Environment

Economic Analysis of the Water-Energy-Food Nexus: My Visiting Research Fellowship at the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature in Kyoto, Japan

July 30, 2015

By Kimberly Burnett Earlier this year I had the opportunity to work with an interdisciplinary team at the Research Institute of Humanity and Nature (RIHN) on a Visiting Research Fellowship examining “Human-Environmental Security in Asia-Pacific Ring of Fire: Water-Energy-Food Nexus.” Our objective was to design research frameworks for conducting water-energy-food economic analyses for three study […]

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Assessing the potential for food and energy self-sufficiency on the island of Kauai, Hawaii

July 1, 2015

Food and energy security are major concerns in the Pacific and around the world. They are key planning priorities in Food and energy security are major concerns in the Pacific and around the world. They are key planning priorities in the state of Hawai‘i as well. Approximately 90% of energy and food resources are imported […]

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Intergenerational Games with Dynamic Externalities and Climate Change Experiments

June 8, 2015

Dynamic externalities are at the core of many long-term environmental problems, from species preservation to natural hazard resilience mitigation. We use laboratory experiments to compare welfare outcomes and underlying behavior in games with dynamic externalities under two distinct settings: traditionally studied games with infinitely-lived decision makers, and more realistic intergenerational games. We show that if […]

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Using Vog from Kilauea to Estimate the Health Consequences of Particulate and SO2 Pollution

April 15, 2015

By Tim Halliday, John Lynham and Aureo de Paula Kīlauea volcano is the largest stationary source of sulfur dioxide (SO₂) pollution in the United States of America. The SO₂ that the volcano emits eventually forms particulate matter, another major pollutant. In a recent project, we use this exogenous source of pollution variation to estimate the impact of […]

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Vog: Using Volcanic Eruptions to Estimate the Health Costs of Particulates

April 6, 2015

The negative consequences of long-term exposure to particulate pollution are well-established but many studies find no effect of short-term exposure on health outcomes. The high correlation of industrial pollutant emissions complicates the estimation of the impact of individual pollutants on health. In this study, we use emissions from Kilauea volcano, which are uncorrelated with other […]

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Payments for Watershed Services as Adaptation to Climate Change: Upstream Conservation and Downstream Aquifer Management

January 1, 2015

Economically optimal groundwater extraction allocates water over space and time to its highest and best social use. But optimal management of water resources also requires optimal investment in watershed capital, even as the climate is changing. We augment a standard coastal groundwater management model with stock-dependent extraction costs to include recharge-enhancing natural and produced capital […]

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Benefit-Cost Analysis of Watershed Conservation

December 23, 2014

The objectives of this report are (1) to review studies that estimate the relationship between watershed conservation activities and groundwater recharge in Hawai‘i and (2) to estimate the volume of freshwater yield saved per dollar invested in conservation at several sites on Hawai‘i Island. We conclude from the literature review that more work should be […]

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Benefits and Costs of Implementing the IAPMO Green Plumbing and Mechanical Code Supplement in Hawaii

December 6, 2014

We calculate the benefits and costs of implementing the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials (IAPMO) 2012 Green Plumbing and Mechanical Code Supplement (GPMC) for various building types in Hawaii, with particular emphasis on water-use efficiency provisions in the code. Benefits of the GPMC are measured as water savings, where baseline usage is estimated […]

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PV Growth in Hawai’i?

October 13, 2014

By Sherilyn Wee and Makena Coffman Public comments regarding Hawaiian Electric’s PSIP and DGIP were due last week. Here’s a recap of what Hawaiian Electric has proposed for rooftop solar PV. Hawai’i is characterized with small island electricity grids and some of the highest rates of solar PV penetration in the world. With over 10% […]

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