This dissertation investigates the relationship between greenhouse gas emissions, international trade, and economic growth as per capita incomes increase. The first chapter uses a Suits Index to illustrate the degree of pollution concentration among countries at different levels of per capita Gross Domestic Product. It also analyzes the collective progressivity of pollution and compares countries with similar levels of per capita income to monitor emissions as countries move up the income scale. Pollution is found to be concentrated among the lower income countries for all sources of greenhouse gas emissions including nitrous oxide, methane, and carbon dioxide. Emissions are more concentrated among poorer countries when the source of pollution is the agricultural sector. Poor countries account for much more pollution than would be expected from their levels of economic activity and well being. Chapter 2 uses an Environmental Kuznets Curve model to investigate the relationship between methane and nitrous oxide emissions from industrial and agricultural sources and per capita income from 1970 to 2005 for 157 countries. A fixed effect panel regression model is used to capture technological change, economies of scale, composition effects, and trade effects on per capita pollution. Results suggest that an inverted U-shape characterizes the relationship between per capita income and both industrial and agricultural emissions, but that agricultural turning points will occur later and at a higher per capita pollution than industrial turning points in the absence of regulation. In Chapter 3, a dynamic fixed effect panel data regression model is used to explore the relationship between pollution emissions and several related economic factors. An alternative simultaneous equation model is developed to allow for both a direct effect of trade on environmental damage via changes in relative prices and an indirect effect of trade on income growth via liberalization. Human capital, physical capital, labor and the catch-up term are expected to affect the growth of the economy positively and significantly. The extent of their economic significance will depend on the level of economic activity of the countries analyzed. Direct and indirect effects of openness on pollution are ambiguous and enter insignificantly or have a small effect on pollution across all country groups. Concerns about trade liberalization on environmental degradation from GHG seem unjustified.

No description available.

No description available.

Evidence has shown that changes in land-use can affect the potential of the soil to act as a methane sink. The Lakenheath site consists of drained fenland peat, which is being re-converted to wetland. At the time of this study the site consisted of four land-use types, an intensively cultivated plot, unmanaged grassland, woodland, and wetland. Peat cores were taken from the four plots and compared for their ability to act as a methane sink. CH4 uptake was measured throughout the depth profiles using gas chromatography. Clear differences in methane oxidation rates were recorded with depth and land-use. The woodland soil showed the highest capacity for atmospheric methane oxidation, and the wetland soil was only profile that had a distinct peak of methane oxidation activity (just above the water table). Despite the change in land-use, all four soils had the capacity to oxidise both high and low concentrations of methane and so acted as a methane sink. The only exception to this was the wetland soil after persistent rainfall. The uppermost layers were water saturated and all soil sections failed to oxidise methane. Methanotroph diversity in the four soils was compared using molecular biological and enrichment techniques. Total DNA was extracted from depth profiles of the four soils and PCR amplified with 16S rRNA methanotroph group-specific primers and primers specific to subunits of the pMMO and AMO (pmoA and amoA), sMMO (mmoX) and MDH (methanol dehydrogenase, mxaF). In addition, DNA was extracted from the top 5 cm of the cultivated (drained) and flooded soil and PCR amplified with primers specific to subunits of the pMMO and AMO. These PCR products were cloned and gene libraries constructed for each soil. No significant differences were observed in retrieved methanotroph sequences from these two soils, suggesting that the methanotroph population had not altered after flooding. The sequences obtained in the molecular study were predominantly amoA sequences from nitrifiers and pmoA sequences from type II methanotrophs. No type I pmoA sequences were retrieved. Type I methanotrophs, however, were isolated directly from the peat soil in the enrichment study.

No description available.

The energy sector in the developing world is expected to account for 27% of global emissions of greenhouse gases from fossil fuel combustion in 2035 – in 1990 it accounted for 7%. The increase is concentrated in rapidly growing countries in Asia that depend on coal for power generation. Maximizing electricity generation using renewable technologies in these countries provides an obvious approach to slowing global emissions growth. A barrier to increased use of renewable generation is cost: financial incentives could help to increase its use in developing countries. The principal objective of this research is to examine the practicability and potential scale of an offset scheme aimed at providing this incentive. Offset schemes have a poor reputation due to problems experienced with the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). I identify the CDM’s failure to ensure the additionality of projects as a key issue and propose an approach to the assessment of additionality specific to grid connected generation projects. I present case studies of wind and small hydro projects in China and India in which I calculate the marginal abatement cost of emissions cuts and use the new approach to additionality to draw conclusions regarding the eligibility of projects to receive offsets in some hypothetical future scheme. My analysis shows that the proposed approach offers advantages over methodologies permitted by the CDM. I analyze the supply and demand for credits from existing schemes during 2013-2020 and show that oversupply will continue to impact their price, removing any incentive for investment in renewable generation. Using an original approach based on IEA forecasts for the energy sector, I estimate the maximum availability of offsets from a post-2020 scheme based on renewable generation, and assess the potential global demand. / text

The benefits from energy crops are debated. This two-year study was designed to investigate nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions, yield and ash content from fertilized bioenergy crops switchgrass and reed canary grass with and without inter-seeded red clover. Overall, N2O emissions were less than 1kg N2O-N ha-1 in the first year and around 100g N2O-N ha-1 in the second year with a N fertilizer effect in the first year. Plots inter-seeded with red clover received half the N fertilizer of pure grass stands but showed no difference in N2O emissions compared to the pure stands and also had higher ash content. Cumulative soil mineral N responded to N fertilizer addition but no effect of crop type was evident in 2008 and 2009. Yields for both crops were unresponsive to N fertilizer addition while pure switchgrass yielded higher than inter-seeded switchgrass in 2008 and switchgrass had lower ash content.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of California, Berkeley, 2007. / Adviser: Daniel Kammen. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2009. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 120-127).

Thesis (M.A.)--Carleton University, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 185-195). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.