A case study of the Central Vermont Public Service Corporation (CVPS) Cow Power program examines the economic feasibility for dairy farms to convert cow manure into electricity via anaerobic methane digestion. The study confirms that it is technically feasible to convert cow manure to...

In 2015, West Virginia will implement a Renewable and Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act. Meeting these standards with either natural gas or wind power will generate different welfare impacts across society. In particular, this study examined how energy source and generation proximity...

State policy incentives for solar power have grown significantly in the past several years. This paper uses county level panel data to investigate whether state policy incentives are effective in increasing residential solar PV capacity. Empirical findings show that tax incentives, rebates,...

Several studies in the recent past have offered a contrasting and wide range of perspectives on economic and environmental implications of biofuels. In this study we develop a comprehensive and consistent framework for analyzing the global economic interactions and the direct and indirect...

Food and energy security have increasingly acquired key natural resource policy focus. As alternative energy solutions become more land intensive, the potential implication to the agricultural sector becomes of policy interest. This study investigated the impact of projected wind energy...

We examine the extent to which economic development reduces both a country's disaster risk and its social vulnerability to climate-related disasters. Global climate change is expected to increase the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, such as droughts, floods, and various types...

A cereal yield response function is estimated conditional upon environmental and topographical features to detect the effects of spatial heterogeneity and spatial dependence in explaining agricultural productivity across Sub-Saharan Africa. Controlling for direct and localized spillover effects,...

2010 AAEA Presidential Address; forthcoming in January 2011 AJAE in shortened version.

This paper systematically estimates the potential benefit of introducing improved irrigation schemes in Mt. Kilimanjaro to help rain dependent farmers cope with the risks of climate change. The study uses Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) to elicit farmers’ Willingness to Pay (WTP) for...