J. Wesley Burnett

Spatial analysis of China province-level CO2 emission intensity

This study offers a unique contribution to the literature by investigating the influential factors of energyrelated, carbon dioxide emission intensity among a panel of 30 provinces in China covering the period 1991–2010. We use novel spatial panel data models to analyze the drivers of energy-related emission intensity, which we posit are characterized by spatial dependence. Our results suggest (1) emission intensities are negatively affected by per-capita, province-level GDP and population density; (2) emission intensities are positively affected by the structure of energy consumption and the transportation sector; and, (3) energy prices have no effect on emission intensities.

The State of Play in Poland's Unconventional Shale and Oil Development

Following the huge gas and oil rush in the US, the world’s gas and oil companies have been eyeing reserves in other countries including Poland, which is believed to be sitting on one of the largest reserves in the European Union. The Poles, seeking to diversify their energy sources and meet EU emissions standards, which are driving up electricity costs, met the news with tremendous fanfare. Following initial geological assessments, major international oil and gas companies soon made announcements to begin drilling operations in Poland. However, one of the major challenges of shale gas development is that is often requires voluminous speculative activity before the gas is successfully extracted. In the U.S. this was not such a problem because of several adventuresome energy firms willing to take on risk, but in Poland (and Europe in general) such firms are rare, and in former communist countries these firms are rarer still. This lack of critical infrastructure coupled with bureaucratic red tape in the permitting process has led to slow growth in exploration activities in Poland. Will Poland be able to successfully develop these resources? This manuscript explores the current state of play in Poland’s unconventional gas and oil development.

Unconventional Gas and Oil Development: Economic, Environmental, and Policy Analysis

In recent years, the United States has experienced a tremendous resurgence in hydrocarbon production, largely driven by recent technological advancements that have enabled natural gas and crude oil to be economically produced from shale and other low-permeability formations. In the process, the United States has become the worlds largest producer of natural gas. According to British Petroleums statistical world energy review, the United States has surpassed the Russian Federation in reaching a new all-time high of 688 billion cubic meters of produced natural gas in 2013 (British Petroleum 2014). At the same time, the United States overtook Saudi Arabia to become one of the largest crude oil producers in the world (Smith 2014)-U.S. output exceeded 11 million barrels per day during the first five months of 2014 (Energy Information Administration 2014a).Global and Domestic Impacts of U.S. Oil and Gas DevelopmentThe development of shale gas and oil in the United States has fundamentally changed the global energy market. Prior to the mid-2000s, production of natural gas and oil in the United States had been on a slow decline after peaking in the early 1970s. As Figure 1 demonstrates, the shale revolution fundamentally changed those trends. Between 2005 and 2013, oil and natural gas production increased by approximately 44 percent and 35 percent, respectively, attributable mostly to shale, while production outside the United States has been relatively stable so far (Aguilera and Radetzki 2013).The oil market is globally integrated so there is a single world price per quantity and quality. It is difficult to determine exactly how much impact the shale revolution has had on oil prices, but as of January 2015, U.S. prices of light crude fell below

A spatial panel data approach to estimating U.S. state-level energy emissions

50 a barrel for the first time in nearly six years amid mounting fear among producers that the market will remain awash in crude for the foreseeable future (Friedman 2015). The decline in prices is not entirely attributed to U.S. shale production; economies in Europe and Asia have continued to struggle and those nations have consumed less crude than expected. Over the last several decades, Saudi Arabia has played the role of swing producer-a supplier of crude oil that possesses substantial spare production capacity and, as a result, can increase or decrease supply at a minimum cost and thus influence prices and the balance in markets (Griffin and Neilson 1994). At the moment, however, it appears that the excess short-run crude supply coming from the United States has robbed Saudi Arabia of that power, and some analysts are predicting further near-term slides in global crude prices (Friedman 2015). Other analysts have argued that Saudi Arabia is strategically allowing the slide in crude oil prices by not cutting its production to see how long American producers can pump shale oil profitably (Solomon and Said 2014). Meanwhile, U.S. auto drivers are enjoying low gasoline prices; the national average retail price fell below

Economic Growth and Environmental Degradation

2.20 per gallon in January 2015. Analysts predict that, if gasoline prices remain this low through 2015, American households can save an average of

Carbon dioxide emissions and economic growth in the U.S.

400 per month (Schwartz, Krauss, and Searcey 2014]. With downward pressure on crude prices, core inflation is also expected to remain low in the coming year, which may further stimulate the national economy and enhance job growth following the 2008 recession.Economists and energy analysts have long recognized the tie (cointegration] between prices for crude oil and natural gas. Their prices often deviate in the short run because natural gas prices tend to be more volatile (Ramberg and Parsons 2012]. Therefore, since global crude prices are trending downward, the same is expected for natural gas prices. However, one can argue that natural gas markets are not globally integrated under a single world price so there is considerable variation in domestic natural gas prices across countries. In the United States, wellhead prices for natural gas have been declining since reaching a peak in 2008 at approximately

Province-level convergence of China’s carbon dioxide emissions

10 per thousand cubic feet. …