Building America’s Future Educational Fund (Transportation Infrastructure Report 2011) http://rfflibrary.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=15996&action=edit&message=6&page=published [From an E&E PM article by Jason Plautz, sub. req'd] Congress should develop a long-term infrastructure strategy — and should even consider transportation and energy investment as part of the deficit reduction talks — to prevent falling further behind economic competitors, according to a new … Continue reading »
Posted on August 8, 2011 …
Nature, Socioeconomics and Adaptation to Natural Disasters: New Evidence from Floods
World Bank / by Susana Ferreira, Kirk Hamilton, and Jeffrey R. Vincent http://bit.ly/pRCqF7 [Abstract] The authors analyze the determinants of fatalities in 2,194 large flood events in 108 countries between 1985 and 2008. Given that socioeconomic factors can affect mortality right in the aftermath of a flood, but also indirectly by influencing flood frequency and … Continue reading »
Implications of a Lowered Damage Trajectory for Mitigation in a Continuous-time Stochastic Model
World Bank / by Jon Strand http://bit.ly/p48Rl3 [Abstract] This paper provides counterexamples to the idea that mitigation of greenhouse gases causing climate change, and adaptation to climate change, are always and everywhere substitutes. The author considers optimal policy for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions when climate damages follow a geometric Brownian motion process with positive drift, … Continue reading »
Disaster Risk Financing and Contingent Credit: A Dynamic Analysis
World Bank / by by Daniel Clarke and Olivier Mahul http://bit.ly/opuXnZ [Abstract] This paper aims to assist policy makers interested in establishing or strengthening financial strategies to increase the financial response capacity of developing country governments in the aftermath of natural disasters, while protecting their long-term fiscal balance. Contingent credit is shown to increase the … Continue reading »
Building a 21st Century Communications Economy
Carbon Disclosure Project http://bit.ly/lGdKQY [From Executive Summary] The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) outlines an opportunity to forge sustainable economic growth in a new paper, Building a 21st century communications economy. While global oil demand is projected to grow by a fifth by 2030 1 (equivalent to using the entire U.S. strategic oil reserves in a … Continue reading »
Renewables 2011 Global Status Report
UN Environment Report http://bit.ly/qWacEP Renewable energy supplied an estimated 16% of global final energy consumption Solar PV more than doubled thanks to declining costs Global Investments in Renewables Up Over 30% to a Record $211 billion Emerging and Developing Economies Increase Share of Policies, Investment, Supply and Use Renewable capacity now comprises about a … Continue reading »
Forests in a Green Economy: A Synthesis
UN Environment Programme http://www.un-ngls.org/spip.php?article3455 [From Environmental Valuation and Cost Benefit Analysis post] Investing an additional US$40 billion a year in the forestry sector could halve deforestation rates by 2030, increase rates of tree planting by around 140 per cent by 2050, and catalyze the creation of millions of new jobs according to a report by … Continue reading »
The Cost and Economic Impact of New Jersey’s Offshore Wind Initiative
Suffolk Univ., Beacon Hill Institute / by David Tuerck, Paul Bachman and Ryan Murphy http://www.beaconhill.org/BHIStudies/NJ-Wind-2011/NJWindReport2011-06.pdf [From the Executive Summary] On August 19, 2010, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed the Offshore Wind Economic Development Act (OWED) into law. The law orders the state Board of Public Utilities (BPU) to develop an offshore wind energy certificate … Continue reading »
Canada’s Emissions Trends
Environment Canada http://www.ec.gc.ca/doc/publications/cc/COM1374/ec-com1374-en-toc.htm [From the New York Times Green blog] The Canadian government has long fought efforts by politicians and environmentalists in other countries, including the United States, to characterize oil sands production as “dirty oil.” But an analysis quietly released late last month by its environmental agency indicates that the tar-like deposits will become … Continue reading »
2010 Wind Technologies Market Report
US DOE, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory http://eetd.lbl.gov/ea/ems/reports/lbnl-4820e.pdf (report) http://eetd.lbl.gov/ea/ems/re-pubs.html (slide show and data file) [From Press Release] Despite a trying year in which wind power capacity additions declined significantly compared to both 2008 and 2009, the U.S. remained one of the fastest-growing wind power markets in the world in 2010—second only to China—according to a report released … Continue reading »
