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The challenge of reducing emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) has stimulated great attention among policymakers and scholars in recent past, and a number of STIRPAT (Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence, and Technology) studies on carbon emissions have been conducted. This paper contributes to that literature by: (i) studying per capita GHG emissions in the United States (US) adopting STIRPAT modeling framework; (ii) employing new explanatory factors like cattle population density, political willingness to address environmental problems, and educational attainment; and (iii) investigating whether emissions elasticities of various factors vary within the US or not. State-level panel data over the period 1990–2014 are used, and partitioning of the sample is done with respect to two controlling factors: an indicator of political support to environmentalism and educational attainment. Results of heterogeneous slope parameters panel data models indicate that cattle density and affluence are major drivers of per capita GHG emissions in the continental US. We find strong evidence of heterogeneity in emissions elasticities across partitioned samples. Our grouping analysis suggests that in a diverse country like US, policymakers should not focus on the average relationships dictated by a single STIRPAT equation, but should account for regional differences if they want accuracy and higher effectiveness in climate policymaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wind energy refers to the process of creating electricity using the wind, or air flows that occur naturally in the earth's atmosphere. Considered as a free and low-carbon energy, wind energy source has handy the attention of decision makers around the world. Wind energy has the possibilities of reducing the worlds dependence on fossil fuels and has a very huge potential to impart sustainable development of both climate and energy. This paper is focusing on the wind energy potentials of the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf Region of the United States, as a strategic location to develop wind farms that would help mitigate climate change. We used a GIS based approach in identifying suitable locations for wind farms and assessing wind energy potentials as a mitigation to climate change by using a weighted overlay of geospatial layers corresponding to these criteria. Results showed that a wind turbine runs practically emissions-free for 20 years, a viable alternative to burning polluting fossil fuels that offset all emissions within the first 6 months of operation. The Atlantic OCS Region present us with enormous wind energy potentials. Findings in this paper projects that from 2020, wind power alone would save 9.25 billion tons of CO2 every year. On average, each kWh of wind power generated would avoid 600 grams of CO2 (Global Wind Energy Council). Renewable energy would help mitigate climate change in an excellent way. However, we need sustainability in order to ensure a sustainable future for generations to come. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between renewable energy production and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) using U.S. state-level data for 2010. After controlling for other sources of emissions, U.S. states that produce a larger share of renewable energy are found to have lower GHG emissions. It is estimated that a 10% increase in the share of renewable energy could decrease CH 4 emissions by about 0.26%. Since the use of renewable energy sources does not release GHG emissions, this effect can be interpreted as stabilizing if renewable energy is added to coal use or as corrective if it replaces coal. After accounting for the role of coal as a baseload power source, an increase in the share of renewable energy is estimated to mitigate N 2 O emissions at the U.S. state level only if states individually decrease their share of coal use to levels below 41.47%. These findings have significant policy implications for the provision of guidance to policymakers in identifying optimal energy mixes and in pursuing realistic goals to enhance renewable energy penetration and to contribute to the current efforts of tackling climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wind-generated electricity is a growing renewable energy resource. Because wind results from the uneven heating (and resulting pressure gradients) of the Earth, future wind resources may be affected by anticipated climate change. Many studies have used global and regional climate models to predict trends in the future wind resource over the continental United States. While some of these studies identified regions that are expected to gain wind energy, their results often come with a high degree of uncertainty, and lack of agreement across different climate models. In this paper we focus on wind energy density as a measure of the available wind resource over the continental United States. We estimate the change in wind energy density from the period 1968–2000 to the period 2038–2070 by using output from four regional climate models from the North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program (NARCCAP). We find strong agreement across all 4 models that the wind energy resource is expected to increase in parts of Kansas, Oklahoma, and northern Texas – a region already in possession of both large scale generating capacity and political support for wind energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Efforts towards decarbonizing the energy system have to focus on individual actors within the system. Their current and potential future stake in energy consumption and contribution to climate change has to be analyzed when formulating energy policies targeting system-wide reduction efforts. Focusing on firms, this paper develops a framework for the assessment of corporate carbon performance. We use this framework for an empirical assessment of the 100 largest US electricity producers within three different carbon scenarios. Our results show that in a scenario without changes in the US institutional environment electricity producers will not face a severe increase of their carbon exposure and only a small improvement regarding the carbon intensity of the electricity mix is achieved. In a scenario with more carbon-constrained US energy market conditions some companies face a financial risk from using and emitting carbon that more than triples compared to today. However, in a scenario with strong investments in renewable energy technologies the carbon dependency of electricity production can be significantly reduced. We discuss these findings from a climate policy and financial markets perspective. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Energy efficiency provides substantial carbon dioxide emissions reduction. • Renewable energy sources substantially influences carbon dioxide emissions. • Substantively, renewable energy is slightly more effective than energy efficiency. • Affluence tampers the effectiveness of energy efficiency and renewable energy. This study examines the comparative effectiveness of two important proposed solutions to climate change—energy efficiency improvement and the development and use of renewable energy sources. We focus specifically on their impacts on carbon dioxide emissions by conducting fixed effects regression analysis of panel data pertaining to U.S. states. The analysis reveals a negative relationship between both remedies and carbon dioxide emissions. Although the effects of these potential solutions are statistically equivalent, renewable energy production has a slight edge. Reflecting upon these findings and the larger environmental problem, we caution against exclusive reliance on efficiency improvement and renewable energy to the neglect of other important actions, such as lifestyle modifications. A broad range of social changes, which incorporate the remedies investigated in this paper, are needed to limit long-term global temperature increases to the desired level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the relationship between renewable and non-renewable energy consumption and economic growth in the United States. While the regime-dependent Granger causality test results for the non-renewable energy consumption and economic growth suggest bi-directional causality in both regimes, we cannot validate any causality between renewable energy consumption and economic growth. The US meets its energy demand from non-renewable sources; as such, renewable energy consumption does not seem to affect economic growth. Given the efficiency and productivity of renewable energy investments, we conclude that it is worthwhile to consider renewable energy inputs to replace fossil fuels given potential benefits in terms of global warming and climate change concerns. In this regard, increasing the R&D investments in the renewable energy sectors, increases in productivity and profitability of renewable energy investments are likely to accrue benefits in the long run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this special issue is on the energy transformations taking place in several European countries (Austria, Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland) and at the federal and subnational (state) levels in the United States with special attention given to California. The cases examined all have federalist structures, and with the exception of the federal level of the United States, all have relatively ambitious climate and renewable energy targets. We compare these states out of an interest in better understanding how federalism interacts with energy transitions. The comparison is also intriguing as at the federal level the United States presents a stark contrast with the federalist European countries considered in this special issue but at the subnational level many similarities can be found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As demand for renewable energy grows, so does the need for an improved understanding of renewable energy sources. Paradoxically, the climate change mitigation strategy of fossil fuel divestment is in itself subject to shifts in weather patterns resulting from climate change. This is particularly true with solar power, which depends on local cloud cover. However, because observed shortwave radiation data usually span a decade or less, persistent long-term trends may not be identified. A simple linear regression model is created here using diurnal temperature range (DTR) during 2002-15 as a predictor variable to estimate long-term shortwave radiation (SR) values in the northeastern United States. Using an extended DTR dataset, SR values are computed for 1956-2015. Statistically significant decreases in shortwave radiation are identified that are dominated by changes during the summer months. Because this coincides with the season of greatest insolation and the highest potential for energy production, financial implications may be large for the solar energy industry if such trends persist into the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study addresses the greatest concern facing the large-scale integration of wind, water, and solar (WWS) into a power grid: the high cost of avoiding load loss caused by WWS variability and uncertainty. It uses a new grid integrationmodel and finds low-cost, no-load-loss, nonunique solutions to this problem on electrification of all US energy sectors (electricity, transportation, heating/cooling, and industry) while accounting for wind and solar time series data from a 3D global weather model that simulates extreme events and competition among wind turbines for available kinetic energy. Solutions are obtained by prioritizing storage for heat (in soil and water); cold (in ice and water); and electricity (in phase-change materials, pumped hydro, hydropower, and hydrogen), and using demand response. No natural gas, biofuels, nuclear power, or stationary batteries are needed. The resulting 2050-2055 US electricity social cost for a full system is much less than for fossil fuels. These results hold for many conditions, suggesting that low-cost, reliable 100% WWS systems should work many places worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wind power is a critically important climate change mitigation technology, and the most rapidly growing renewable energy technology in the USA. Wind energy can provide carbon-free electricity generation, so within societal discourse on how society should minimize the risks of climate change it is widely recognized and acknowledged as a valuable technology. Despite recent increases in wind turbine installation in the USA, the high-level of variation in deployment patterns of wind technology in different states cannot be explained simply by wind resource patterns. Other factors, including differences in the state-level, socio-political context, seem to be influencing wind development. This research compares these contextual differences by using media analysis to assess state-level public discourse about wind technology. Through comparative content and frame analysis of newspaper coverage of wind power in Texas, Minnesota, and Massachusetts, we explore state-level variations in the salience of wind in public discourse, the focus on wind power as a climate change mitigating technology, and the framing of wind power's risks and benefits. In addition to identifying distinct state-level variation in wind energy discourse, the results demonstrate that wind's climate change mitigation potential has been a limited but growing part of media coverage on wind power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Renewable energy development is a necessary step toward climate change mitigation, so these topics have often been linked. In US public discourse, however, they have somewhat different profiles—climate change views are tied closely to partisan identity, whereas renewable energy exhibits more cross-cutting appeal, and sometimes more cross-cutting opposition as well. To what extent are such differences reflected in survey data tracking rates of change, respondent characteristics, and local or regional variations in public opinion on renewable energy and climate?Methods: We explore similarities and differences in views of renewable energy and climate change using a unique collection of 18 US national or regional surveys totaling more than 14,000 interviews, conducted between 2011 and 2017. Individual surveys varied in context, content, and goals, but all asked two common energy and climate questions, which yield comparable and strikingly consistent results.Results: Public support for renewable energy appears broader than acceptance of anthropogenic climate change (ACC), especially in a more conservative region. Despite local controversies, support for renewable energy in recent years rose faster than ACC acceptance on two regional surveys. Political divisions remain wide on both topics, but wider regarding climate change—particularly among college-educated respondents. Renewable energy views in counties with proposed or operating wind farms are not systematically different from those in other counties.Conclusions: Overall, these results provide encouragement for promoting renewable energy in terms of its economic benefits, working around some of the political identity-based resistance to climate change mitigation. That approach could be most important in politically conservative regions where such resistance is strong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]