Natural Resource Economics Commons^™

Methane Production By A Packed-Bed Anaerobic Digester Fed Dairy Barn Flush Water, Sean Richard Thomson

Master's Theses

Packed-bed digesters are an alternative to covered lagoon digesters for methane production and anaerobic treatment of dilute wastewaters such as dairy barn flush water. The physical media of packed-beds retain biofilms, often allowing increased treatment rates. Previous studies have evaluated several types of media for digestion of dilute wastewaters, but cost and media fouling have setback commercial development. A major operational cost has been effluent recirculation pumping.

In the present effort, a novel approach to anaerobic digestion of flush dairy water was developed at pilot-scale: broken walnut shells were used as a low-cost packed-bed medium and effluent recirculation was replaced …

Planetary Improvement: Discourses And Practices Of Green Capitalism In The Cleantech Space, Jesse Adam Goldstein

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

There is money to be made in saving the planet. A whole host of actors, such as investors, entrepreneurs, engineers, and policy makers have mobilized around our ecological problems, seeking to innovate new `green' and `clean' technologies that can serve a rapidly changing environment. The presumption that such technologies are both necessary and necessarily profitable anchors visions of a `green' capitalism that can and must be brought into existence.

However, just as free markets have never been all that free, why should we presume that green capitalism would be all that green? Instead of attempting to arbit whether or not …

Promoting Renewable Energy Generation In The United States: The Debate Over Renewable Portfolio Standards, Joe Cerne

Economics Theses

Incentivizing renewable energy growth in the 21^st century is, and will continue to be, a highly debated topic. As of late, legislative initiatives have prompted the enactment of various renewable portfolio standards aimed at stimulating renewable energy growth. Using data regarding each state’s energy production, this paper finds that there is no significant change in renewable energy output following the initiation of a renewable portfolio standard. We conclude that renewable energy growth is virtually unaffected by renewable portfolio standards and as such, we agree with much of the literature implying other means are necessary in order to adequately shift …

A Decision Support System To Analyze, Predict, And Evaluate Solar Energy System Performance: Pvsysco (Photovoltaic System Comparison), Lisa Bosman

Theses and Dissertations

In 2010, the U.S. Department of Energy announced the SunShot Initiative, which aims to reduce the total installation cost of solar technologies by 75% between 2010 and 2020. This implies that solar energy is a top priority in the U.S. and many other countries. The purpose of this dissertation research is focused on creating a model to better understand the performance and reliability of photovoltaic (PV) energy systems over time. The model will be used to analyze, predict, and evaluate the performance of PV systems, taking into consideration technological and geographical location attributes. The overall research goal is to build …

An Empirical Exploration Of The Effects Of Natural Gas Prices On Solar Energy Growth, Jeffrey Walton

Economics Theses

This paper analyzes the relationship between natural gas prices and solar installation in the past ten years. The point is to explain how the fluctuations in natural gas prices have effected solar installation. Briefly, natural gas prices from three to five years ago have a positive coefficient on solar installation in the current period, meaning that as the natural gas price three to five years ago increases, solar installation today increases. In course of the analysis, we find that the Goldilocks theory holds true and a natural gas price range from $4 to $6 leads to the highest level of …

Economic And Policy Analysis For Solar Pv Systems In Indiana, Jinho Jung

Open Access Theses

In recent years, the energy market in the US and globally is expanding the production of renewable energy. With other energy sources, solar energy for electricity is also expanding in the US. Indiana is one of the states expanding solar energy with solar PV systems. However, the economics of solar PV systems in Indiana have not been analyzed and electricity customers in Indiana are not informed enough about the economics of solar PV systems. Therefore, we conduct benefit cost analysis with several uncertain input variables to determine the economics of adopting solar PV systems in Indiana based on policy instruments …

Natural Gas Service Expansion Criteria In Maine, Kevin Mahaffey

Muskie School Capstones and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to gain an understanding of the framework used by Maine’s natural gas utilities in making decisions to expand natural gas infrastructure and service to new customers,and then to apply this knowledge in an attempt to identify municipalities that are potentially attractive candidates for service expansion within Maine.

This study is not a precise model for gas utilities, but is meant rather to be a reconnaissance study for finding viable and attractive candidates for service.This study was limited both by resources and the inaccessibility of proprietary information.

Purenovation, Inc, Alex Nelson

Honors Theses

Welcome to PUREnovation, where "converting today and conserving tomorrow" is our lifestyle. Our mission embodies the idea of providing customers the opportunity to maximize cost savings while simultaneously helping to reduce the carbon footprint in their hometown. With a management team that encompasses a wide variety of backgrounds, we possess the necessary skills and abilities to drive our mission and visions forward. Based on our values and convictions, we believe that it is of the utmost importance to serve the individuals who live in small towns and to preserve the nature of the earth that God has graciously provided for …