California Energy Commission

About: California Energy Commission is a government organization based out in Sacramento, California, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Climate change & Global warming. The organization has 92 authors who have published 121 publications receiving 4614 citations. The organization is also known as: Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission & State of California Energy Commission.

Global Cooling: Increasing World-Wide Urban Albedos to Offset CO2

Abstract: Increasing urban albedo can reduce summertime temperatures, resulting in better air quality and savings from reduced air-conditioning costs. In addition, increasing urban albedo can result in less absorption of incoming solar radiation by the surface-troposphere system, countering to some extent the global scale effects of increasing greenhouse gas concentrations. Pavements and roofs typically constitute over 60% of urban surfaces (roof 20–25%, pavements about 40%). Using reflective materials, both roof and pavement albedos can be increased by about 0.25 and 0.15, respectively, resulting in a net albedo increase for urban areas of about 0.1. On a global basis, we estimate that increasing the world-wide albedos of urban roofs and paved surfaces will induce a negative radiative forcing on the earth equivalent to offsetting about 44 Gt of CO2 emissions. At ∼$25/tonne of CO2, a 44 Gt CO2 emission offset from changing the albedo of roofs and paved surfaces is worth about $1,100 billion. Furthermore, many studies have demonstrated reductions of more than 20% in cooling costs for buildings whose rooftop albedo has been increased from 10–20% to about 60% (in the US, potential savings exceed $1 billion per year). Our estimated CO2 offsets from albedo modifications are dependent on assumptions used in this study, but nevertheless demonstrate remarkable global cooling potentials that may be obtained from cooler roofs and pavements.

International Equity and Differentiation in Global Warming Policy

Abstract: ne of the major obstacles to reaching a comprehensive agreement on global warming is the setting of greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for individual countries. Long-standing tensions between industrialized and developing countries have raised the issue of equity in burden-sharing. Moreover, individual industrialized nations have pleaded special circumstances and have sought differentiation in their obligations. This paper analyzes alternative rules for distributing tradable carbon dioxide emissions permits. A non-linear programming model, which distinguishes between allocation-based and outcome-based rules, is used to analyze the relative welfare outcomes. The model is applied to the world body of nations and yields several important policy implications.

Demand for clean-fuel vehicles in california: a discrete-choice stated preference pilot project

Abstract: A study was conducted to determine how demand for clean-fuel vehicles and their fuel is likely to vary as a function of attributes that distinguish these vehicles from conventional gasoline vehicles. For the purposes of the study, clean-fuel vehicles are defined to encompass both electric vehicles and unspecified (methanol, ethanol, compressed natural gas or propane) liquid and gaseous fuel vehicles, in both dedicated or multiple-fuel versions. The attributes include vehicle purchase price, fuel operating cost, vehicle range between refueling, availability of fuel, dedicated versus multiple-fuel capability and the level of reduction in emissions (compared to current vehicles). In a mail-back stated preference survey, approximately 700 respondents in the California South Coast Air Basin gave their choices among sets of hypothetical future vehicles, as well as their choices between alternative fuel versus gasoline for hypothetical multiple-fuel vehicles. Estimates of attribute importance and segment differences are made using discrete-choice nested multinomial logit models for vehicle choice and binomial logit models for fuel choice. These estimates can be used to modify present vehicle-type choice and utilization models to accomodate clean-fuel vehicles; they can also be used to evaluate scenarios for alternative clean-fuel vehicle and fuel supply configurations. Results indicate that range between refueling is an important attribute, particularly if range for an alternative fuel is substantially less than that for gasoline. For fuel choice, the most important attributes are range and fuel cost, but the predicted probability of choosing alternative fuel is also affected by emissions levels, which can compensate for differences in fuel prices.