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Articles 1 - 18 of 18
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Exploring Expansion Of Biogas Energy Production On Homesteads, Small-Scale, And Large-Scale Farms, Morgan Powell
Exploring Expansion Of Biogas Energy Production On Homesteads, Small-Scale, And Large-Scale Farms, Morgan Powell
Student Project Reports
No abstract provided.
Union County Solar Energy Awareness, Amanda Pennett
Union County Solar Energy Awareness, Amanda Pennett
Student Project Reports
No abstract provided.
The Shifting Role Of Climate Change In The 2021 Bundestag Election, Carol Hager
The Shifting Role Of Climate Change In The 2021 Bundestag Election, Carol Hager
Environmental Studies Research and Scholarship
The climate crisis unfolded in real time during the 2021 Bundestag campaign, as western Germany experienced sudden, catastrophic flooding. The climate issue presented a varying and at times unexpected array of challenges and opportunities to the German political parties. In this article I will analyze the shifting role of climate change as it played out during the campaign, in the coalition discussions that followed, and in the first nine months of the new traffic light coalition government.
An Equitable Transformation Of The Energy System: The Role Of State-Level Incentives For Distributed Energy Resources, Trinidad A. Kechkian
An Equitable Transformation Of The Energy System: The Role Of State-Level Incentives For Distributed Energy Resources, Trinidad A. Kechkian
Harvey M. Applebaum ’59 Award
One of the great obstacles to the transition to clean energy is that not everyone has an equal opportunity to participate. While previous research has demonstrated that the distribution of solar photovoltaic and battery storage technologies is correlated with race and ethnicity, income, educational attainment, and other variables, it has failed to perform similar analyses on specific clean energy incentive programs. This study evaluates the equitability of past and current state-level incentive programs for solar photovoltaic and battery storage systems in California and Massachusetts using multiple linear regression models. Among the most notable results, for the California programs that are …
Answers In The East: An Examination Of China's Renewable Energy And Its Application To Central Appalachia, Lillian Hamm
Answers In The East: An Examination Of China's Renewable Energy And Its Application To Central Appalachia, Lillian Hamm
Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects
While much of China’s electrification has depended on coal, recent decades illustrate the country is heavily investing in and implementing renewable energy as a power source. Even China’s coal-rich provinces, like the northeastern province of Shanxi, have been making the transition to renewable energy. The central Appalachian states comprised of eastern Kentucky, West Virginia, western Virginia, and northeastern Tennessee share many characteristics with China’s Shanxi province including economic resources, climate, and geography. Yet, central Appalachia has not been able to easily transition to renewable energy. However, there are various cultural, political, and technological differences between the two regions to explain …
Household Costs And Resistance To Germany's Energy Transition, Roger Karapin
Household Costs And Resistance To Germany's Energy Transition, Roger Karapin
Publications and Research
Germany is an exemplary case of an energy transition from nuclear energy and fossil fuels toward renewables in the electricity sector, but it also demonstrates repeated, increasingly successful counter-mobilization by energy incumbents and their allies. The course for Germany's energy transition was largely set with the adoption of a feed-in tariff law in 1990, but since then the energy transition has been altered by a series of policy-making episodes, each of which was shaped by the outcomes of the previous episodes; there has been a combination of reinforcing and reactive sequences. This article uses policy windows and advocacy coalition theory, …
Renewable Energy Access And Resilience In Urban Developing Areas: Distributed Solar Networks And Peer-To-Peer Energy Trading In Puerto Rico, Pascale Bronder
Renewable Energy Access And Resilience In Urban Developing Areas: Distributed Solar Networks And Peer-To-Peer Energy Trading In Puerto Rico, Pascale Bronder
Harvey M. Applebaum ’59 Award
This senior essay under the Environmental Studies major at Yale University explores the environmental and social benefits of applying innovative technology to the energy sector. Three types of energy networks are analyzed, focusing on the use of distributed energy and peer to peer energy trading on a blockchain platform. The benefits of distributed renewable energy networks can most strongly be applied to locations in need of more reliable, resilient, and cost-effective electricity. Puerto Rico is a case study. Methods include analysis of U.S. Energy Information Administration and Census Bureau data as well as personal interviews with Puerto Rican energy developers. …
Hydropower As A Feasible Option Of The University Of Richmond, Gershom Ejoni
Hydropower As A Feasible Option Of The University Of Richmond, Gershom Ejoni
Environmental Studies Senior Seminar Projects
As the University of Richmond moves forward in achieving its sustainability goals, it made a decision to invest into a solar array in Spotsylvania, VA in order to offset their energy consumption with renewable energy. However, this solar array has been controversial for many of the residents in Spotsylvania. My senior seminar class has tasked itself with investigating all aspects of the University’s decision to partner with sPower. This paper will analyze the potential alternative energy sources that the University can possible consider, in particular, hydropower; thereby, determining if hydropower is a potential viable option the University of Richmond can …
The Most Environmentally Beneficial Option: An Analysis On Spower’S Solar Project In Relation To The Endangered Species Act, Victoria Williams
The Most Environmentally Beneficial Option: An Analysis On Spower’S Solar Project In Relation To The Endangered Species Act, Victoria Williams
Environmental Studies Senior Seminar Projects
Today, the current impacts of high greenhouse gas emissions due to energy production have been widely discussed in scholarly literature. In 2018, the University of Richmond (UR) announced a goal to match 100% of the campus' electricity demand with solar energy to decrease its carbon footprint. UR partnered with sPower to construct a 500-megawatt solar array in which UR will receive the 20-megawatts worth of energy from the site in Spotsylvania, Virginia. sPower’s solar project engendered various environmental concerns surrounding Fawn Lake and the endangered species found in the proximity of the project. Acknowledging the environmental concerns, the objective of …
Spotsylvania Solar Farm: Watershed Environmental Analysis: Material And Chemical Impacts, Colby Prokop
Spotsylvania Solar Farm: Watershed Environmental Analysis: Material And Chemical Impacts, Colby Prokop
Environmental Studies Senior Seminar Projects
The purpose of this compiled review is to answer the research question: What are the implications of the materials being used in the Spotsylvania sPower solar farm and the impacts of any contributing chemicals? I will approach this question using a theoretical framework to investigate the public participation (PP) process (Munch-Petersen, 2017) in the preliminary environmental analysis research done by sPower (in accordance with their special use permit [SUP]). This will be a context-specific framework, in which I will navigate the discrepancies between the environmental SUP information and citizen concerns about the chemicals and materials used in the sPower solar …
Incorporating Community Solar At The University Of Richmond To Reach Sustainability Goals, Maribel Sabino
Incorporating Community Solar At The University Of Richmond To Reach Sustainability Goals, Maribel Sabino
Geography and the Environment Capstone Projects
An analysis of the scale pertaining to sustainability efforts by the University of Richmond concerning the solar farm in Spotsylvania and alternative solar options is imperative to understanding and encouraging sustainability at the University of Richmond. Solar energy as a renewable energy has high potential to help institutions of higher education reach sustainability goals. Considering solar power at various scales will help understand if solar is a viable option to reach these goals. This project examines community solar under a lens of sustainability as a potential contender to meeting the sustainability and carbon neutrality goals of the University of Richmond. …
Understanding The Stake Of The Government And Government Officials In The Spotsylvania Solar Farm Project, Haley Neuenfeldt
Understanding The Stake Of The Government And Government Officials In The Spotsylvania Solar Farm Project, Haley Neuenfeldt
Geography and the Environment Capstone Projects
The Spotsylvania Solar Farm Project is a proposal to build a 500 megawatt solar farm in Livingston in Spotsylvania County, Virginia. The project is managed by Spower with various investors such as Dominion, the University of Richmond, Microsoft, Apple, Etsy, Swiss-Re, and Akamai. However, there are many stakeholders outside of the main investment groups. These stakeholders include the citizens in Spotsylvania where the solar farm will be located, climate activists advocating for increased renewable energy usage, and local, state, and federal government representatives. Across the scale of government representatives, there have been initiatives to increase, decrease, and regulate solar power …
The Current And Future Land Assessment Analysis And Property Taxes Analysis Of The Land Of Proposed Solar Farm In Spotsylvania County, Evelyn Jeong
Geography and the Environment Capstone Projects
Anthropogenic global climate change is threatening our planet. Human energy demand and consumption has been rapidly increasing throughout the world. In order to combat global climate change from greenhouse gases emissions, increase in renewable energy development is crucial. Solar energy is one of the fastest growing renewable energy source in the world and in the United States. In Spotsylvania County, Virginia, a solar energy company called sPower proposed one of the biggest solar farms in the East Coast. Because of the size, scale, economic viability, environmental concerns, and more, there has been push back from the concerned citizens of the …
Is Wind Energy A Better Option For The University Of Richmond?, Steven Yu
Is Wind Energy A Better Option For The University Of Richmond?, Steven Yu
Environmental Studies Senior Seminar Projects
The purpose of this assignment is to answer the question of: Is Wind Energy the Better Option for the University of Richmond? This question is more than simply if wind power will supply the campus the greatest amount of energy, but also looks at the educational, social, environmental and political benefits that would also be associated with it. In order to understand the feasibility of wind power on the University of Richmond campus, I looked at factors such as: energy production from wind turbines, past wind patterns in Richmond, VA, impacts to the environment. This is only one part of …
Generational Aspects Of U.S. Public Opinion On Renewable Energy And Climate Change, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Joel N. Hartter, Erin Bell
Generational Aspects Of U.S. Public Opinion On Renewable Energy And Climate Change, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Joel N. Hartter, Erin Bell
Sociology
The topics of climate change and renewable energy often are linked in policy discussions and scientific analysis, but public opinion on these topics exhibits both overlap and divergence. Although renewable energy has potentially broader acceptance than anthropogenic climate change, it can also sometimes face differently-based opposition. Analyses of U.S. and regional surveys, including time series of repeated surveys in New Hampshire (2010–2018) and northeast Oregon (2011–2018), explore the social bases of public views on both issues. Political divisions are prominent, although somewhat greater regarding climate change. Such divisions widen with education, an interaction effect documented in other studies as well. …
Environmental Sustainability For Business Success, Kailyn Cohen
Environmental Sustainability For Business Success, Kailyn Cohen
Richard T. Schellhase Essay Prize in Ethics
No abstract provided.
Public Preferences For Investments In Renewable Energy Production And Energy Efficiency, Caroline L. Noblet, Mario F. Teisl, Keith S. Evans, Mark W. Anderson, Shannon Mccoy, Edmund Cervone
Public Preferences For Investments In Renewable Energy Production And Energy Efficiency, Caroline L. Noblet, Mario F. Teisl, Keith S. Evans, Mark W. Anderson, Shannon Mccoy, Edmund Cervone
Publications
In this paper we investigate the choices citizens make when asked to express willingness to support a proposed energy policy and are then compelled to allocate the program funds to either renewable energy or energy efficiency. In a survey study based on a random sample of residents of the state of Maine, USA, we find that citizens have preferences for specific types of renewable energy but these preferences do not yield significantly different allocation of investment funds between renewable energy and energy efficiency. We find that preferences are generally consistent regardless of presentation of options (i.e. limited ordering effects). Our …
An Efficient Contracting Approach To Rural Electric Cooperatives And The Development Of Upper Midwest (U.S.) Wind Resources, Bart D. Finzel, Arne Kildegaard
An Efficient Contracting Approach To Rural Electric Cooperatives And The Development Of Upper Midwest (U.S.) Wind Resources, Bart D. Finzel, Arne Kildegaard
Economics & Management Publications
Many factors support the likelihood of major wind power deployment in the Upper Midwest of the U.S. over the next two decades. This paper specifically considers the dilemma faced by the existing rural electric co-ops (RECs), to whom wind development poses simultaneously a threat and an opportunity. We argue that the threat can be ameliorated through more appropriate tariff strategies, and that there is an efficient-contracting rationale for RECs to take the lead in future development of the wind resource.