Engineering Commons^™

Irrigation Demand In A Changing Climate: Using Disaggregate Data To Predict Future Groundwater Use, Calvin R. Shaneyfelt

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The paper estimates an irrigation water demand function using disaggregate climate and well data over a 33 year time period. Aggregating climate information over long periods, like a year, causes a loss of detail on temporal climatic variation, while aggregating climate information over space causes a loss of detail on spatial variation. This analysis uses disaggregate climate variation at a temporospatial level to determine the effects of climate on groundwater use. Results show that increased heat, measured in cooling degree-days, correlates with increased water use, while increased precipitation correlates with decreased water use. However, the effects are generally magnified for …

Economic Impacts Of Increased Corporate Average Fuel Economy (Cafe) Standards, Ann K. Hunter-Pirtle

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) mandates that U.S. transportation fuel producers blend specific volumes of ethanol and other biofuels with fossil fuels to spur U.S. biofuel production and to minimize foreign oil imports. Ethanol is more corrosive to auto engines than gasoline, and although vehicles manufactured since 2001 are approved to use up to a 15% ethanol blend (E15) (Naylor & Falcon, 2011), E10 is much more widely available. Ethanol producers therefore face a so-called blend wall at 10 percent—a maximum amount of ethanol that is usable domestically based on the demand for gasoline.

Meanwhile, gasoline demand in the U.S. …