Against High Interest Rates

In the economics of climate change, the future benefits of greenhouse gas emissions abatement are commonly discounted at a rate equal to the long-run return on corporate stocks, which averaged 6% per year during the 20th century. Since a 6% discount rate implies that one dollar of benefits obtained one century from the present attains a present value of less than one cent, this method implies that only modest steps towards greenhouse gas emissions are economically warranted. This chapter critiques this approach to discounting the future based on three distinct lines of reasoning. First, the use of high discount rates is inconsistent with classical utilitarianism, which holds that equal weight should be attached to the welfare of present and future generations. Second, the approach violates the principle of stewardship, which holds that it is morally unjust for present generations to engage in actions that impose uncompensated environmental costs on posterity. Third, the use of a 6% discount rate is appropriate in the analysis of public policies that have risk characteristics that are similar to those associated with corporate stocks. Economic theory, however, suggests that discount rates of 1% or less should be used to evaluate policies that reduce future risks. Since a main objective of climate change policies is to reduce the risks faced by future society, the use of high discount rates in the analysis of climate change policies is arguably inappropriate.

Greenhouse gas emissions from domestic hot water: heat pumps compared to most commonly used systems

We estimate the emissions of the two most important greenhouse gasses (GHG), carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4), from the use of modern high-efficiency heat pump water heaters compared to the most commonly used domestic hot water systems: natural gas storage tanks, tankless natural gas demand heaters, electric resistance storage tanks, and tankless electric resistance heaters. We considered both natural gas-powered electric plants and coal-powered plants as the source of the electricity for the heat pumps, the thermal electric storage tanks, and the tankless electric demand heaters. The time-integrated radiative forcing associated with using a heat pump water heater was always smaller than any other means of heating water considered in this study across all time frames including at 20 and 100 years. The estimated amount of CH4 lost during its lifecycle was the most critical factor determining the relative magnitude of the climatic impact. The greatest net climatic benefit within the 20-year time frame was predicted to be achieved when a storage natural gas water heater (the most common system for domestic hot water in the United States) fueled by shale gas was replaced with a high efficiency heat pump water heater powered by coal-generated electricity; the heat pump system powered by renewable electricity would have had an even greater climatic benefit, but was not explicitly modeled in this study. Our analysis provides the first assessment of the GHG footprint associated with using a heat pump water heater, which we demonstrate to be an effective and economically viable way of reducing emissions of GHGs.This study was funded by the Wallace Global Fund, the Park Foundation, and Cornell University

Green consumers and public policy: On socially contingent moral motivation

“Green” consumers appear to accept individual responsibility for public good provision. The propensity to take such responsibility may depend on beliefs about others’ behavior, even for consumers motivated by internalized moral norms, not by social sanctions. This can produce multiple equilibria, with either high or low demand for “green” products. Permanent increases in green consumption may be achieved through permanent or temporary taxes, or through advertising that temporarily influences beliefs about others’ behavior or about external effects. If a tax is interpreted as taking responsibility away from the individual, however, taxes can reduce the influence of moral motivation

Thermal detection of single e-h pairs in a biased silicon crystal detector

We demonstrate that individual electron-hole pairs are resolved in a 1 cm$^2$ by 4 mm thick silicon crystal (0.93 g) operated at $\sim$35 mK. One side of the detector is patterned with two quasiparticle-trap-assisted electro-thermal-feedback transition edge sensor (QET) arrays held near ground potential. The other side contains a bias grid with 20\% coverage. Bias potentials up to $\pm$ 160 V were used in the work reported here. A fiber optic provides 650~nm (1.9 eV) photons that each produce an electron-hole ($e^{-} h^{+}$) pair in the crystal near the grid. The energy of the drifting charges is measured with a phonon sensor noise $\sigma$ $\sim$0.09 $e^{-} h^{+}$ pair. The observed charge quantization is nearly identical for $h^+$'s or $e^-$'s transported across the crystal.Comment: 4 journal pages, 5 figure

Studies in the Lake Ontario Basin using ERTS-1 and high altitude data

Studies in the Lake Ontario Basin are designed to provide input for models of river basin discharge and macro-scale features of lake circulation. Lake studies appear to require high altitude imagery to record the dynamic features of Lake Ontario so that ERTS-1 data may be interpreted. Land area studies require input of soil moisture, land use and soil-sediment-geomorphology measurements some of which appear to be available, on a regional scale from ERTS-1 products

Gender equality and investments in adolescents in the rural Philippines:

"...Many studies have looked at the way resources are distributed to men, women, and especially to small children, but one age group within the family has been largely ignored: the adolescents. Adolescence is a crucial period in that teenagers can make major contributions to their families' welfare through their labor and earnings, in and outside the household, but may sacrifice their own wishes and future well-being in the process if such contributions come at the expense of investments in their education. The research methodology in this report, combining regression analysis with ethnography, provides a lesson in how complementarities between methodological approaches can be exploited...The research finds that parents are not unduly influenced by short-term needs and are ready to make substantial sacrifices in terms of current consumption in order to invest in their children's future. The research also concludes that boys and girls in this rural area of the Philippines are generally treated equally, provid ing a contrast with other Asian settings where discrimination by gender is common." (Forward by Per Pinstrup- Andersen)Teenagers Philippines Social conditions., Rural families Philippines., Gender, Health and nutrition, Education Economic aspects Philippines., Household resource allocation, Health.,

The Influence of Stellar Wind Variability on Measurements of Interstellar O VI Along Sightlines to Early-Type Stars

A primary goal of the FUSE mission is to understand the origin of the O VI ion in the interstellar medium of the Galaxy and the Magellanic Clouds. Along sightlines to OB-type stars, these interstellar components are usually blended with O VI stellar wind profiles, which frequently vary in shape. In order to assess the effects of this time-dependent blending on measurements of the interstellar O VI lines, we have undertaken a mini-survey of repeated observations toward OB-type stars in the Galaxy and the Large Magellanic Cloud. These sparse time series, which consist of 2-3 observations separated by intervals ranging from a few days to several months, show that wind variability occurs commonly in O VI (about 60% of a sample of 50 stars), as indeed it does in other resonance lines. However, in the interstellar O VI $\lambda$1032 region, the O VI $\lambda$1038 wind varies only in $\sim$30% of the cases. By examining cases exhibiting large amplitude variations, we conclude that stellar-wind variability {\em generally} introduces negligible uncertainty for single interstellar O VI components along Galactic lines of sight, but can result in substantial errors in measurements of broader components or blends of components like those typically observed toward stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Due to possible contamination by discrete absorption components in the stellar O VI line, stars with terminal velocities greater than or equal to the doublet separation (1654 km/s) should be treated with care.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Lette