Paper Number: EE-0484

Document Date: 11/16/2005

Author(s):  Alpha-Gamma Technologies, Inc.

Subject Area(s):

Economic Analysis, Land Use, Greenhouse Gases, Aquaculture, Climate Change, Economic Impacts

Keywords: Economic Analysis, Land Use, Greenhouse Gases, Aquaculture, Climate Change, Economic Impacts

Summary: 

The purpose of the Environmental Policy and Economics Workshop Series is to hold in-depth workshops on timely topics that will further the use of economics as a tool for environmental decision making. Both NSF/EPA grant recipients and researchers (from EPA, fellow Federal agencies, academia, and others) will be invited to attend and discuss their on-going research. Topics will be chosen based on relevance to current EPA issues and, more broadly, to issues of concern to the environmental economics community. These topics include exploration of innovations in economic research methods as well as how research will further environmental policy making and future environmental economic studies.

EPA's National Centers for Environmental Economics and Environmental Research held a one-day workshop on Socio-Economic Causes and Consequences of Future Environmental Changes. This workshop, held on November 16, 2005 at EPA’s Region 9 Office in San Francisco, CA, highlighted research results from EPA's Science to Achieve Results (STAR) grants. Topics included environmental impacts of land use changes, environmental consequences of growth on the U.S. aquaculture industry , and the role of demographic changes in future greenhouse gas emissions. Additional research on the consequences of global change, including climate and climate variability, land use, economic development, and technology on air quality was also be presented.

Introductory Remarks – Tom Huetteman, Deputy Assistant Regional Administrator, USEPA Pacific Southwest Region 9

Session I: Trends in Housing, Land Use, and Land Cover Change

• Determinants of Land Use Conversion on the Southern Cumberland Plateau, Robert Gottfried (presenter), Jonathan Evans, David Haskell, and Douglass Williams, University of the South
• Integrating Economic and Physical Data to Forecast Land Use Change and Environmental Consequences for California’s Coastal Watersheds, Kathleen Lohse, David Newburn, and Adina Merenlender (presenter), University of California at Berkeley
• Discussant: Steve Newbold, US EPA, National Center for Environmental Economics
• Discussant: Heidi Albers, Oregon State University

Session II: The Economic and Demographic Drivers of Aquaculture and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Growth

• Future Growth of the U.S. Aquaculture Industry and Associated Environmental Quality Issues, Di Jin (presenter), Porter Hoagland, and Hauke Kite Powell, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
• Households, Consumption, and Energy Use: The Role of Demographic Change in Future U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Brian O’Neill, Brown University, Michael Dalton (presenter), California State University – Monterey Bay, John Pitkin, Alexia Prskawetz, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research
• Discussant: Tim Eichenberg, The Ocean Conservancy
• Discussant: Charles Kolstad, University of California at Santa Barbara

Session III: New Research: Land Use, Transportation, and Air Quality

• Transforming Office Parks Into Transit Villages: Pleasanton's Hacienda Business Park, Steve Raney (presenter), Cities21
• Methodology for Assessing the Effects of Technological and Economic Changes on the Location, Timing and Ambient Air Quality Impacts of Power Sector Emissions, Joseph Ellis and Benjamin Hobbs (presenter), Johns Hopkins University, Dallas Burtaw and Karen Palmer, Resources for the Future
• Integrating Land Use, Transportation and Air Quality Modeling, Paul Waddell (presenter), University of Washington
• Regional Development, Population Trend, and Technology Change Impacts on Future Air Pollution Emissions in the San Joaquin Valley, Michael Kleeman, Deb Niemeier, Susan Handy (presenter), Jay Lund, Song Bai, Sangho Choo, Julie Ogilvie, Shengyi Gao, University of California at Davis
• Wrap-Up and Closing Comments

This workshop is part of the Environmental Policy and Economics Workshop Series.

• Socio-economic Causes and Consequences of Future Environmental Changes Workshop (PDF)(233 pp, 6 MB, 11/16/2005, EE-0492)
  EPA's National Centers for Environmental Economics and Environmental Research held a one-day workshop on Socio-Economic Causes and Consequences of Future Environmental Changes on Nov 16, 2005 at EPA’s Region 9 Office in San Francisco, CA. Highlighted research results from EPA's Science to Achieve Results (STAR) grants. Topics included environmental impacts of land use changes, environmental consequences of growth on the U.S. aquaculture industry, and role of demographics on GHG emissions.