This paper explores the factors that drive purchases of green power by private and public organizations. Using a cross-sectional analysis of participants in EPA’s Green Power Partnership, I explore whether state energy policies have motivated increased consumption of green power among these participating organizations. Additionally, I analyze economic and political variables by state to determine if certain factors contribute to an organization’s green power purchases. I find that state mandates on renewable energy production and lower premiums for green power lead to increased purchases of green power for members of the Green Power Partnership.

The issue of gaining access to enough water in California has shaped how the state has developed and it has been one of the most important and divisive political issues for all of its residents. In a state where “75 percent of the demand for water originates south of Sacramento, although 75 percent of water supply in the state comes from north of the capital city,” the decision of who should get access to the limited supply of water is fiercely contested between opposing parties who all feel that they have a right to the water necessary to keep them alive. But with the amount of useable water slowly declining and an ever-growing population with greater demand for water, there is no easy compromise or solution that solves the problem of how water should be distributed.

This study examines whether aquaculture has the potential to reduce deforestation in the Peruvian Amazon. The natural resources of the Peruvian Amazon are subject to extreme pressures due to increases in subsistence farming, cattle ranching, and logging in the region. The resulting loss of biodiversity has affected the delicate soil balance that is characteristic of the Amazon, and has contributed to water pollution as well as erosion (Guerra et al. 2001). One of the highest rates of deforestation in the Amazon basin can be found at the foothills of the eastern Andes (Lepers et al. 2005), which includes the area in this study, located in the Peruvian state of Amazonas. In this part of the Amazon, deforestation is mainly caused by small-scale subsistence agriculture (Achard et al. 1998) such as that found in the communities of Condorcanqui. Fishing is an essential part of the socio-economic system that functions in the Peruvian Amazon. Fish meat is the most important source of animal protein in the Amazon, and the main generator of cash for indigenous people (McDaniel, 1997). However, freshwater Amazonian fisheries have been subject to extreme overexploitation in the past few decades (Rainforest Conservation Fund, 1999). Boats with technological equipment and large-scale capacities have threatened stocks in local rivers and oxbow lakes, which has affected the ability of small-scale, native fisherman to support themselves (Rainforest Conservation Fund, 1999). The Instituto de Investigaciones de la Amazonia Peruana (IIAP) has assisted the development of fish farming in the Condorcanqui region as a way to augment diets and decrease the ecological impact of subsistence farming. Fish farming can also be seen as a way to substitute for the loss of traditional river fishing. IIAP has become the leading governmental organization in fisheries research and aquaculture in the Peruvian Amazon, and works to provide native-species fingerlings, and educational courses to native aquaculturists. This study surveys the subsistence villages along road and river communities to determine the impact of fish farming on deforestation in the Condorcanqui region. This region is populated by small communities of indigenous Awajún and Wampí tribesmen, who practice subsistence agriculture. Data was collected from a sample of 184 families in ten different communities. Five of the villages were situated along the banks of the Nieva or Santiago river systems, while the other five were accessible by road, travelling southwest from the town of Santa Maria de Nieva. Data was collected with the assistance of the Research Institute of the Peruvian Amazon (IIAP), which provided a guide who had relations with all of the communities. All of the families in the sample practice subsistence agriculture, while 104 of the respondents supplement their agricultural crops with fish from aquaculture ponds integrated into their farmland. The participants answered a range of questions about the size of their farms, and the productivity of their land. We use a variety of regression-based approaches to determine how incorporating aquaculture into subsistence farmlands affects deforestation rates after controlling for socioeconomic and farm characteristics. Our study suggests that an extra square meter of aquaculture reduces the area deforested for crops on approximately a one for one basis. However, aquaculture should maintain its productivity for much longer than cropping, as it does not depend on soils whose fertility can be exhausted in a few years. Our simulations, based on our survey results, indicate that over time aquaculture should reduce deforestation significantly, especially in areas where soils provide only a few years of subsistence crops. These should be regarded as interesting but preliminary results. Because we used a convenience-based sampling approach, our results could be affected by selection bias. In addition, we do not have enough information to test whether selection bias in the implementation of fish farming affect our results. Therefore, these results suggest that aquaculture could be useful in limiting deforestation, but additional work should use experimental methods or more in-depth surveys to measure the effect of aquaculture on deforestation.

Environmental economics is the application of economic principles to the study of how natural resources are developed and managed. The methodologies used attempt to value ecosystem services provided by healthy, functioning natural lands and ecosystems. Ecosystem services attributed to natural lands contribute significant human welfare benefits that go largely undervalued or misrepresented in the decision-making process for the development of land. As environmental valuation methodologies and techniques continue to advance, policy decisions will be better able to create outcomes that maximize benefits for targeted populations and landscapes. The purpose of this paper is to first describe the methodologies used in environmental economics. These methodologies will then be applied to the Big Cottonwood Canyon Watershed located to the east of Salt Lake City, Utah. The case study will describe the ecosystem services provided by the watershed and value them. Using these values, the study focuses on the proposed development of SkiLink, a gondola system that would connect two separate ski resorts in two separate canyons – the Solitude Mountain Resort, located in Big Cottonwood Canyon, and Canyons Resort, located near Park City, Utah. The debate over the proposed SkiLink focuses on weighing its potential contribution to Utah’s economy against its potential environmental consequences. Based on a detailed analysis of the economic benefits and ecosystem losses created by the proposal, a cost-benefit analysis of the project will be presented along with recommendations for further study of potential development that would likely accompany the building of SkiLink.

Concerns regarding energy security, resource sustainability, and environmental protection have heightened interests in renewable fuels and sparked the research and development of ethanol as a transportation fuel. This study examines consumers’ willingness to pay for ethanol from various potential feedstocks; corn, switchgrass and wood wastes. Data was collected via a survey of fuel consumers across the United States in 2009. Results show that consumers have a preference for E85 (a fuel blend with 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline) from corn, switchgrass and wood wastes compared to E0 (gasoline) and a preference for E85 from switchgrass and wood wastes, but not corn when compared to E10 (10 percent ethanol and 90 percent gasoline). Also, consumers have a preference for E85 compared to E10 but not compared to E0. Mean WTP for E85 was insignificant across all models, but significant for all other product attributes; percentage of fuel imported, percentage of greenhouse gas emissions reduced, and the proximity of fuel in driving distance. This suggests a WTP for a combination of fuel attributes associated with ethanol rather than just for E85. Results suggest that price and proximity of the fuel have a greater impact on fuel selection than percentage of the fuel imported and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Republicans had a positive WTP for E85 compared to E10 and a negative WTP for E85 compared to E0 regardless of feedstock, which may suggest that Republicans actually have no preference for E85; however, these findings may also suggest that Republicans view E85 as a voluntary “policy” whereas E10 is an example of government intrusion in the free market. Thus, they may ultimately have preferences over the manner in which the blend is being introduced to the market. Across all models, those undecided in political affiliation, those previously familiar with ethanol, and those who prefer to devote U.S. farmland to food instead of fuel generally exhibited a lower WTP for E85 while Westerners, those worried about the environment, and those believe that reducing dependence on foreign oil is more important than environmental protection generally had a greater WTP for E85.

In recent decades, climate change has become one of the most crucial challenges for humanity. Climate change has a direct correlation with global warming, caused mainly by the green house gas emissions (GHG). The Environmental Protection Agency in the U.S. (EPA) attributes carbon dioxide to account for approximately 82\% of the GHG emissions. Unfortunately, the energy sector is the main producer of carbon dioxide, with China and the U.S. as the highest emitters. Therefore, there is a strong (positive) correlation between energy production, global warming, and climate change. Stringent carbon emissions reduction targets have been established in order to reduce the impacts of GHG. Achieving these emissions reduction goals will require implementation of policies like as cap-and-trade and carbon taxes, together with transformation of the electricity grid into a smarter system with high green energy penetration. However, the consideration of policies solely in view of carbon emissions reduction may adversely impact other market outcomes such as electricity prices and consumption. In this dissertation, a two-layer mathematical-statistical framework is presented, that serves to develop carbon policies to reduce emissions level while minimizing the negative impacts on other market outcomes. The bottom layer of the two layer model comprises a bi-level optimization problem. The top layer comprises a statistical model and a Pareto analysis. Two related but different problems are studied under this methodology. The first problem looks into the design of cap-and-trade policies for deregulated electricity markets that satisfy the interest of different market constituents. Via the second problem, it is demonstrated how the framework can be used to obtain levels of carbon emissions reduction while minimizing the negative impact on electricity demand and maximizing green penetration from microgrids. In the aforementioned studies, forecasts for electricity prices and production cost are considered. This, this dissertation also presents anew forecast model that can be easily integrated in the two-layer framework. It is demonstrated in this dissertation that the proposed framework can be utilized by policy-makers, power companies, consumers, and market regulators in developing emissions policy decisions, bidding strategies, market regulations, and electricity dispatch strategies.

Corporate leaders are expected to engage in corporate social responsibility by some stakeholders, but there is no consistent evidence that corporate social performance relates to financial performance. Grounded in instrumental stakeholder theory, the purpose of this correlational study was to examine the relationship among energy productivity, greenhouse gas productivity, and return on equity. The 2016 Newsweek Green Ranking U.S. 500 was the population for this study, which consisted of the largest companies in the United States with the highest corporate social performance scores. The secondary data were collected from Newsweek.com and Morningstar.com for this study. The multiple linear regression was used in the data analysis for the study. This study's model was F(2,104) = 1.028, p = .361, Adjusted R2 = .001 and represented that there was not a statistically significant relationship among energy productivity, greenhouse gas productivity, and return on equity. The implications for positive social change include the potential to provide corporate leaders with additional evidence to inform fact-based decisions related to the strategic allocation of resources to manage corporate energy productivity and greenhouse productivity. Effectively managing energy productivity and greenhouse gas productivity could contribute to reducing global warming, which would improve the quality of lives of U.S residents.

This paper discusses the promotion of car ecotourism and its impact on Glacier National Park. Coinciding with the creation of the park's flagship Going-to-the-Sun Road from 1921 to 1932, both the state and the private sector presented the image of the newly commodified automobile as a vehicle to explore nature with. Historically, national parks have served the interests of the middle and upper classes, by suppressing marginalized communities, primarily through forced relocation in order to clear the lands for creation of the parks. The public's conception of the “wilderness” drastically changed during the time the car was commodified, as nature itself was repainted as a place of solitude and contemplation as opposed to savagery, through promotions which emphasized the pleasure of a scenic drive. This new conception of the landscape contrasted with the preexisting idea that nature is for the “uncivilized.” In the following decades, the car's status as a means by which to connect with nature and “escape civilization” only increased, directly as a result of public roads such as Going-to-the-Sun and their marketing. This study analyzes the themes prominent in promotional materials distributed by both the automobile industry and the state, which promote the status of the car as a central way to experience the wilderness, through a case study of Glacier National Park.

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Thesis advisor: Geoffrey Sanzenbacher / Despite growing importance in the global economy, many of the countriees with large natural resource economies are among the poorest. In this paper, I first construct a theoretical model that provides a framework for the harm of natural resources on corruption levels and governance. Then, I construct what I call the Resource Volatility Index. This measures both a country's level of dependence on a category of resources and the price volatility of these resources themselves. Finally, I use Correlated Random Effects models to show that both average and year-varying levels of this index can explain the level of corruption and the quality of governance in a given country. The nagative impacts I find on both variables confirms previous economic theory on governments funded by natural resources. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2024. / Submitted to: Boston College. Morrissey School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics. / Discipline: Scholar of the College.