Environmental Economics

John, they're calling us!

Thanks to frequent commenter Joshua for pointing us to our dream job:

“CBS is expanding its coverage of the environment,” the ad reads. “We seek a talented reporter/host for Internet video broadcast. We are looking for smart, creative, hard working up and comers, who can bring great energy, creativity and a dash of humor to our coverage. A deep interest in the environment and sustainability issues will serve you well.”

John, do we have a 'dash of humor?'

Env-Econ readers...feel free to recommend us.

Friday Beer Post

And this one has an environmental twist...

Scientists have found a new threat to the planet: Canadian beer drinkers.

The government-commissioned study says the old, inefficient "beer fridges" that one in three Canadian households use to store their Molson and Labatt's contribute significantly to global warming by guzzling gas- and coal-fired electricity.

[...]

University of Alberta researcher Denise Young, who led the study, suggests that provincial authorities hold beer-fridge buy-backs or round-ups to eliminate the threat — methods that Americans use to get guns off the streets.

Bummer, eh?

New opinion poll

In the right hand column:

Did you offset your carbon in 2007?
	Yes
	No
	I don't know
	Go to heck!

Do Reforestation Policies Prevent Energy Conservation?

I attended a department seminar yesterday given by Brent Sohngen, a climate change expert and recent co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics.*  Brent's seminar addressed the interesting question:  If land use policies, storing carbon in forests in particular, are included in international climate change treaties will energy abatement take a backseat? 

As Brent and coauthors put it**:

...it is widely assumed that allowing forestry options would reduce incentives to develop important abatement technologies, and these technologies are ultimately necessary to achieve a stable, albeit changed, climate.

To an economist this is interesting because carbon sequestration in forests may be significantly cheaper than changing the entire world energy consumption and production infrastructure.  To an environmentalist this is interesting because storing carbon cheaply in forests may simply delay the inevitable need to reduce energy consumption, or so the argument goes.

So what effect does forest carbon sequestration have on energy abatement and innovation?  Some, but there are significant advantages too...

Possible Supply Shock Causes Higher Oil Prices

Econ 101:  A possible decrease in the supply of something in the future will cause a decrease in supply, and consequently higher prices, today (From CNN.com):

Oil prices jumped more than $4 Thursday after a fire erupted late Wednesday at a pipeline carrying crude oil from Canada to the U.S. Midwest, rebounding from the previous day's plunge.

The fire, in northern Minnesota, killed two workers who were repairing it, authorities said. It wasn't immediately clear how the fire and the shutdown of five pipelines would affect supplies.

The VSL of env-econ readers

I've been running a series of opinion polls that posit a hypothetical vaccine that can be used to reduce the risk of death due to something bizarre to zero. Would you pay $1, $5, or $10 to reduce your risk of death from foodborne illness, exposure to electric current or lightning strike (respectively) to zero? Plenty of env-econ readers participated in these polls and now I'm ready to reveal the implied value of statistical life (VSL).

Here are the results from the electric current question:

Kahhhhnnnnnn!

From the inbox:

The next Triangle Resource and Environmental Economics (TREE) Seminar Series workshop will be held on Thursday, November 29, 2007 at 3:30 pm in the Cox Auditorium at RTI International in Research Triangle Park.  Matt Kahn of UCLA and NBER will be presenting a paper entitled "Environmentalism as a Determinant of Housing Supply Regulation".  I am attaching the announcement of the workshop.

The paper has been posted on the CEnREP website, and you may access it at the following link:

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/agecon/cenrep/tree_seminar/kahn_supply.pdf

The genetically-enhanced fugitive from the 20th century* is within striking distance.

Humor note: Star Trek II reference.

EIA releases "Emissions of Greenhouse Gases in the United States 2006"

From the summary on page 1:

• Total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2006 were 1.5 percent below the 2005 total—the first annual drop since 2001 and only the third since 1990.

If you click on the thumbnail to the right you can see the numbers. Reducing emissions back to 1990 levels, the emissions goal of the Kyoto Protocol, would involve a 13% reduction from 2006 levels. Under a business as usual policy, and assuming the 2005-2006 results are a trend, the 13% drop will occur in about 11 years.

Also, note that 2001 was a recession year. Hmmmm. Are greenhouse gas emissions a leading economic indicator? I say yes and am now forecasting a recession for 2007.

Here is a PDF link to the report (the HTML format is forthcoming).*

Holiday shopping at TerraPass

With all those blogad revenues I went holiday shopping at TerraPass. Here is what I bought:

TPXR	TerraPass Road Offset • CO2: 12,000lbs - Out of Towner • Automatically renew in one year	1	$49.95
TPXR	TerraPass Road Offset • CO2: 12,000lbs - Out of Towner	2	$99.90

The 12,000 lbs automatically renew in one year is for me. The twin 12,000 lbs is for my sis and brother-in-law. They're gonna be pissed! Now THAT'S the holiday spirit.

Google to save the world?

I'm a firm believer that the switch to alternative energy sources will happen when companies realize it is in their best interest to invest in alternative energy technologies.  That is, when it profits them.  All it takes is one really big domino to fall and start the chain reaction.  Is Google that big domino?

Google Inc. is expanding into alternative energy in its most ambitious effort yet to ease the environmental strain caused by the company's voracious appetite for power to run its massive computing centers.

[...]

If Google realizes its goal, the cost of solar power should fall by 25 to 50 percent, co-founder Larry Page said in an interview.

[...]

"If we achieve these goals, we are going to be in the (electricity) business in a very big way," Page said. "We should be able to make a lot of money from this."

Switch to alternative energy AND make money.  How interesting.