Oil, Gas, and Energy Commons^™

Recycling Just Got More Expensive. Can It Be Done Better?, Zachery Homolka

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

There was a time in history that America led the world in recycling. In World War Two, Americans were asked to recycle tin, steel, paper, and rubber for the war effort. The University of Southern Carolina states that children were so eager to participate, they went door to door collecting recyclable scraps to turn in to be made into tanks, planes, and ammunition. Yet, in 2017 the National Geographic estimated about 91% of plastic produced globally has not been recycled and instead is landfilled or littered into the environment. America is no longer leading the recycling charge, the World Economic …

Social Change For A Global Problem, Isabella Catalano

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

Recently, the United Nations' International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a new report[1], warning us that storms are becoming more volatile, sea surface temperatures are getting higher, global environment as a whole growing less predictable: in other words, things are about to get a whole lot worse than we predicted.

Unless, of course, we do something about it. The IPCC recommends cutting CO₂ emissions by 45% in order to curb just the worst of climate change's many effects.

There are a plethora of articles on the topic of just what, exactly, we as individuals can do: …

Why The Endangered Species Act Shouldn’T Be Endangered, Ryan Kendall

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

The Trump Administration has announced that they intend to rework the endangered species act. Unsurprisingly, they plan to rework in ways that have the potential to undermine its effectiveness.

One would think that reworking the act would potentially increase its effectiveness, given the nearly fifty years that we have had to advance our knowledge since it was passed. Unfortunately, the opposite may very well be true.

The new changes to the act would allow for the decision of whether or not to list an animal to be made not just by scientific data, but also by determining the economic impact …

The Fossil Fuel Energy Industry Vs. The Endangered Species Act, Cody Willnerd

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

It was several weeks ago that the Congressional Republicans made a push to reform the landmark Endangered Species Act to make it more friendly to landowners and fossil fuel industries. They would do this by releasing species earlier on the ESA list than before and instead focus on species that are in the greatest of need of attention. The reform would also have agencies focus on the economic costs to deny listings of species, require the agency to listen towards states concerns, and limit payouts for attorney fees in ESA litigations. This would be incredibly damaging to many species that …

Building Our Way To A Better Future, Brad Shaner

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

The potential demolishing of the Clean Power Plan by the federal government in early October is looking like a losing fight in our war against carbon emissions at one of the biggest sources of these emissions. But we can continue to fight in this war and make an even bigger impact by focusing our efforts on the most ordinary and consistent thing in our modern lives; the buildings we live and work in. Some would say that high efficiency or green buildings are a commodity that only the wealthy individuals or businesses can achieve, but this doesn’t have to be …

A Forgotten Resource: Thorium, Daniel Rico

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

The year is 1945, the morning of August 6^th, 8:16am to be exact. The United States just dropped the world’s first militarized atomic weapon on Hiroshima, Japan. With this singular act the world virtually witnessed the end of its second world war, the birth of warfare like never before, and the foreseeable death of nuclear power. With this act an aura of negativity and destruction accompanied the word nuclear that it would likely never be rid of despite untapped high grade energy potential that can outweigh its military application. The bomb dropped on Hiroshima was composed of 64 …

Eliminate The Carbon Externality, Connor Mcfayden

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

Before we do anything else, let’s establish two things: the global climate is changing at an alarming rate and the primary cause is human CO2 emissions. There is a worldwide scientific consensus on this fact. Even our own government, despite a remarkably vocal minority, has confirmed this. A report released this year by 13 government agencies identifies humans as the primary cause of global climate change and links this phenomenon to rising sea levels, increased incidence of droughts and floods, and the intensification of large storms. These events are the result of the carbon externality, the social costs of emissions …

Cardboard Ban Is An Investment Opportunity, John Schwaninger

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

Lincoln’s cardboard ban was a hot topic in 2016, but 2017 has shifted focus to the city’s recycling education contract. Gone is discussion of Mayor Chris Beutler’s failed, revived and ultimately victorious struggle to reform Lincoln’s recycling program. In its place, an air of financial discomfort stagnates over the city’s already troubled budget.

The cardboard ban will take effect April 2018. The recycling education program was drafted in part to support the ban by educating households about recycling drop-off locations and sorting requirements. However, the recycling education contract’s $850,000 cost raised eyebrows, undermining Beutler’s earlier effort.

The recycling education contract’s …

Lithium-Ion Batteries: It’S Not About The Lithium, Jace Kranau

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

Malnourished children and tired men chip away with ancient tools at Cobalt-containing rock for you to have the next best electronic device. The impoverished, artisanal workers of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) supply up to 25 percent of global Cobalt according to The Washington Post. The battery manufacturers don’t care. Their dominant thought is profit.

Artisanal workers are paid between two and three U.S. dollars a day. “We are suffering. And our suffering is for what?”, 29-year-old digger, Nathan Muyamba, told The Post.

The batteries in phones, laptops and for some, their cars, contain Lithium, Cobalt, Nickel …

Crop Productivity In The Ag Belt On Borrowed Time, Logan Winters

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

Most people by now have heard the terms “climate change” and global warming. Many acknowledge that it’s a problem, but they may not know how it can impact them directly. This is especially true for those living in the middle of the country, because most of the media attention goes to the coastal impacts of climate change. While putting adequate focus on the coastal impacts is a good start, since the most widespread and severe impacts will be coastal, but there needs to be more talk and discussion about the future impacts over the middle of the country. One big …

Energy Star Tax Holiday Simply Advertising Gimmick, Lauren Klaasmeyer

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

In January of this year, Senator Harr introduced Legislative Bill 325. From 12:01 A.M. on the first Friday of October through midnight of the first Sunday, all Energy Star products less than $1500 will be exempt from sales and use taxes. The special interest group, Nebraska Retail Federation, proposed the idea to Senator Harr. There was no move to advance the bill last session, so it could be brought back up this coming session or amended to another bill. When speaking with people at the capitol, it was said that the main reason it was not advanced was because of …

How Innovative Companies Gain From A Cap And Trade Agreement, Lucian Montgomery

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

The purpose of both a cap and trade agreement and a carbon tax is to reduce emissions by setting a price on carbon. However, that is where the similarities end.

A cap and trade agreement gives a certain amount of allowances to each company that adds up to an emissions cap, allows companies to trade them. Companies only pay for carbon emissions if they produce more than the amount of allowances they are given, either by paying penalties to the government, or by buying more allowances from other companies. This creates a market for allowances, and based on demand, sets …

The Tax That Will Actually Do Something Is Not In The Current Bill, Steven Kirchner

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

If we are going to be talking about tax reform, we should be talking about solutions that will actually solve a problem. The combustion of fossil fuels has much more than environmental implications. Burning fossil fuels is a blatant catastrophe for our entire economic system. The current American energy market is entirely reliant on fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas). Negative externalities have flooded the American economic system because of the combustion of fossil fuels. A negative externality is a cost that indirectly affects someone outside of the economic transaction. That third party entity must bear the burden of …

Gmo Regulations Are Killing Biofuels, Megan Franklin

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

Progress in creating profitable biofuels is being slowed down by strict regulations on genetically engineered (GE) crops (aka GMOs). Setbacks that biofuels face can be addressed with genetic engineering. However, public pushback and regulations make it extremely difficult to implement solutions. We should have more lenient regulations on GE crops so that we can speed up the progress of improving biofuels.

A genetically engineered crop is one that has DNA from a different species inserted into its own DNA. As a result from GE crop benefits, CO2 emissions were reduced by 26.7 billion kg in 2012, and poverty was alleviated …

Palm Oil: The Hidden Costs, Rachel Goehring

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

The growing demand for palm oil generates tens of billions of dollars in revenue and employs millions in Southeast Asian countries. The story is that conserving the rainforests from palm oil production puts this economy at risk, but only because the current formula does not account for the externalities of deforestation.

Recent Increase In Deadly Storms, Westin Longacre

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

These last few years have hit us with some devastating storms that continue to wreck havoc on our earth. We have been hit with multiple storms that are so strong that they are predicted to happen every 50 years, so is God punishing us? Or do we have something to do with this? This issue should be a huge concern to us because who knows how many more of these devastating storms we can handle. When looking at why these tragic storms are happening more frequently the main factor that is leading to these events is the increase in atmospheric …

Anaerobic Digestion In Nebraska, Anthony Leapley

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

Climate change is a global crisis that can be fought by all locally. Nebraska is my home, and it’s one of nine states in the U.S. in which cows outnumber humans. Statistically, there are three cows for every person (1,868,516 humans to 6,150,000 cows). While we have fewer humans than cows, it’s not hard to understand that we rank very low in CO2 emissions when ranking all states in the country. However, our emission of the more potent greenhouse gas CH4, or methane, is significantly higher. Methane is released by cows via gas and manure, and it’s causing serious implications …

Wind Is Nebraska’S Future, With Or Without The Clean Power Plan, Megan Pamperin

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

The Clean Power Plan was issued in October 2015. President Trump called for a review of the plan this March and on October 16^th, 2017 the EPA released a proposal to repeal it. The Clean Power Plan would have reduced Nebraska’s state emissions to 22,250,000 tons of carbon dioxide by 2024, down by about 5 million tons compared to 2012 emissions.¹ The new projection for 2020 without the plan is 34 million tons of CO₂ emitted.

Coal and other fossil fuel energy sources are the main culprits of these carbon emissions, and here in Nebraska coal …

Recycling Clean Energy, Amanda Vaughn

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

Nuclear energy is one of the cleanest sources of energy available. It does not produce carbon dioxide as the beta decay of Uranium is an exothermic spontaneous process that produces helium. Unfortunately, nuclear waste storage is a large problem in the United States, the cost of maintaining the waste storage facilities alone is 46.7 billion dollars. There is the constant threat of leaks and contaminated water leaking into drinking supplies. Then there is the danger of the current geological storage tanks lasting longer than humanity and spoiling the future environment as current nuclear waste takes millions of years to decompose …

Fossil Fuel Subsidies In America, Jackson Cutsor

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

Two of the most controversial topics in American politics today are climate change and the federal budget. Subsidies for energy generation fit into both categories.

Subsidies given to the energy industry artificially decrease the price of energy and electricity. Low energy prices help stimulate the market, however, the negative externalities like the social cost of carbon and political corruption are not taken into consideration.

Subsidies can come in many forms including: failure to impose external costs, tax breaks, and low interest loans. Even without imposing the social cost of carbon a removal of fossil fuel energy subsidies can have a …

Stop Fighting It Nebraska: Clean Energy Is Here To Stay, Nicholas Underwood

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

The state of Nebraska and more specifically the Nebraska Public Power District has so far shown a surprising reluctance to incorporate clean or renewable sources of power into its portfolio. The state’s reluctance is exemplified in their support for legal challenges to the Clean Power Plan put forth by the Obama Administration. NPPD in particular has decided to stick with coal as its primary fuel source and has even discouraged the construction of natural gas facilities in the state. The power utilities in this state need to develop a modern, clean energy system to avoid being left behind.

On one …

The Clean Power Plan And How It Will Change History, Abbie Andersen

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

In a country where 30% of the population still believes that man made climate change is a myth, president Obama has made a daring effort to help fix the damage our country has already inflicted on our planet. By creating The Clean Power Plan (CPP) we’ve taken a step in the right direction as a country. The action that we take to limit our emissions within the next 10 years will likely determine the course of the rest of our existence.

In our current situation humanity has no choice other than to act, and act quickly. We have passed the …

Fossil Fuel Subsides Will Keep The Us In The Stone Age, Alexander Stejskal

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

Renewable sources will be the future of energy production for the United States. Clean sources of energy like wind and solar have been the topic of conversation for quite some time, and now they’re starting to show their ability to compete economically with fossil fuels.

Even as renewable sources of energy begin to show their gusto, they are still a part of a relatively new industry and new industries always need a little help getting off the ground. There are some forms of aid being provided for renewable sources of energy, like the production tax credit or PTCs, where the …

Solar, Why Not?, Emily Hergenrader

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

Imagine yourself standing outside for an hour wearing a black shirt on a 90-degree day. Now touch your shirt. Notice how warm it is? This warming is due to the sun’s energy. According to Daniel Nocera, a member of the Division of Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, that same heat from one hour of sun exposure is more energy than all of the energy consumed by humans in an entire year.

Energy is one of the hottest topics debated in our world today. Human existence on Earth depends on energy usage and the availability of its consumption. Due …

Why We Should Keep Worrying About The Atomic Bomb, Eric Davis

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

“… the members of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Science and Security Board have looked closely at the world situation and found it highly threatening to humanity—so threatening that the hands of the Doomsday Clock must once again be set at three minutes to midnight, two minutes closer to catastrophe than in 2014…Meanwhile, as they slow the pace of disarmament, the nuclear weapon states have given other strong indications that they are committed to retaining nuclear weapons for the indefinite future” - Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (2015). "Three Minutes and Counting".

Nuclear proliferation and climate change pose the …

Independent Energy, Ian Hall

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

In the world of energy, an elite selection of the world’s most influential leaders dictates the development of the world. The correlation between petroleum production and global influence is hard to ignore. The world needs energy to move and those with the energy control the movement. Saudi Arabia, Russia, and the US combine to contribute over a third of world oil production. OPEC countries however, dominate the vast energy markets around the world. Well inundated with regional conflict and hostile relations, OPEC countries remain volatile and on top of global energy production.

The energy industry has become extremely productive, fueling …

A Dynamic Power Grid For A Dynamic Age Introducing Les To A Pricing Mechanism That Assesses Demand, And Changes Every Hour, Marvin Christopher Cunningham

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

Lets say you knew someone who would buy a whole pizza when they were a little bit hungry, left their sink running when they weren’t using it, maxed out their A/C in their house when they were on vacation, and always kept their stove on just in case they wanted to cook something.

You would probably see this as horribly wasteful, and a terrible drain of money. But every time we pay our power bill, our prices assume we share these wasteful habits. The rate that we pay per kilowatt hour assumes customers are eating the whole pizza, even though …

Les To Increase Fixed Price, Nathan Blazek

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

Lincoln Electric System (LES) plans to increase the fixed amount customers pay each month and decrease the rate it charges for each kWh used.

This shift is claimed to be revenue neutral for LES. But for customers, it means they’ll save less money by turning off lights and buying more efficient appliances.

This policy is a sly and deliberate stab at ongoing conservation efforts. The decreased kilowatt pricing will give customers the perception that it is relatively unnecessary to decrease electricity usage if they are already paying a high price to initially have it. This new policy will even further …

Is Nebraska Really “The Good Life”?, Sarah Porath

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

For anyone who has ever lived in Nebraska, you know the state is filled with people who resist change. Nebraska is “The Good Life.” Any adjustments or modifications that could disrupt the lifestyle are not welcomed. The people who are elected into office clearly reflect this type of mindset.

It is time for Nebraska to get outside of their comfort zone. We need to move from the good life to the great, healthy, and progressive life by developing a state-wide Energy Efficiency Resource Standard or Goal.

20 states have Mandated Statewide Energy Efficiency Resource Standards and 8 states have Goals …

Fracking Chill, Nick Nardone

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

Hydraulic Fracturing or commonly known as fracking has caused a big boom in the oil and gas industry making it easier for us to extract oil and gas from the ground, but has serious side effects that as they cause harm to us and our environment. We should slow or stop fracking at once if we want a clean and healthy environment to live in.

Fracking has become widely popular in the last decade and has brought us benefits on the oil and gas side and with little lack of information and support it has been difficult to put restrictions …