Skip to main content
Advanced Search

Filters: Tags: policy (X) > Categories: Publication (X)

99 results (15ms)   

Filters
Date Range
Extensions
Types
Contacts
Tag Types
Tag Schemes
View Results as: JSON ATOM CSV
Policy assessment of energy conservation strategies has tended to emphasize technological and economic costs, problems, and benefits. However, too narrow a focus may fail to delineate all the environmental and social impacts associated with the technology in question. In recognition of the importance of a balanced evaluation, a study was undertaken to identify local-level perceptions about environmental and social problems and opportunities associated with several energy conservation measures. These measures included building performance standards and retrofit; waste heat utilization; modifications in land use configurations and transportation modes; and electric utility demand management, and rate reform initiatives....
This article offers a critical review of eight tradable permit markets: water permits at Fox River, Wisconsin; the U.S. leaded gasoline phase-out; sulfur dioxide credits under the U.S. Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990; the Regional Clean Air Incentives Market (RECLAIM) for controlling ozone and acid rain in Southern California; renewable energy credit trading at the regional level in the United States; individual transferrable quotas for fisheries at the national level in New Zealand; carbon credits traded under the European Union-Emissions Trading Scheme; and carbon offsets permitted under the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol. By "critical" the article does not fully weigh the costs and benefits...
The pricing of particular fuels, such as electricity, gas and oil, should be considered in terms of the development of pricing policies for the energy sector as a whole. The pursuit of an efficient allocation of resources will require that energy prices are related to their marginal costs. This simple prescription may have to be modified to allow for the achievement of other objectives, such as profitability and income distribution.
Important policy issues concerning the mitigation of impacts from construction and development affecting wetlands are under examination by the U.S. Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, the Environment and Public Works Committee of the U.S. Senate, and the National Wetlands Technical Council. The issues divide into two main parts: (1) how the current strategy to simplify federal regulation of wetlands is limiting the success of mitigation; and (2) how to change the present strategy for mitigation under the U.S. Clean Water Act, if at all. Requirements for site-specific analysis of impacts and their mitigation requirements are being replaced by simple, uniform national guidelines on impact mitigation; these...
Some theoretical results concerning the nature of the relationship between the scientific quality and economic value of imperfect weather forecasts are obtained. A prototype multistage decision-making model is considered, involving only two possible actions and two possible states of weather. This particular form of model is motivated by a real-world application known as the fruit-frost problem. For an infinite-horizon, discounted version of this model it is shown that economic value remains zero below a forecast quality threshold and then rises monotonically but nonlinearly above this threshold. In particular, the relative sensitivity of economic value to changes in the quality of forecasts increases as perfect...
Increasing the proportion of power derived from renewable energy sources is becoming an increasingly important part of many countries's strategies to achieve reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. However, renewable energy investments can often have external costs and benefits, which need to be taken into account if socially optimal investments are to be made. This paper attempts to estimate the magnitude of these external costs and benefits for the case of renewable technologies in Scotland, a country which has set particularly ambitious targets for expanding renewable energy. The external effects we consider are those on landscape quality, wildlife and air quality. We also consider the welfare implications of...
This paper summarizes the main results of a study on the costs of abatement of CO2 emissions in Brazil. It discusses three possible futures for the long run (2010 and 2025) activity of the Brazilian economy and -- with the help of a linear programming model for Brazil's energy sector -- three scenarios for energy production and use. One of these scenarios illustrates the possibility of halving future carbon emissions originating from energy generation and consumption, with relatively small increases in energy associated costs and investments. This abatement scenario would require, on the supply side of the Brazilian energy balance, increased amounts of hydropower, ethanol and bagasse from sugarcane, plus wood and...
Policy assessment of energy conservation strategies has tended to emphasize technological and economic costs, problems, and benefits. However, too narrow a focus may fail to delineate all the environmental and social impacts associated with the technology in question. In recognition of the importance of a balanced evaluation, a study was undertaken to identify local-level perceptions about environmental and social problems and opportunities associated with several energy conservation measures. These measures included building performance standards and retrofit; waste heat utilization; modifications in land use configurations and transportation modes; and electric utility demand management, and rate reform initiatives....
In the projects fostered by the NRP the effects of changed climate (atmospheric CO2 concentration, temperature) on different terrestrial ecosystems were studied. For forests it was concluded that the initial stimulation of tree growth in general did not persist after two years, and therefore care must be taken not to overestimate the potential contribution of increased carbon sequestration by forests. On the other hand, shifted patterns of carbon distribution in the tree-soil system may lead to a higher soil organic matter content, which will contribute to an improved soil structure and availability of soil moisture. A sensitivity analysis revealed that, for the poor sandy forest soils, improved rooting depth is...
Coalbed methane is one of the most important and valuable natural resources in the Western United States. The natural gas that results from CBM development is the cleanest burning fossil fuel, and the extensive domestic supply makes it a central element of the national goal of a secure supply of energy. Demand for natural gas will continue to grow and CBM will play an increasingly larger role in meeting that demand. CBM production has expanded tremendously over the past decade, and the rapidity with which development has expanded has resulted in stresses and tension in affected communities. Development of this important energy resource must be balanced with a number of other important goals of protecting water,...
This article compares US and Chinese incentives in winning oil contracts in African countries. Exploration and development of African oil resources has soared, and many nations are competing for these new oil contracts. China has won a significant portion of these oil contracts due to their unique incentive offerings. This report will address a brief history and the development of Sino–African policies and interests, modern US–African energy policy and interests, petroleum opportunities in Africa, China’s growing oil demand, and information on both American and Chinese incentives strategies. This information will be used to compare US and Chinese incentive strategies on winning African oil contracts. Implications...
We review recent global developments in three areas: energy efficiency, market transformation, and renewable energy. In each area we document policy applications and specific country experiences. We list Internet World Wide Web links for current information. Significant opportunities exist for cross-fertilizing initiatives from both developed and developing countries. For example, Thailand’s energy labelling program works significantly better than that of the US. Specific information is listed for many countries in Asia, Europe, and North America.
Strong and effective systems of governance are required to steer energy finance towards the fulfilment of policy goals around energy security, energy poverty and sustainability. This article assesses and explains the nature of the contemporary governance of energy finance. It first provides a typology and analysis of the different governance dimensions associated with: (i) the public governance of public finance; (ii) the public governance of private finance; and (iii) the private governance of private finance. It then identifies and seeks to account for key cross-cutting trends in these patterns of governance. Overall, while it finds evidence of significant activity in each of these areas, there remains a substantial...
In low permeability but naturally fractured media, vertical leaching or volatilization of toxic organic compounds can lead to high exposures and unacceptable human health or environmental risk. A field test was recently completed to evaluate in situ remediation at such sites by using hydraulic fracturing to emplace iron metal (Fe0) and permanganate (KMnO4) solids in the subsurface to chemically treat trichloroethylene (TCE). At an old land treatment site, two test cells were installed in silty clay soils with hydraulic fractures filled with either iron metal or permanganate solids at 1.8, 2.4, and 3.6 m depths. Fracture emplacement was monitored, and soil and ground water conditions were characterized. After 3,...
Categories: Publication; Types: Citation; Tags: Capacity, Climate change, Policy
The Chernobyl accident was a major economic loss with a cost of about $12.5 billion U.S. dollars to the government of the Soviet Union. However, in terms of human loss it was less than a major accident. The economic costs in countries other than the Soviet Union were caused by reasons other than established radiation protection principles. The lack of preparedness of most countires was demonstrated by exaggerated reporting by the news media and by the confused actions of governments.
This article presents an application of a risk assessment approach in characterising the risks associated with safety violations in underground bituminous mines in Pennsylvania using the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) citation database. The MSHA database on citations provides an opportunity to assess risks in mines through scrutiny of violations of mandatory safety standards. In this study, quantitative risk assessment is performed, which allows determination of the frequency of occurrence of safety violations (through associated citations) as well as the consequences of them in terms of penalty assessments. Focus is on establishing risk matrices on citation experiences of mines, which can give early...
It is increasingly clear that a wide range of stakeholders should be included in the problem formulation phase of research aimed at solving environmental problems; indeed the inclusion of stakeholders at this stage has been formalized as an integral part of ecological risk assessment. In this paper, we advocate the additional inclusion of stakeholders in the refinement of research methods and protocols and in the execution of the research, rather than just at the final communication and reporting phase. We use a large study of potential radionuclide levels in marine biota around Amchitka Island as a case study. Amchitka Island, in the Aleutian Island Chain of Alaska, was the site of three underground nuclear tests...
This paper summarizes the main results of a study on the costs of abatement of CO2 emissions in Brazil. It discusses three possible futures for the long run (2010 and 2025) activity of the Brazilian economy and -- with the help of a linear programming model for Brazil's energy sector -- three scenarios for energy production and use. One of these scenarios illustrates the possibility of halving future carbon emissions originating from energy generation and consumption, with relatively small increases in energy associated costs and investments. This abatement scenario would require, on the supply side of the Brazilian energy balance, increased amounts of hydropower, ethanol and bagasse from sugarcane, plus wood and...
Abstract (from http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/10.1175/WCAS-D-16-0121.1): Much of the academic literature and policy discussions about sustainable development and climate change adaptation focus on poor and developing nations, yet many tribal communities inside the United States include marginalized peoples and developing nations who face structural barriers to effectively adapt to climate change. There is a need to critically examine diverse climate change risks for indigenous peoples in the United States and the many structural barriers that limit their ability to adapt to climate change. This paper uses a sustainable climate adaptation framework to outline the context and the relationships of power and authority,...