Digital Commons Network^™

Offshore Speculation: Generative Ethics For Submerged Lands, Leigh Miller

Masters Theses

Where is the line between land and sea? As the United States begins to extend renewable energy infrastructures offshore, it will fundamentally blur the boundary between submerged and visible lands. In communities unfamiliar with landscapes of extraction and generation, the realities of this emerging industry will challenge notions of ownership, aesthetic values, and environmental ethics.

Offshore Speculation opens a dialogue between the discipline of landscape architecture and the spatial politics that support the nation’s transition away from fossil fuels. Reimagining the sea as a new urban territory on submerged land allows honest interrogation of the land-sea binary. Because landscape architects …

Numerical Simulation Of Thermoelectric Transport In Bulk And Nanostructured Sisn Alloys, Venkatakrishna Dusetty

Masters Theses

The current high demand for sustainable and renewable energy sources to solve world energy crisis has enormously increased interest in looking at alternative sources of energy. All the machines used in manufacturing process, electricity generation, residential applications, transportation etc., rejects energy in the form of heat into environment. Thermoelectric materials can convert thermal-to-electrical and electrical-to-thermal energy and can be utilized in waste-heat harvesting, more efficient cooling to reduce energy usage and CO₂ emissions. Significant research efforts have been devoted over the past decade to thermoelectric materials, with particular emphasis being placed on combining materials selection with nanostructuring. The overarching …

The Transcriptional Response Of Phanerochaete Chrysosporium And Trametes Versicolor To Growth On Stems Of Helianthus Argophyllus (Silverleaf Sunflower), Nadh Hamoud Alsubaie

Masters Theses

Traditional physicochemical and physicomechanical pretreatment technologies have improved the deconstruction of lignocellulose, but often require high energy inputs and added chemical reagents. Recent studies have demonstrated the use of white-rot fungi as alternative biological pretreatment agents that can mitigate these concerns. Although, white-rot fungi have been shown to grow on a variety of non-woody substrates, they have not been explored with respect to sunflower, which has the potential to provide raw materials for both biodiesel and bioethanol. In the present study, Silverleaf sunflower stems (Helianthus argophyllus) were used as substrates for the white-rot fungi Phanerochaete chrysosporium and Trametes …

Gassed Out, Toban Shadlyn

Masters Theses

As the automobile industry continues to evolve with car sharing services, electric vehicles and soon autonomous driving, the infrastructure that supports our present-day car culture will become obsolete. While the current advancement focuses on the future of car design and accompanying policies, there is a need to consider the evolution of our infrastructure from an adaptive reuse standpoint.

Among the different kinds of automotive infrastructure, gas stations in particular, are the most environmentally problematic yet advantageous due to their abundance. The conversion of gas stations, however, is not a new notion. While these sites have been renovated into cafés, restaurants, …

Commercial Solar Technology Adoption In The United States: Empirical Evidence On Effects Of State Policies, Eric Koegler

Masters Theses

Growing concerns about greenhouse gas emissions as well as electricity prices have led to more serious efforts by the state and federal government to provide promote renewable energy at affordable costs. I examine the effect of policies and incentives on added commercial solar PV capacity while controlling for pro-environmental preferences, energy prices, geographic controls, and demographic controls. I use county-level data that spans twelve northeastern states and the District of Columbia from 2005 through 2013. I utilize the Tobit estimator to account for a mass point of solar PV capacity at zero kilowatts. The results suggest that loans, performance-based incentives, …

Solar Pv Adoption In The United States: An Empirical Investigation Of State Policy Effectiveness, Ilya Chernyakhovskiy

Masters Theses

State policy incentives for solar power have grown significantly in the past several years. This paper examines the effectiveness of policy incentives to increase residential solar PV capacity. County-level solar adoption data and controls for demographic characteristics, solar resources, and pro-environmental preferences are used to estimate a model of residential solar adoption. Empirical findings show that financial incentives, solar-specific mandates, and loan financing programs are important drivers of residential PV capacity growth. Incentives that reduce the up-front cost of adoption and that are subject to low uncertainty are found to have the largest impact. Results also point to a significant …

Data Anti-Suppression Methods And An Application Of Spatial Concentration Measures To Evaluate Green Energy Value Chain Concentration, David Lane Register

Masters Theses

A number of renewable, or so-called “green energy” products have emerged in response to the environmental, national security, and economic risks posed by the consumption of fossil fuels. The development of the renewable fuels sector, including ethanol, biodiesel, landfill and dairy methane gas, and solar and wind energy have also been considered potential sources of economic growth. But continuously changing market and policy conditions put at risk recent accomplishments in green energy sector development, thus placing a greater emphasis on efficient coordination between producers and suppliers.

Recent advances in firm location theory have produced a variety of analytical tools to …