Renewable energy production replaces diminishing non-renewable energy sources including fossil fuels. Major sources of renewable energy include biofuels, geothermal, hydroelectric, solar thermal and photovoltaic, wind, wood, and biomass. Greater use of renewable energy sources can fill gaps in energy as non-renewable sources are depleted, provide more energy independence at a state and national level, and help address climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from combustion of fossil fuels. The research objectives of this thesis are two-fold. First, which U.S. states are leaders in renewable energy production? Second, what factors may account for variation among U.S. states in levels of renewable energy production?
The five state leaders in production of renewable energy are Washington, California, Iowa, New York, and Texas. Potential influences on renewable energy production include these factors: total energy importation or exportation by state, education level of residents, retail electricity cost, gross state product, poverty level, total population, along with indicators of political and religious ideology including Republican presidential voting, belief in God, and renewable energy potential. A Pearson correlation analysis was conducted to identify multi-collinearity between the independent variables and a factor analysis was used to explore possible associations between all variables. Finally, linear regression analysis is conducted to identify those independent variables significantly associated with the dependent variable, renewable energy production levels for each state. Factors found to be associated with higher renewable energy production are a larger state economy as measured by higher gross state product (GSP) and greater renewable energy potential. The analysis yields insights into the conditions under which U.S. states are more likely to produce higher levels of renewable energy, relevant information for state and federal planning for increased energy independence and greenhouse gas reduction.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LSU/oai:etd.lsu.edu:etd-01242013-155946 |
| Date | 25 January 2013 |
| Creators | Christenson, Cynthia Brit |
| Contributors | Reams, Margaret, Dismukes, David, Lam, Nina |
| Publisher | LSU |
| Source Sets | Louisiana State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-01242013-155946/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached herein a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to LSU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below and in appropriate University policies, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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