ECON 340/ENVA 300: Reading questions for Feb. 4

Reading questions for Tuesday Feb. 4:

Because we are not sure if the course packet will be available, I am using a substitute reading for our look at energy.

We will start from Chapter 7 from the Stern Review Report on the Economics of Climate Change, Cambridge University Press, 2006; see http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/independent_reviews/stern_review_economics_climate_change/stern_review_report.cfm

This is a major and influential report which we will review later in the semester -- for what it says about economics and climate change. For now, we'll look at what it says about energy use.

Questions:

1. Section 7.2:
a. What does CO2 equivalent mean?
b. What proportion of CO2 equivalent emissions are CO2 itself?
c. What does the "power" sector in Figure 7.1 include?
d. How important are cars, worldwide, for GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions? (see Fig. B)
e. Fig. 7.2: estimate the ratio of world CO2 emissions 100 years ago to 50 years ago to today.

2. Section 7.3:
a. Use the primary equation to interpret what is meant by the term "energy intensity."
b. What countries is the U.S. similar to in energy intensity? Rather different from?
c. Use Table 7.2 to explain why U.S. emissions of CO2 are increasing.
d. In what key ways has the EU experience of the past two decades differed fromt the U.S.?

3. Section 7.6:
a. Does Lord Stern's report conclude that oil shortages and soaring prices will have a significant impact on CO2 emissions? Explain.
b. What is an estimate for the price elasticity of energy demand?

2.