British Columbia’s natural gas industry is currently facing competitive pressures from other gas-producing jurisdictions in North America. The emergence of shale gas developments has resulted in natural gas prices falling dramatically. Nonetheless, British Columbia is positioned to take...

A linear programming model is used to examine the impact of carbon taxes on the optimal generation mix in the Alberta electrical system. The model permits decommissioning of generating assets with high carbon dioxide emissions and investment in new gas-fired, wind and, in some scenarios, nuclear...

In this study, the prospects of wind power at the global level are reviewed. Existing studies indicate that the earth’s wind energy supply potential significantly exceeds global energy demand. Yet, only 1% of the global electricity demand is currently derived from wind power despite 40% annual...

The government of British Columbia imposes restrictions on the export of logs from public and private forestlands, primarily to promote local processing and associated employment benefits. Economists wholeheartedly oppose BC’s export restrictions, arguing that BC’s citizens are worse off as...

This paper deals with forest trade modelling from a theoretical, analytic and empirical perspective. An integrated dynamic log-lumber trade model is developed and then used to examine two trade issues, namely, a reduction of Russian taxes on log exports and removal of the taxes on Canadian...

Given the complexity and relative short length of current predicting system for fire behavior, it is inappropriate to be referred for planning fire-fighting budgets of BC government due to the severe uncertainty of fire behavior across fire seasons. Therefore, a simple weather derived index for...

We present estimates of the demand for hunting licenses by residents and non residents in British Columbia for the period 1971–2000. We obtain estimates of both short-run and long-run price elasticities and discuss their revenue implications for future fee increases. We further find the demand...

We present estimates of the demand for hunting licenses by residents and non residents in British Columbia for the period 1971–2000. We obtain estimates of both short-run and long- run price elasticities and discuss their revenue implications for future fee increases. We find the demand by non...

The carbon flux from burning biomass for energy is often legislated, or simply assumed, to be carbon neutral as subsequent forest growth sequesters carbon lost during energy production. In this sense, there may be no net contributions to atmospheric carbon flux associated with biomass energy....

This paper serves to document the REPA Forest Trade Model – a global model of forest trade that consists of ten products across two horizontal layers in a vertical chain. The model includes 20 regions: Five Canadian regions (Atlantic Canada, Central Canada, Alberta, BC Interior and BC Coast),...