Each week, I review the papers, studies, reports, and briefings posted over at the RFF Library Blog.
[Oil and Gas Journal] Unconventional oil and gas presents perhaps the single largest opportunity to improve the trajectory of the US economy, according to a report released by Harvard University Business School (HBS) and Boston Consulting Group Inc. (BCG). - via Harvard Business School / by Michael E. Porter, David S. Gee, and Gregory J. Pope
Nature as Capital — PNAS 100th Anniversary Special Feature on Ecosystem Services
Core Concept: Ecosystem services / by Amy West
If one were to build a healthy biosphere from scratch on another planet, what kinds of ecosystems and combinations of species would be necessary to support humans? This is the thought experiment that ecologist Gretchen Daily, a Bing professor at Stanford University, poses to illustrate the crucial role that the natural environment plays in supporting human society… - via Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2015, v112 n24)
Competitiveness of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency in U.S. Markets
[Fierce Energy] Renewable energy and energy efficiency are competitive resources in today’s marketplace that will not only be cost-effective mechanisms for compliance with EPA’s Clean Power Plan (CPP) but should also be expected to grow strictly on the basis of cost. That is according to a report [attached] published today by the Advanced Energy Economy Institute (AEEI), which disputes “official projections” it says do not capture market realities and discount the growth potential of these resources and the role they can play in state CPP compliance plans… - via Advanced Energy Economy Institute (free download with registration)
Barriers to Industrial Energy Efficiency: Report to Congress
…The report—including the accompanying study (Appendix A)—examines barriers that impede the adoption of energy efficient technologies and practices in the industrial sector, and identifies successful examples and opportunities to overcome these barriers. - via US Dept. of Energy
A Comprehensive Analysis of Groundwater Quality in The Barnett Shale Region
The exploration of unconventional shale energy reserves and the extensive use of hydraulic fracturing during well stimulation have raised concerns about the potential effects of unconventional oil and gas extraction (UOG) on the environment. Most accounts of groundwater contamination have focused primarily on the compositional analysis of dissolved gases to address whether UOG activities have had deleterious effects on overlying aquifers. - via Environmental Science and Technology (Published online June 16, 2015; DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.5b01526) / by Zacariah Louis Hildenbrand, et al.
Follow the RFF Library Blog via RSS feed or @ChrisClotworthy on Twitter.
