Each week, I review the papers, studies, reports, and briefings posted over at the RFF Library Blog.
Principles for a Carbon Tax and Rebate Program to Address Climate Change: What the U.S. Congress Can Do
[From a Bloomberg Business article by Eric Roston] …A final document from the ExxonMobil-Sierra Club group, dated Sept. 8, 2009, set down guidelines conceived to help Congress write carbon tax legislation. The document was provided to Bloomberg by Bookbinder. - via “U.S. Climate Task Force ” (Sierra Club | ExxonMobil — dated Sept. 8, 2009) / by Robert Shapiro
What is Green Worth? Unveiling High-Performance Home Premiums in Washington, D.C.
[Environmental Valuation & Cost-Benefit News] Homebuyers are not only increasingly interested in high-performance homes, or homes incorporating green features, but they are also willing to pay more for them, according to a new study released today by the Institute for Market Transformation (IMT) and the District of Columbia’s Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE). - via Institute for Market Transformation DC Dept. of Energy and Environment | Adomatis
Cold Season Emissions Dominate the Arctic Tundra Methane Budget
[From an Energy Wire article by Gayathri Vaidyanathan, sub. req’d] The Arctic tundra is releasing more methane, a potent greenhouse gas, during wintertime than scientists previously thought. - via Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Published online before print December 22, 2015, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1516017113) / by Donatella Zona, et al.
Aquatic Carbon Cycling in the Conterminous United States and Implications for Terrestrial Carbon Accounting
Inland water ecosystems dynamically process, transport, and sequester carbon. However, the transport of carbon through aquatic environments has not been quantitatively integrated in the context of terrestrial ecosystems. Here, we present the first integrated assessment, to our knowledge, of freshwater carbon fluxes for the conterminous United States, where 106 (range: 71–149) teragrams of carbon per year (TgC⋅y−1) is exported downstream or emitted to the atmosphere and sedimentation stores 21 (range: 9–65) TgC⋅y−1 in lakes and reservoirs. We show that there is significant regional variation in aquatic carbon flux, but verify that emission across stream and river surfaces represents the dominant flux at 69 (range: 36–110) TgC⋅y−1or 65% of the total aquatic carbon flux for the conterminous United States. Comparing our results with the output of a suite of terrestrial biosphere models (TBMs), we suggest that within the current modeling framework, calculations of net ecosystem production (NEP) defined as terrestrial only may be overestimated by as much as 27%. However, the internal production and mineralization of carbon in freshwaters remain to be quantified and would reduce the effect of including aquatic carbon fluxes within calculations of terrestrial NEP. Reconciliation of carbon mass–flux interactions between terrestrial and aquatic carbon sources and sinks will require significant additional research and modeling capacity. - via Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Dec. 21, 2015;doi:10.1073/pnas.1512651112) / by David Butman, et al.
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