Oil, Gas, and Energy Commons^™

Microbial Responses To Unconventional Oil And Gas Development May Alter Ecosystem Function In Headwater Streams, Rachel Michaels

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

The demand for natural gas, and the need for efficient extraction, has led to the development of unconventional oil and natural gas (UOG) techniques. Due to the novelty of UOG, the potential impacts to freshwater ecosystems are not fully understood. We used a dual pronged approach to study the effects of UOG development on microbial biodiversity and function via a laboratory microcosm experiment and a survey study of streams with and without UOG development within their watersheds. The laboratory microcosm study simulated stream contamination with produced water, a byproduct of UOG operation, using sediment collected from one high water-quality stream …

Heigh-Ho, They Blow, Husker Balloons Have Got To Go, Zowie Vincent

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

One petition, one billboard, one lawsuit, and a 52% majority vote. Multiple attempts have been made to challenge the balloon releases at Memorial Stadium. Though there are mild surges of advocacy against this action during the football season and the annual spring semester vote, this issue, despite numerous attempts, continues to fall on deaf ears.

Nebraska’S Need For A Renewable Standard Portfolio, Trevor Cutsor

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

Nebraska has the 3^rd highest potential for wind energy in the country but ranks 12^th in installed wind capacity. Our reliance on fossil fuels and lagging investment in generation technologies of the future mean that our beloved low cost of electricity will increase in the near future. We need a renewable portfolio standard.

The U.S. Should Rejoin The Paris Agreement. Moral, Economic, And Political Reasons Why Rejoining Paris Agreement Is Right, Libert Niyonkuru

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

Climate change and global warming are not only environmental issues rather ethical and policy-driven issues that need global attention from all governments. This is the only way Climate equity and justice can be achieved.

Public Power’S Addiction To Coal, Drew Havens

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

A benefit of living in Nebraska is the accessibility and reliability of our electricity. It powers our homes and businesses and allows us to be productive, hard-working people. But public power and its addiction to coal is not the path forward. Our state’s insistence on burning coal for electricity leaves us physically dependent, economically vulnerable, and financially burdened.

Rare-Earth Elements, University Of North Dakota. Energy And Environmental Research Center

EERC Brochures and Fact Sheets

Introduces the importance of rare-earth elements and how they are used, the supply risk involved, research projects, and information about the lignite industry.

Enhanced Electrochemical Performance Of Li-Ion Battery Cathodes By Atomic Layer Deposition, Yan Gao

Doctoral Dissertations

”Li-ion battery now plays an irreplaceable role in supplying green and convenient energy. In this work, atomic layer deposition (ALD) was used to modify Li-ion battery cathode particles for performance enhancement.

An ultrathin and conductive CeO₂ ALD film was deposited on Li-rich layered cathode particles, of which the specific capacity and cyclic stability were significantly improved. On the same cathode particles, FeO_x ALD and post-annealing resulted in a stable and conductive surface spinel phase to improve the performance.

Synergetic TiN coating and Ti doping were performed on a LiFePO₄ (LFP) cathode and extended its cycle life. The …

Effectively Managing Energy Costs In The Resort Industry, Justin Whitesides

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Hawaii's commercial consumers pay the highest electricity rate in the United States;these costs are expected to rise 3-3.5% in 2021. Management in the Hawaiian resort industry that lacks adequate knowledge of controlling these rising costs is at a competitive disadvantage. Utilizing the diffusion of innovation theory, the purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore strategies used in the resort industry to control energy costs. The participants comprised of 10 energy management professionals with successful experience managing energy consumption in the resort industry. Data were collected through telephone interviews, archival documentation, and field notes. Using Yin's 5-step process of …

Strategies To Maintain Profitability When Crude Oil Prices Fluctuate, Yussif Sulemana

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Rapid and sustained fluctuations in the crude oil market have remained a threat to the financial performance of national and multinational oil and gas corporations. Such fluctuations can reduce the profitability of national and multinational oil and gas corporations. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive single case study was to explore strategies oil production leaders used to maintain profitability when crude oil prices fluctuate. The participants included 6 senior oil production leaders in a national oil corporation in Ghana who employed successful strategies to maintain profitability. Kraus and Litzenberger’s trade-off theory of capital structure served as the conceptual framework for …

Risk Assessment Strategies To Reduce Profitability Losses From Pipeline Accidents In The Natural Gas Industry, Cynthia Hurdle

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Ineffective risk assessment strategies can negatively impact the natural gas industry.

Engineer project managers who struggle to maintain a risk assessment plan are at high risk of failure, which could result in devastating consequences for the business and environment. Grounded in the theory of risk assessment, the purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore strategies engineer project managers in the natural gas industry use to improve risk assessment planning to reduce pipeline accidents and improve profitability. The participants comprised of 5 engineer project managers in Virginia, who effectively use risk assessment strategies to promote safety metrics and …

Internet Of Things In Water Management And Treatment, Abdul Salam

Faculty Publications

The goal of the water security IoT chapter is to present a comprehensive and integrated IoT based approach to environmental quality and monitoring by generating new knowledge and innovative approaches that focus on sustainable resource management. Mainly, this chapter focuses on IoT applications in wastewater and stormwater, and the human and environmental consequences of water contaminants and their treatment. The IoT applications using sensors for sewer and stormwater monitoring across networked landscapes, water quality assessment, treatment, and sustainable management are introduced. The studies of rate limitations in biophysical and geochemical processes that support the ecosystem services related to water quality …

Disturbance Related To Unconventional Oil And Gas Development In The Appalachian Basin, Kevin Jordan Harris

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Little research has been done on the land cover change of unconventional oil and gas (UOG) wells across the Appalachian basin. In the last decade, UOG development has increased drastically across the region. Permitted well data from 2007 to 2017 were assembled into a geospatial database and analyzed with current aerial imagery to determine the activity of permitted wells in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. To capture all disturbance related to UOG development, a 25-hectare buffer was placed around each active well as the study extent. A supervised classification approach was used to determine the pre-development and post-development landcover across …

Developing A Uas-Deployable Methane Sensor Using Low-Cost Modular Open-Source Components, Gavin Demali

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project aimed to develop a methane sensor for deployment on an unmanned aerial system (UAS), or drone, platform. This design is centered around low cost, commercially available modular hardware components and open source software libraries. Once successfully developed, this system was deployed at the Bath Nature Preserve in Bath Township, Summit County Ohio in order to detect any potential on site fugitive methane emissions in the vicinity of the oil and gas infrastructure present. The deliverables of this project (i.e. the data collected at BNP) will be given to the land managers there to better inform future management and …

Sealed For Your Protection, Olive Dunham Werby

Senior Projects Spring 2020

In this project, I ruminate on the shiny, shape shifting polymer saturated world we are continuously creating. Oil, plastic, and fossil fuels are all very convenient for turning a profit, for consuming more and more, for the structures in place today. Concurrently, it is becoming increasingly inconvenient for our future generations to avoid extinction.

Optimizing Pollution Routing Problem, Shivika Dewan

All Master's Theses

Pollution is a major environmental issue around the world. Despite the growing use and impact of commercial vehicles, recent research has been conducted with minimizing pollution as the primary objective to be reduced. The objective of this project is to implement different optimization algorithms to solve this problem. A basic model is created using the Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) which is further extended to the Pollution Routing Problem (PRP). The basic model is updated using a Monte Carlo Algorithm (MCA). The data set contains 180 data files with a combination of 10, 15, 20, 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, and …

Optimization Study Of A Combined Wind-Solar Farm For A Specified Demand, Venkat Siddhartha Rama

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

At the present time, using wind and solar energy for producing electricity in the United States is becoming cost competitive. According to Lazard’s 2019 [36] levelized cost of energy (LCOE) analysis of a number of energy sources used for producing electricity in the United States, wind and solar are cheaper than natural gas and coal. While capital, maintenance, operation, and fuel costs are included in LCOE numbers, energy source intermittency is not. Intermittency is an important issue with wind and solar energy sources, but not with natural gas or coal energy sources. Combining wind and solar energy sources into one …

Computational Assessment Of Aortic Valve Function And Mechanics Under Hypertension, Saurav Kadel

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Calcific aortic valve disease (CAVD), the most common valvular heart disorder, is associated with complications such as stroke, heart attack, aortic aneurysm, left ventricular hypertrophy, and ultimately death. While hypertension has been identified as a major risk factor for CAVD, the mechanisms by which it may promote calcification are still unknown. Given the sensitivity of valvular tissue to mechanical stress alterations, the hemodynamic abnormalities linked to hypertension may play a role in the development of CAVD. Further, the effects of hypertension on the left ventricular functionality and coronary flow resistance remain largely uninvestigated. Hence, the objectives of this thesis were …

Coal Mining Sector Contribution To Environmental Conditions And Human Development Index In East Kalimantan Province, Kunny Izza Indah Afkarina, Sindhung Wardana, Poerborini Damayanti

Journal of Environmental Science and Sustainable Development

Coal mining has been one of the issues that led to pros and cons in Indonesia. Research shows that mining activities are one of the factors that affect people’s incomes and local and national economic development. However, mining is a lucrative activity that leads to construction booms that attract population growth and lead to deforestation, thus affecting the environmental conditions of a region. The coal mining industry of Indonesian province of East Kalimantan, on the island of Borneo, provides most of the economic base needed to build the infrastructure and provide energy of the country. Kalimantan Province accounts for approximately …

Comprehensive Evaluation Technology And Application Of Grouting Reinforcement Effect For Broken Coal And Rock Mass, Wang Xiaolei, Ji Zhigang, Luo Wenqiang

Coal Geology & Exploration

Grouting reinforcement of broken coal and rock mass plays an important role in controlling the stability of surrounding rocks, and the grouting effect detection is an important link to ensure the grouting engineering to meet the requirements. The evaluation index was quantitatively analyzed by slurry filling rate method, mechanical parameter method, segmented water injection method, geological radar method, drilling television method and core inspection method. The comprehensive evaluation form of grouting effect was put forward, and the application research was carried out. The results show:The rate of filling slurry and coring was more than 90%; After grouting, the compressive strength …

Microscopic Fabric Characteristics Of Typical Red Soft Rock In Badong Formation Under Uniaxial Compression Test, Xiao Zunqun, Wang Xin, Tang Dongsang, Dong Qiongying, Jiang Yinan, Yang Kai, Cao Tongtong, Deng Zhen

Coal Geology & Exploration

Red silty mudstone and argillaceous siltstone are the representatives of special rock and soil in Badong Formation, are easy to disintegrate when encountering water. According to the uniaxial compression test of rock samples, a numerical model of medium and soft rock uniaxial compression test was established based on PFC_2D program. With the characteristics of stress-strain curve, subsection quantitative parameter calibration method was used to calibrate the microscopic parameters of soft rock samples. The adjustment method and the ratio of tangential bond strength(σ_c/τ_c) control specimen under uniaxial compression failure mode. The uniaxial compression test of silty …