• Energy Research
• natural sciences close
• 13. Climate action close
• Energy Policy close

Abstract Like cities, many large national parks in the United States often include “urban” visitor and residential areas that mostly demand (rather than produce) energy and key urban materials. The U.S. National Park Service has committed to quantifying and reducing scopes 1 and 2 emissions by 35% and scope 3 emissions by 10% by 2020 for all parks. Current inventories however do not provide the specificity or granularity to evaluate solutions that address fundamental inefficiencies in these inventories. By quantifying and comparing the importance of different inventory sectors as well as upstream and downstream emissions in Yosemite National Park (YNP), this carbon footprint provides a case study and potential template for quantifying future emissions reductions, and for evaluating tradeoffs between them. Results indicate that visitor-related emissions comprise the largest fraction of the Yosemite carbon footprint, and that increases in annual visitation (3.43–3.90 million) coincide with and likely drive interannual increases in the magnitude of Yosemite′s extended inventory (126,000–130,000 t CO2e). Given this, it is recommended that “per visitor” efficiency be used as a metric to track progress. In this respect, YNP has annually decreased kilograms of GHG emissions per visitor from 36.58 (2008) to 32.90 (2011). We discuss opportunities for reducing this measure further.

Abstract Commercial fisheries rely heavily on fossil fuel combustion and contribute heavily to the emission of atmospheric pollutants and greenhouse gases. Propulsion output of fishing vessels has continually increased from 30 kW in 1959 to nearly 320 kW in 2000, indicating that the Taiwanese fishing fleet tended to voyage farther and faster, and to adjust for the heavier loads demanded by more powerful fishing gear. Daily emissions from Taiwanese fishing vessels were estimated using output method. The marine fishery is unlikely to grow in the future as the government is implementing measures to ensure the development of sustainable fishing practices. There has been a rising trend in pollution to production ratios during the study period between 1959 and 2008. The ratio increased by 47% in the first decade, followed by fluctuations within the range of 50%–58% for the remainder of the statistical period. There is a need to investigate the possibility of reductions in all categories of fishing with regard to energy use and emissions through the subsidization of fishing vessels to encourage operators to switch to more energy efficient equipment and cleaner fuels.

The Clean Air Act of 1990 initiated a tradable permit program for emissions of sulfur dioxide from coal-fired power plants. One effect of this policy was a large increase in the consumption of low-sulfur bituminous coal by coal-fired power plants. However, low-sulfur bituminous coal is also the ideal coking coal for steel production. The analysis presented here will attempt to determine how the market responded to the increased consumption of low-sulfur bituminous coal by the electricity generation sector. Was there a decrease in the quality and/or quantity of coking coal consumption or did extraction increase? Most evidence suggests that the market for coking coal was unaffected, even as the extraction and consumption of low-sulfur bituminous coal for electricity generation increased substantially.

Abstract The development of the regional economy in China is unbalanced. Interregional "carbon leakage" and "carbon transfer" have a significant impact on the realization of carbon emission mitigation targets and the allocation of responsibility. Using China's interregional input-output tables and the corresponding carbon emission data for 2007 and 2010, this paper proposes an interregional Ghosh input-output model and estimates the amount of interprovincial carbon emission transfer from the supply-side perspective. We find that the main direction of supply-side carbon emission transfer is from resource-intensive provinces in the central and western regions to developed provinces in the eastern coastal regions. Further analysis shows that the transfer is mainly concentrated in the production and distribution of electricity and heat, nonmetallic mineral products, and basic metals, whose carbon emissions account for approximately 70% of all sectors’ carbon emissions. The differences between the supply side and the demand side of China's provinces are mainly reflected in the transfer out of carbon emissions.

Regulatory inspection and violation reports provide insight into the impact of natural gas extraction on the surrounding environment, human health, and public safety. Inspection reports for natural gas wells in Pennsylvania were collected from the Pennsylvania DEP Compliance Report from 2000 to 2014. Analysis of 215,444 inspection records for 70,043 conventional and unconventional wells was conducted in order to compare the odds of violations occurring under different circumstances. Logistic regression models were used to estimate the probability of violations occurring for both conventional and unconventional wells. When inspected, conventional wells had 40% higher odds of having a violation. However, unconventional wells had higher odds for environmental violations related to waste discharge as well as cementing and casing failures. Large operators had 40% lower odds of having any violation than smaller operators. While larger operators had fewer violations, a few of the largest companies had rates of violation much higher than the average for all operators, with some reaching violation rates as high as 1 in 4 active wells. A well also has a higher chance of being in violation if it is in the first year (85%) or second year (109%) since its spud date.

This paper introduces the concept of payment probability as an important component of carbon risk (the financial risk associated with CO2 emissions under uncertain climate policy). In modeling power plant investment decisions, most existing literature uses the expected carbon price (e.g., the price of traded permits or carbon tax) as a proxy for carbon risk. In contrast, this paper identifies expected carbon payment as a more accurate measure of carbon risk as perceived by industry practitioners. This measure of carbon risk incorporates both expected price and the probability that this price would actually be faced in the case of a particular investment. This concept helps explain both the surge of activity in 2005–2006 and the subsequent decline in interest in coal-fired power plant development in the U.S. The data for this case study comes from an extensive online survey of 700 U.S. energy professionals completed in 2006, as well as interviews conducted with industry representatives from 2007 to 2009. By analyzing industry views on policy uncertainty and future carbon legislation, we gain a better understanding of investor attitudes toward carbon risk. This understanding will help policy makers design better incentives for investing in low-carbon technologies.

Abstract Previous experience has demonstrated the tenuous nature of biomass energy projects located at livestock facilities in the U.S. In response, the economic sustainability of a 710 kW combined heat and power biomass energy system located on a dairy farm in California was evaluated. This biomass energy facility is unique in that a complete-mix anaerobic digester was used for treatment of manure collected in a flush-water system, co-digestates were used as additional digester feedstocks (whey, waste feed, and plant biomass), and the power plant is operating under strict regulatory requirements for stack gas emissions. Electricity was produced and sold wholesale, and cost savings resulted from the use of waste heat to offset propane demand. The impact of various operational factors was considered in the economic analysis, indicating that the system is economically viable as constructed but could benefit from introduction of additional substrates to increase methane and electricity production, additional utilization of waste heat, sale of digested solids, and possibly pursuing greenhouse gas credits. Use of technology for nitrogen oxide (NO x ) removal had a minimal effect on economic sustainability.

When public policies with impacts far into the future are being debated, the question inevitably is raised whether cost-benefit analysis which discounts future costs and benefits is not biased against future generations and whether, if such discounting is appropriate at all, a lower rate should be used to avoid such bias. The debate on global climate change is no exception. This paper sketches and analyses the welfare foundations of cost-benefit analysis and from this perspective analyses the role of cost-benefit analysis in the climate policy debate, particularly with reference to intergenerational effects. The paper concludes that the cost-benefit criterion cannot provide a definitive basis for deciding whether we should commit to a longer-term programme to moderate climate change; the issues of intergenerational equity are not that global climate change will significantly lower the GNP of future generations, but relate to the possibility of science fiction-like changes in the planet that will produce catastrophic effects in the future; and the typical way in which the cost-benefit problem is posed obscures the basic choices that we should be evaluating.

Abstract An essential issue in future climate negotiations is how to bring developing countries on board. This paper proposes and applies the two-level interest-based model to analyze the factors that affect the likely stances of the “Plus Five” countries (Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and South Africa) on international climate negotiations. This study finds mitigation capability to be a crucial factor which consists of at least such sub-factors as per capita income, energy endowment, and economic structure, while ecological vulnerability does not seem to play an important role which includes reductions in agricultural outputs, sea-level rise, climate-related natural disasters, and others. The paper proposes six options in an ascending order of stringency that the Plus Five are likely to adopt. The paper suggests that the “Basic Four” (the Plus Five excluding Mexico), particularly China and India, are less likely to adopt a voluntary commitment to an emissions cap on the national economy in the near future than Mexico, which has the highest mitigation capability among all five. The Basic Four are likely to adopt more stringent climate polices with increasing mitigation capabilities, suggesting the importance of effective international financial and technology transfer mechanisms and further tighten emission reduction targets from developed countries.