Browsing by Subject "greenhouse gas emissions"
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Item Bringing Climate Action ‘Down Under’: The Politics of Climate Change in Australia(2015-09-16) Webb, RomanyItem A comparative analysis of the greenhouse gas emissions intensity of wheat and beef in the United States(IOP Science, 2014-04-23) Sanders, Kelly Twomey; Webber, Michael E.; Sanders, Kelly Twomey, and Michael E. Webber. “A Comparative Analysis of the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Intensity of Wheat and Beef in the United States.” Environmental Research Letters 9, no. 4 (April 1, 2014): 044011. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/9/4/044011.; Webber, Michael E.The US food system utilizes large quantities of liquid fuels, electricity, and chemicals yielding significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that are not considered in current retail prices, especially when the contribution of biogenic emissions is considered. However, because GHG emissions might be assigned a price in prospective climate policy frameworks, it would be useful to know the extent to which those policies would increase the incremental production costs to food within the US food system. This analysis uses lifecycle assessment (LCA) to (1) estimate the magnitude of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions from typical US food production practices, using wheat and beef as examples, and (2) quantify the cost of those emissions in the context of a GHG-pricing regime over a range of policy constructs. Wheat and beef were chosen as benchmark staples to provide a representative range of less intensive and more intensive agricultural goods, respectively. Results suggest that 1.1 ± 0.13 and 31 ± 8.1 kg of lifecycle CO2e emissions are embedded in 1 kg of wheat and beef production, respectively. Consequently, the cost of lifecycle CO2e emissions for wheat (i.e. cultivation, processing, transportation, storage, and end-use preparation) over an emissions price range of $10 and $85 per tonne CO2e is estimated to be between $0.01 and $0.09 per kg of wheat, respectively, which would increase total wheat production costs by approximately 0.3–2% per kg. By comparison, the estimated lifecycle CO2e price of beef over the same range of CO2e prices is between $0.31 and $2.60 per kg of beef, representing a total production cost increase of approximately 5–40% per kg based on average 2010 food prices. This range indicates that the incremental cost to total US food production might be anywhere between $0.63–5.4 Billion per year for grain and $3.70 and $32 Billion per year for beef based on CO2e emissions assuming that total production volumes stay the same.Item Congressional Gridlock: Democrats and Republicans Take Opposing Views on Methane Regulation(2015-10-12) Webb, RomanyItem A Copula-Based Joint Multinomial Discrete-Continuous Model of Vehicle Type Choice and Miles of Travel(Springer, 2009) Spissu, Erika; Pinjari, Abdul R.; Pendyala, Ram M.; Bhat, Chandra R.In this paper, a joint model of vehicle type choice and utilization is formulated and estimated on a data set of vehicles drawn from the 2000 San Francisco Bay Area Travel Survey. The joint discrete-continuous model system formulated in this study explicitly accounts for common unobserved factors that may affect the choice and utilization of a certain vehicle type (i.e., self-selection effects). A new copula-based methodology is adopted to facilitate model estimation without imposing restrictive distribution assumptions on the dependency structures between the errors in the discrete and continuous choice components. The copula-based methodology is found to provide statistically superior goodness-of-fit when compared with previous estimation approaches for joint discrete-continuous model systems. The model system, when applied to simulate the impacts of a doubling in fuel price, shows that individuals are more likely to shift vehicle type choices than vehicle usage patterns.Item The Costs of Inaction: The Risks of Failing to Implement the Clean Power Plan(2015-11-13) Webb, RomanyItem Cow power: The energy and emissions benefits of converting manure to biogas(IOP Publishing, 2008-07-24) Cuellar, Amanda D.; Webber, Michael E.; Cuellar, Amanda D.; Webber, Michael E.This report consists of a top-level aggregate analysis of the total potential for converting livestock manure into a domestic renewable fuel source (biogas) that could be used to help states meet renewable portfolio standard requirements and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In the US, livestock agriculture produces over one billion tons of manure annually on a renewable basis. Most of this manure is disposed of in lagoons or stored outdoors to decompose. Such disposal methods emit methane and nitrous oxide, two important GHGs with 21 and 310 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide, respectively. In total, GHG emissions from the agricultural sector in the US amounted to 536 million metric tons (MMT) of carbon dioxide equivalent, or 7% of the total US emissions in 2005. Of this agricultural contribution, 51 to 118 MMT of carbon dioxide equivalent resulted from livestock manure emissions alone, with trends showing this contribution increasing from 1990 to 2005. Thus, limiting GHG emissions from manure represents a valuable starting point for mitigating agricultural contributions to global climate change. Anaerobic digestion, a process that converts manure to methane-rich biogas, can lower GHG emissions from manure significantly. Using biogas as a substitute for other fossil fuels, such as coal for electricity generation, replaces two GHG sources—manure and coal combustion—with a less carbon-intensive source, namely biogas combustion. The biogas energy potential was calculated using values for the amount of biogas energy that can be produced per animal unit (defined as 1000 pounds of animal) per day and the number of animal units in the US. The 95 million animal units in the country could produce nearly 1 quad of renewable energy per year, amounting to approximately 1% of the US total energy consumption. Converting the biogas into electricity using standard microturbines could produce 88 ± 20 billion kWh, or 2.4 ± 0.6% of annual electricity consumption in the US. Replacing coal and manure GHG emissions with the emissions from biogas would produce a net potential GHG emissions reduction of 99 ± 59 million metric tons or 3.9 ± 2.3% of the annual GHG emissions from electricity generation in the US.Item EPA’s Clean Power Plan Gives States Much Needed Flexibility in Reducing Power Sector Emissions(The Kay Bailey Hutchison Center for Energy, Law, and Business, 2015-08-10) Webb, RomanyItem New EPA Methane Rules Foreshadow Tougher Regulation of Oil and Gas Producers(The Kay Bailey Hutchison Center for Energy, Law, and Business, 2015-08-19) Webb, RomanyItem New KBH Center Study Highlights the Need for Flexibility in Implementing the Clean Power Plan(The Kay Bailey Hutchison Center for Energy, Law, and Business, 2015-06-23) Webb, RomanyItem New research highlights the climate benefits of reducing lost and unaccounted-for gas(The Kay Bailey Hutchison Center for Energy, Law, and Business, 2015-04-07) Webb, RomanyItem Oil and gas producers likely to face tougher regulation in 2015(The Center for Global Energy, International Arbitration, and Environmental Law, 2015-01-12) Webb, RomanyItem Pressure Mounts for Immediate Action on Climate Change(The Kay Bailey Hutchison Center for Energy, Law, and Business, 2015-06-30) Webb, RomanyItem Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions through Underground CO2 Sequestration in Texas Oil and Gas Reservoirs(1999) Holtz, Mark H.; Nance, Peter K.; Finley, Robert J.Today, energy and environmental questions are often viewed from conflicting perspectives. However, perhaps there are solutions to some of these problems that can satisfy multiple objectives. This report explores the technical feasibility and economic potential for capturing CO2 from coal- or lignite-fired utility boilers and applying the CO2 as an enhanced oil recovery (EOR) process in the mature oil provinces of Texas. This capture accomplishes twin goals—sequestering a substantial amount of CO2 for an extended period and increasing the efficiency of oil recovery. The types of CO2 sources are diverse. To mitigate their impact, a number of management strategies are available, ranging from effluent reduction to capture and sequestration. One alternative is to utilize mature oil reservoirs to form a set of sequestration reservoirs. From the oil production side, one challenge for the domestic oil industry during the next millennium will be to profitably employ advanced technology to increase resources from existing reservoirs. Many advanced recovery strategies hold potential for accomplishing this goal. One promising area is enhanced oil recovery through the use of CO2 flooding. The potential incremental oil production from these methods is significant.Item Reforming the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Program(The Kay Bailey Hutchison Center for Energy, Law, and Business, 2015-08-04) Webb, RomanyItem Safety First, Environment Last: Improving Regulation of Gas Pipeline Leaks(Kay Bailey Hutchison Center for Energy, Law, and Business, 2015-09-28) Webb, RomanyItem Simple Solutions to a Complex Problem: Reducing Methane Emissions from Natural Gas Transmission(The Kay Bailey Hutchison Center for Energy, Law, and Business, 2015-07-27) Webb, RomanyItem Some of the Parties to the Clean Power Plan Litigation are Defying Expectations(2016-04-04) Spence, David BItem Time for a new approach: Ensuring accurate reporting of greenhouse gas emissions from the oil and gas sector(The Kay Bailey Hutchison Center for Energy, Law, and Business, 2015-04-17) Webb, RomanyItem Wanted: Dead or Alive – EPA’s Clean Power Plan Context and Prognosis(2017-02-02) Civins, Jeff