Workshop on Energy and Environmental Research

UH Mānoa is particularly strong in energy, environment and resource policy, which often requires interdisciplinary research. This workshop is organized by UHERO and facilitates interaction among faculty and graduate students in UHERO, Economics, Engineering, NREM, DURP, SOEST and more. We also hope to draw participation from visitors and professional economists and policy analysts around the State. Work in progress is strongly encouraged!

Seminars will take place at the Miller Room. The seminar can also be attended online via Zoom on Mondays from 12:00pm – 1:15pm. Subscribe to the WEER mailing list to receive the Zoom link and further information on upcoming sessions.

Class Credit:
Graduate students can obtain ECON 696 credit from Professor Roberts.

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Fall 2024

Date

Speaker

Title

Abstract

August 26

Iman Nasseri, FGE

Energy and Greenhouse Gas Solutions: An Introduction to Market Analysis and a Long-term Outlook.

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Energy and Greenhouse Gas Solutions: An Introduction to Market Analysis and a Long-term Outlook.

Iman Nasseri
Abstract:
Iman Nasseri (PhD in Economics at UHM, 2013) is an active energy economist at FGE, a world-renowned consultancy for the global energy markets. FGE provides analytics services to many clients worldwide including Hawaii State Energy Office. We have an excellent opportunity to hear from Iman about the recent trends and outlook of global energy markets (oil and natural gas in particular) and their interlinkages with clean energy development.

September 2

Holiday: Labor Day

September 9

Michael Roberts & Ethan Hartely, University of Hawaii

A Proposal for Real-Time Pricing Tariffs for Large Electricity Customers

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A Proposal for Real-Time Pricing Tariffs for Large Electricity Customers

Michael Roberts & Ethan Hartely
Abstract: (View Paper)
As Oahu’s electric grid transitions to clean energy, characterized by variable wind, solar, and storage resources, the marginal cost of electricity will become increasingly variable across time and location. Consequently, the value of using locational marginal prices (LMP) for customer billing and compensating distributed generation will increase significantly. This report outlines a proposal to implement a real-time pricing tariff (RTP) for large commercial customers (schedules P and DS), with the University of Hawai’i as the initial pilot customer under the tariff.

September 16

September 23

September 30

Andrew Earle,
East Carolina University

Valuing America’s Best Idea: Demand for the U.S. National Park System

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Valuing America’s Best Idea: Demand for the U.S. National Park System

Andrew Earle
Abstract:
Since at least the 1940s, the U.S. National Park Service has sought to value the recreational benefits the national parks provide visitors, but existing valuation efforts typically analyze only a handful of parks at a specific point in time. Using a travel cost RUM, I value the recreational benefits provided by 140 national parks across the contiguous United States from 2005 to 2019. The estimated model also provides a national park awesomeness index and reveals how park resources, like wildlife, infrastructure, and land cover, influence park values.

October 7

October 14

Sahan Dissanayake
Portland State University

Using Valuation to Guide Policy: Cascade Tank Restoration in Sri Lanka and Labor and monetary Payments

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Using Valuation to Guide Policy: Cascade Tank Restoration in Sri Lanka and Labor and monetary Payments

Sahan Dissanayake
Abstract:
The use of stated preference methods in developing countries is growing rapidly. At the same time using monetary payment vehicles and estimating a Willingness to Pay (WTP) can be problematic in rural areas in developing countries as many respondents in these areas regularly engage in barter and paying with labor. In response to these concerns, a growing number of stated preference studies explore using both monetary and non-monetary payment options. We contribute to this literature by exploring how the use of monetary vs labor payment options can impact values elicited from choice experiment studies. Our application elicits values for restoring an ancient irrigation system know as cascading tank systems in Sri Lanka and has parallels to the Japanese land use system of Satoyama. These irrigations systems were created over 1500-2000 years ago but are still functioning today and provide irrigation for nearly 40% of the total irrigable area of Sri Lanka. At the same time these ancient systems are degrading and there are a large number of efforts to restore these systems which the FAO recently identified as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS). We conduct a choice experiment to understand the WTP/willingness-to-contribute of rural households to restore these irrigation systems. We also contribute to the literature on the applications of choice experiments in developing country settings by comparing data gathering methods, specifically individual surveys vs group information sessions. We find in this instance the laor and monetary payments are similar in the individual survey setting but we do find differences in the group survey setting.

October 21

Byeong-Hak Choe
SUNY Geneseo

Social Media Campaigns, Lobbying, and Legislation: Evidence from #climatechange and Energy Lobbies

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Social Media Campaigns, Lobbying, and Legislation: Evidence from #climatechange and Energy Lobbies

Byeong-Hak Choe
Abstract:
This study examines the impact of social media campaigns on U.S. Congress members’ legislative actions regarding climate change, contrasting these with the influence of fossil fuel lobbying. The research focuses on the period from January 2013 to January 2019, finding a polarizing effect: a 1% per-capita increase in Twitter climate change campaign activities decreases the probability of a Democrat supporting climate-unfriendly legislation by 0.9 percentage points, while increasing the probability of a Republicans supporting climate-unfriendly legislation by 0.2 percentage points. This study utilizes a panel dataset encompassing climate change campaigns on Twitter, energy lobbying, and climate change legislation from 2012 to 2017, covering the 113th to 115th Houses of Congress. Worldwide-US Twitter activities related to climate change, including tweets with hashtags #climatechange and #globalwarming, retweets, and likes, are used as proxies for climate change campaigns in social media. The dataset contains comprehensive details of 310,717 U.S. Twitter users, including their geographic locations at the county level in the U.S., and a sentiment analysis of 1,444,766 tweets posted by these users. In terms of methodology, this research accounts for the possibility that variations in social media campaigns may be exogenous to congressional voting decisions on climate-unfriendly bills. Traditional probit or logit models could be biased by unobserved factors influencing congresspersons’ votes, potentially correlated with social media activities in their districts. To mitigate these biases, I apply methods for estimating causal effects from observational data, including propensity score weighting with continuous treatments and double machine learning. A range of regression models, such as correlated random effect probit/logit and linear probability models are employed to ensure robustness in the findings. This study discusses the significant, yet divisive, influence of social media campaigns on legislative actions in climate policy, reflecting the varied responses of Democrats and Republicans. This research offers insights into the dynamics of online activism and its effectiveness in shaping political responses to environmental issues.

October 28

November 4


November 11

November 18

Eyal Frank,
University of Chicago

The Economics of the Biodiversity Crisis & Quasi-experimental Methods

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The Economics of the Biodiversity Crisis & Quasi-experimental Methods

Eyal Frank
Abstract:
What can economists say about declining biodiversity level and degradation of ecosystems? I will review the key concepts in environmental economics on these topics and how they have evolved over time, followed by a quick review on quasi-experimental methods and how I use them in my research to quantify the contribution of natural inputs to human well-being.

November 25

Marcus Peng
UH Mānoa

Time-use and the economic benefits of outdoor recreation for Hawaii visitors

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Time-use and the economic benefits of outdoor recreation for Hawaii visitors

Marcus Peng
Abstract:
We estimate the value of recreational activities with consideration of substitution effects by conducting a travel cost study of visitors to Hawaii with a focus on recreation activity choice and time-use. We apply multiple discrete-continuous extreme value models (MDCEV) to estimate the value of major recreation activities (notablynotably beaches) and their substitutes across the Main Hawaiian Islands (MHI) based on time consumption and monetary constraints. The results demonstrate a value of $388, $32.31, $75.88, $7.02, $38.11, $36.75, $4.72, $57.04, and $35,970 in recreational benefits per travel party per trip for recreation at the beach, non-beach outdoor recreation, dinner shows, stand-alone entertainment, recreation time at hotels, shopping, dining, other discretionary activities, and all discretionary activities combined, respectively. This work improves on previous non-market valuations of outdoor recreation and the nearshore environment in the region by explicitly addressing tradeoffs and considering substation behavior across alternatives available to the recreationist.

December 2

December 9

Ethan Hartley & Michael Roberts,
UH Mānoa

Variable Pricing Accelerates Decarbonization of the Electricity Sector: Implications from a High-Resolution Model of the Continental United States

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Variable Pricing Accelerates Decarbonization of the Electricity Sector: Implications from a High-Resolution Model of the Continental United States

Ethan Hartley & Michael Roberts
Abstract:
Real-time pricing (RTP) sets the price of electricity equal to its marginal cost over a short period, typically one hour. Alternatively, time-of-use pricing (TOU) sets prices by time of day, ideally varying according to the typical marginal cost in each block. Since network monopolies govern electricity at the retail level, prices are regulated and rarely time-varying. Usually, retail prices far exceed marginal costs to help recover capital and operations costs. Sometimes, retail prices can be far less than marginal cost, particularly when demand approaches the system’s capacity and scarcity rents become large. Economists have long advocated for variable prices that come as close as feasible to marginal cost. While nominal gains in conventional power systems are modest, variable retail pricing also alleviates market power in wholesale markets, which can be substantial. Variable pricing is also becoming more valuable with intermittent solar and wind growth. For the island of Oahu, the benefits of RTP are 6-12 times greater in a decarbonized system compared to a conventional one, depending on demand and cost assumptions. In this paper, we evaluate the benefits of RTP and TOU nationally using a high-resolution implementation of Switch, open-source software that simultaneously resolves investment, hourly chronological operations, and demand across 26 regions, including crucial weather links. We use this model to project the effects of the Inflation Reduction Act on the decarbonization pathway and how much RTP and TOU would shift that path. We also quantify the social benefits from both emissions reductions and consumer benefits. Without RTP or TOU, projected emissions reductions align with recent studies. The model projects a considerably faster decarbonization pathway with RTP that meets or exceeds ambitious decarbonization goals while generating significant additional consumer benefits. Gains from TOU are substantial but far less than RTP.