urban and rural geographies in the context of secondhand economies. Practices of bartering, swapping, selling, and repairing used goods have long been important to rural people and places, but the increasing commodification of discards risks upending rural livelihoods and ways of being as goods move toward urban centers. We explore the relationship between rural and urban reuse economies and suggest how future scholars of rural North America might contribute to strengthening and supporting localized reuse practices.

The legal and institutional framework within which geothermal energy must develop has its origin in the early 1970s. In 1970, the Federal Geothermal Steam Act was passed into law and in 1974 the Washington State Geothermal Act was passed. The legal and institutional framework thus established by the state and federal governments differed substantially in format, content, and direction. In many instances, the legal and institutional framework established left as many questions unanswered as answered, and in some cases, the framework has proven to be more of an obstacle to development than an aid. From an examination of how the state and federal governments have addressed the varying needs of geothermal development and how the courts have interpreted some of their decisions, it is clear that in order to ensure that the legal and institutional framework is adequate to serve the needs of geothermal development, it must address, at a minimum, the following topics: (1) providing developers with access and a priority right to carry out exploration and development activities; (2) characterization of the resource so as to minimize conflicts with other natural resources; (3) establishing ownership; and (4) giving careful consideration to such lease terms as rentals and royalties,more » lease renewals, and diligence requirements. In addition, the framework must address groundwater law and its implications for geothermal development and how geothermal development will be considered in terms of establishing utility law. At the local level, it is imperative that geothermal be given careful consideration when decisions on resource management, zoning, and regulation are made. Local governments also have the power to establish programs which can provide substantial incentives for geothermal development and, by so doing, ensure that geothermal energy contributes to economic stability and growth.« less

Building America Developments on-line newsletter highlights the Erie-Ellington Homes publicly-funded housing project in Boston, Massachusetts. A Building America and industry partnership that produced energy-efficient manufactured homes built with foam core panels is featured. Also, Habitat for Humanity dedicates two energy-efficient test houses in East Tennessee, and affordable, healthy homes are offered in metro Atlanta. Upcoming events in the Building America Program are also listed.

Calistoga has long been known for having moderate (270/sup 0/F maximum) hydrothermal deposits. The economic feasibility of a geothermal heating and cooling district for a portion of the downtown commercial area and city-owned building was studied. Descriptions of existing and proposed systems for each building in the block are presented. Heating and cooling loads for each building, retrofit costs, detailed cost estimates, system schematics, and energy consumption data for each building are included. (MHR)

The results from the regional air quality analysis for the Four Corners Study are discussed in the paper. The study was one of five regional studies conducted for the National Commission on Air Quality. Potential regional air quality impacts were evaluated through the year 1995 for alternative energy scenarios under current and alternative regulatory policies. The alternative regulatory policies include emission fees, technology standards, emission ceilings, and prevention of significant deterioration class elimination. The alternatives were compared in terms of their impacts on regional visibility and on the ambient concentrations of SO/sub 2/, SO/sub 4/, and primary fine particulates. The fate of the pollutants was estimated. The alternative regulatory policies were quite different with respect to their control of SO/sub x/ emissions and their impacts on regional visibility. Sources located outside of the study region were estimated to have a major impact on regional air quality within the study region.

Abstract Because accurate modeling of atmospheric flows in urban environments requires sophisticated representation of complex urban geometries, much work has been devoted to treatment of the urban surface. However, the importance of the larger-scale flow impinging upon the urban complex to the flow, transport, and dispersion within it and downwind has received less attention. Building-resolving computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models are commonly employed to investigate interactions between the flow and three-dimensional structures that make up the urban environment; however, such models are typically forced with simplified boundary conditions that fail to include important regional-scale phenomena that can strongly influence the flow within the urban complex and downwind. This paper investigates the interaction of an important and frequently occurring regional-scale phenomenon, the nocturnal low-level jet (LLJ), with urban-scale turbulence and dispersion in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, using data from the Joint Urban 2003 (JU2003) field experiment. Two simulations of nocturnal tracer release experiments from JU2003 using Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Finite-Element Model in 3 Dimensions and Massively Parallelized (FEM3MP) CFD model yield differing levels of agreement with the observations in wind speed, turbulence kinetic energy (TKE), and concentration profiles in the urban wake, approximately 750 m downwind of the central business district. Profiles of several observed turbulence parameters at this location indicate characteristics of both bottom-up and top-down boundary layers during each of the experiments. These data are consistent with turbulence production due to at least two sources, the complex flow structures of the urban area and the region of strong vertical wind shear occurring beneath the LLJs present each night. Strong LLJs occurred each night, but their structures varied considerably, resulting in significant differences in the magnitudes of the turbulence parameters observed during the two experiments. Because FEM3MP was forced only with an upwind velocity profile that did not adequately represent the LLJ, the downward propagation of TKE observed during the experiments was absent from the simulations. As such, the differing levels of agreement between the simulations and observations during the two experiments can, in part, be explained by their exclusion of this important larger-scale influence. The ability of the Weather Research and Forecast Model (WRF) to simulate accurate velocity fields during each night was demonstrated, and the use of regional-scale simulation data was identified as a promising approach for representing the effects of important regional-scale phenomena such as the LLJ on urban-scale simulations.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Heavy Vehicle Technologies (OHVT) was created in March 1996 to address the public-interest transportation-energy aspects of a set of customers who at that time had been largely unrecognized, namely, the manufacturers, suppliers, and users of heavy transport vehicles (trucks, buses, rail, and inland marine). Previously, the DOE had focused its attention on meeting the needs of the personal-transport-vehicle customer (automobile manufacturers, suppliers, and users). Those of us who were of driving age at the time of the 1973 oil embargo and the 1979 oil price escalation vividly recall the inconvenience and irritation of having to wait in long lines for gasoline to fuel our cars. However, most of us, other than professional truck owners or drivers, were unaware of the impacts that these disruptions in the fuel supply had on those whose livelihoods depend upon the transport of goods. Recognizing the importance of heavy vehicles to the national economic health, the DOE created OHVT with a mission to conduct, in collaboration with its industry partners and their suppliers, a customer-focused national program to research and develop technologies that will enable trucks and other heavy vehicles to be more energy-efficient and able to use alternative fuels while reducing emissions. The Office of Heavy Vehicle Technologies convened a workshop in April 1996 to elicit input from DOE's heavy vehicle industry customers, including truck and bus manufacturers, diesel-engine manufacturers, fuel producers, suppliers to these industries, and the trucking industry. The preparation of a ''technology roadmap'' was one of the key recommendations by this customer group. Therefore, the OHVT Technology Roadmap* was developed in 1996 as a first step in crafting a common vision for a government research and development (R and D) partnership in this increasingly important transportation sector. The approach used in developing the OHVT Technology Roadmap was to: formulate goals consistent with the U.S. Department of Energy Strategic Plan required by the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA), assess the status of the technology, identify technical targets, identify barriers to achieving the technical targets, develop an approach to overcoming the barriers, and develop schedules and milestones. This structure was followed for three groups of truck classification: Class 7 and 8: large, on-highway trucks; Class 3-6: medium-duty trucks such as delivery vans; and Class 1 and 2: pickups, vans, and sport utility vehicles (SUVs).