Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

How Climate Change Is Altering Energy Finance And Governance In China And The United Arab Emirates, Hans Gebauer

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

Climate change is an environmental problem with catastrophic ecological, economic, social, and political impacts. The dramatic scale of the problem has appropriately earned it the name of “climate crisis.” As a protracted crisis, climate change will dominate national and international agendas while transforming institutional politics. Conflicts within policy communities, new interest alignments, social pressure on governments, and ecological collapse could conceivably transform the norms and institutions through which economics, policy, and politics are conducted. Nowhere is this clearer than the energy sector, which is responsible for most greenhouse gas emissions and wherein massive institutional shifts are just beginning to occur. …

An Analysis Of Us Energy Policy Within A Shifting Geopolitical Landscape, Rodney Ford

Helm's School of Government Conference - American Revival: Citizenship & Virtue

Through numerous policy initiatives and a catalogue of antagonistic rhetoric, the Biden administration has made it clear since January of 2021 that America will be last when it comes to energy policy. As the rest of the world pursues far-fetched goals to eliminate fossil fuels and usher in the era of green energy, the administration has actively sought to conform to these goals at the expense of the American taxpayer. The issue of climate change, undeniably an issue indeed, will prove itself to be a hallmark of the Biden White House as everything from the tightening of ESG policies to …

The African Century: Renewable Energy Opportunities In Sub-Saharan Africa, Joshua Mackinnon

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Even if the world’s developed nations are able to curb their carbon emissions in the coming years, major hurdles will still exist. One such hurdle is fulfilling energy needs in urbanizing areas, like sub-Saharan Africa. Many global regions are urbanizing but none as rapidly as sub- Saharan Africa. The global share of Africa’s urban residents is expected to grow from 11.3% in 2010 to 20.2% by 2050.

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While sub-Saharan African countries have peculiar social and economic characteristics, there are common elements that allow this Note to focus on the region as a whole. This general approach can be adjusted …

Nā Pua Makani Wind Farm: The Shifting Winds Of Renewable Development In HawaiʻI, George Webster Ross Iv

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

In 2015, Hawaiʻi set the most ambitious renewable energy portfolio goal in the nation by vowing to reach 100% renewable energy by 2045. Since then, many renewable energy development projects in Hawaiʻi have been met with strong community opposition, including the Nā Pua Makani wind farm (NPM) in Kahuku. The aim of this project is to analyze the process timeline of NPM to identify factors in the development process that contributed to organized protest, and to offer recommendations for improving the process. In order to get a full picture of the events throughout the Nā Pua Makani project’s timeline, my …

A Clean Energy Future: The Policy Environment Of Public Service Enterprise Group, Justin T. Letizia

Student Publications

The very nature of environmental policy permeates all areas of society; climate change, in its essence, is inherently a public dilemma. Thus, strategies to address and mitigate the adverse effects of the climate crisis, whether originating from governmental actors or private corporations, must consider and account for the many stakeholders who stand to be impacted by its far-reaching policy. For a company such as PSEG to implement effective climate policy, it is required that they develop, maintain, and leverage relationships with multiple stakeholders at the municipal, county, state, and federal levels, as well as promote a positive reputation among its …

U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emission Bottlenecks: Prioritization Of Targets For Climate Liability, Alexis Pascaris, Joshua M. Pearce

Michigan Tech Publications

Due to market failures that allow uncompensated negative externalities from burning fossil fuels, there has been a growing call for climate change-related litigation targeting polluting companies. To determine the most intensive carbon dioxide (CO₂)-emitting facilities in order prioritize liability for climate lawsuits, and risk mitigation strategies for identified companies as well as their insurers and investors, two methods are compared: (1) the conventional point-source method and (2) the proposed bottleneck method, which considers all emissions that a facility enables rather than only what it emits. Results indicate that the top ten CO₂ emission bottlenecks in the U.S. …

Weaponizing The Epa: Presidential Control And Wicked Problems, Craig A. Jones

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

In its broadest sense, presidential control encompasses all the actions, in both word and deed, whereby presidents “go it alone” to adopt policies in the absence of congressional will to do so, and sometimes directly contrary to it. This dissertation studies how President Obama used rhetorical and administrative tools of presidential control to address the “wicked problem” of climate change. The “administrative presidency” and the “rhetorical presidency” are familiar political science terms, but in the case of climate change policy, they appear to be moving policymaking in a new and perhaps profound direction, which this study refers to as “post-deliberative …

Federalism As A Double-Edged Sword: The Slow Energy Transition In The United States, Roger Karapin

Publications and Research

Much literature on federalism and multi-level governance argues that federalist institutional arrangements promote renewable-energy policies. However, the U.S. case supports a different view, that federalism has ambivalent effects. Policy innovation has occurred at the state level and to some extent has led to policy adoption by other states and the federal government, but the extent is limited by the veto power of fossil-fuel interests that are rooted in many state governments and in Congress, buttressed by increasing Republican Party hostility to environmental and climate policy. This argument is supported by a detailed analysis of five periods of federal and state …

Kentucky's Environmental Future, Fall/Winter 2004, Issue 9

Sustain Magazine

No abstract provided.

Policies To Overcome Barriers For Renewable Energy Distributed Generation: A Case Study Of Utility Structure And Regulatory Regimes In Michigan, Emily Prehoda, Joshua M. Pearce, Chelsea Schelly

Department of Social Sciences Publications

Because of its environmental damage and now often being the most expensive source for electricity production, coal use is declining throughout the United States. Michigan has no active coal mining and seemingly supportive legislation for distributed generation (DG) and renewable energy (RE) technologies. However, Michigan still derives approximately half of its power production from large centralized coal plants, despite the availability of much lower cost RE DG technologies. To understand this conundrum, this study reviews how Michigan investor owned utilities utilize their political power to perpetuate utility structures that work toward the financial interests of the utilities rather than the …

A Comparative Analysis To Understand The Subnational Motivations For Renewable Energy Development In India, William Cullen

CMC Senior Theses

Providing energy security and diversifying the energy production in India align with the country’s rising power ambitions and policy goals to industrialize. Renewable energy provides a useful tool for the state to meet these policy goals without producing more air pollution and additional environmental degradation. The Central Government has international ambitions of with becoming a rising responsible power; these aspirations have created new resources, incentives, and policy ideas for the subnational states in India. The purpose of this thesis is to map out the motivations, interests, and incentives of subnational elites in devising policies to promote renewable energy development in …

The Trump Administration Is Scrapping A Collaborative Sage Grouse Protection Plan To Expand Oil And Gas Drilling, John Freemuth

Public Policy and Administration Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Trump administration has released plans to open up nine million acres of sage grouse habitat in six western states to oil and gas drilling. This initiative dramatically cuts back an elaborate plan developed under the Obama administration to steer energy development away from sage grouse habitat. Predictably, environmentalists oppose it and the energy industry supports it.

Comparing German And Us Energy Transitions: Centralized Vs. Decentralized Government Approaches, Sarah Greenway

Honors Projects in Science and Technology

The German Energiewende (“energy transition”) is often credited with being the most ambitious renewable energy transition in the world. Germany’s rapid transition is mainly led by their Renewable Energy Act of 2000, which has been amended several times in order to remain relevant during changing conditions. In contrast, the United States’ energy transition seems stagnant and lacks an overall direction from the Federal Government. Despite this, the United States is making progress towards implementing renewable energy technologies due to the efforts of several states. Germany’s transition has experienced a number of challenges along the way, while the United States’ transition …

European Community Law And Institutions In Perspective: Text, Cases And Readings, Josef Rohlik

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Agenda: A Celebration Of The Work Of Charles Wilkinson: Served With Tasty Stories And Some Slices Of Roast, University Of Colorado Boulder. Getches-Wilkinson Center For Natural Resources, Energy, And The Environment

A Celebration of the Work of Charles Wilkinson (Martz Winter Symposium, March 10-11)

Conference held at the University of Colorado, Wolf Law Building, Wittemyer Courtroom, Thursday, March 10th and Friday, March 11th, 2016.

Conference moderators, panelists and speakers included University of Colorado Law School professors Phil Weiser, Sarah Krakoff, William Boyd, Kristen Carpenter, Britt Banks, Harold Bruff, Richard Collins, Carla Fredericks, Mark Squillace, and Charles Wilkinson

"We celebrate the work of Distinguished Professor Charles Wilkinson, a prolific and passionate writer, teacher, and advocate for the people and places of the West. Charles's influence extends beyond place, yet his work has always originated in a deep love of and commitment to particular places. We …

Drilling For Common Ground: How Public Opinion Tracks Experts In The Debate Over Federal Regulation Of Shale Oil & Gas Extraction, Elizabeth Ann Glass Geltman

Publications and Research

Public interest in environmental and health impacts from shale oil and gas extraction (what the public calls “fracking”) is growing. Industry claims the public outcry against the new technology is not grounded in science. In February 2013, Resources for the Future (“RFF”) published a list of high priority “risk pathways” that experts from NGOs, academia, government, and industry all agreed were real concerns about fracking. This article used the risk matrix to evaluate whether public comments in dockets of federal agencies that proposed regulation concerning hydraulic fracturing tracked expert concern. The article found that the public tracked many of the …

Land Management, U.S. Bureau Of, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Provides a historical overview and current assessment of the role played by the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management in its ownership of federal lands in western states and its efforts to balance economic development of natural resources and conservation of these resources on these lands.

The Carbon Frame: Condensed Version, Kyle Herman

Dr. Kyle S. Herman

Chilean Renewable Energy Investment Potential With Technology Transfer, Kyle Herman

Dr. Kyle S. Herman

For potential for investment in Chilean renewable energy investment is promising. After the Chicago boys effectively transformed the Chilean economy into a haven for FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) during the 1980’s, government laws have aligned definitively with neo-liberal policy—in other words, open markets, incentives for investors, public-private partnerships and consistent injections of capital into its financial markets. This article explore these components and highlights investment potential and offers policy advice.

U.S. Energy Policy: The Burdens Of The Past And Moving Forward, John P. Banks

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

Since the oil embargo of 1973, the United States has struggled to implement a sustainable and comprehensive national energy policy. Forging a consistent policy approach has been complicated by more recent emerging trends: how to combat global climate change, the continued emergence of viable alternative energy options, and the hydrocarbon renaissance.

This presentation will discuss several major themes that have impacted energy policy-making since the 1970s and how they are reflected in key issues debated in the current election year. It will then pose some thoughts on how to move away from the burdens of the past and move forward.

Review Of Daniel Mockli's "Strategic Trends 2012: Key Developments In Global Affairs, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

This review essay describes and analyzes the content of this annual compilation of international affairs essays published by the Zurich-based Center for Strategic Studies.

Ch 21. 'Future Perspectives On Solar Fuels', Thomas A. Faunce

Thomas A Faunce

This chapter opens by examining whether the research and development of molecular solar fuels will be characterized in future by its promotion of fundamental societal virtues such as equality and environmental sustainability. As a thought experiment, it presents a vision of some important elements of such a future world—one where energy is primarily not only a matter of global artificial photosynthesis (GAP), but of such virtues. Central to the future perspective presented here is nanotechnological construction with enhanced efficiency of each aspect of the natural photosynthetic process into units capable of inexpensive mass production for domestic use. This involves a …

Governing Planetary Nanomedicine: Environmental Sustainability And A Unesco Universal Declaration On The Bioethics And Human Rights Of Natural And Artificial Photosynthesis (Global Solar Fuels And Foods)., Thomas A. Faunce

Thomas A Faunce

Environmental and public health-focused sciences are increasingly characterised as constituting an emerging discipline—planetary medicine. From a governance perspective, the ethical components of that discipline may usefully be viewed as bestowing upon our ailing natural environment the symbolic moral status of a patient. Such components emphasise, for example, the origins and content of professional and social virtues and related ethical principles needed to promote global governance systems and policies that reduce ecological stresses and pathologies derived from human overpopulation, selfishness and greed— such as pollution, loss of biodiversity, deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as provide necessary energy, water and …

Towards Global Artificial Photosynthesis (Global Solar Fuels): Energy, Nanochemistry And Governance, Thomas A. Faunce

Thomas A Faunce

Introduction to special open access edition of Australian Journal of Chemistry with papers from 'Towards Global Artificial Photosynthesis: Energy, Nanochemistry and Governance' conference Lord Howe Island 2011

Will International Trade Law Promote Or Inhibit Global Artificial Photosynthesis, Thomas A. Faunce

Thomas A Faunce

Artificial photosynthesis (AP) is an area of well-advanced research involving large international groups at the cutting edge of synthetic biology and nanotechnology. In simple terms it offers to produce a cheap source of hydrogen for fuel through using sunlight to split water, as well as making basic starches by a process involving absorption of carbon dioxide via the enzyme RuBisCO. As the proliferating numbers of university-based research teams working in this area begin to combine, there will be a natural escalation of the expected time for a global roll-out of AP domestic and international devices. Policy attention will then turns …

Centers Of Invention: Leveraging The Mountain West Innovation Complex For Energy System Transformation, Mark Muro, Sarah Rahman

Brookings Mountain West Publications

America needs to transform its energy system to reduce its carbon intensity and make clean energy cheap. At the same time, the Intermountain West region (which includes Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah) possesses a unique confluence of world-class innovation assets; varied energy resources; and unparalleled opportunities to build out next-generation energy systems. To that end, the brief proposes that the federal government begin constructing a distributed Intermountain West network of federally-funded, commercialization-oriented, broadly collaborative energy research and innovation centers. Organized around existing capacities in a hub-spoke structure that links fundamental science with innovation and commercialization, these research …

Slides: The History Of Oil Shale Development And What It Means For The Future, Patty Limerick

The Promise and Peril of Oil Shale Development (February 5)

Presenter: Patty Limerick, Center of the American West, University of Colorado at Boulder

35 slides

Slides: Integrated Policy, Planning, And Management Of Water Resources, Robert Wilkinson

Western Water Law, Policy and Management: Ripples, Currents, and New Channels for Inquiry (Martz Summer Conference, June 3-5)

Presenter: Robert Wilkinson, Ph.D., Director of the Water Policy Program, Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California-- Santa Barbara

60 slides

Slides: Beyond Rethinking: Redoing Western Water Law, Janet Neuman

Shifting Baselines and New Meridians: Water, Resources, Landscapes, and the Transformation of the American West (Summer Conference, June 4-6)

Presenter: Professor Janet Neuman, Lewis & Clark Law School

17 slides

Slides: A Case Study Of The Roan Plateau Area, Mary Viviano

The Future of Natural Resources Law and Policy (Summer Conference, June 6-8)

Presenter: Mary Viviano, EnCana Oil & Gas (USA) Inc.

14 slides