No abstract

No abstract

An increasing number of studies in the environmental and resource economic literature suggest that preferences for changes or improvements in environmental amenities, from water quality to recreation, are spatially heterogeneous. One of these effects in particular, distance decay, suggests that respondents exhibit a higher willingness to pay (WTP) the closer they live to a proposed environmental improvement and vice versa. The importance of spatial effects cannot be underestimated. Several of these studies find significant biases in aggregate WTP values, and therefore social welfare, from models that disregard spatial factors. This relationship between spatial aspects and preferences, however, remains largely ignored in the non-market valuation literature applied to valuing preferences for renewable energy, generally, and wind power, specifically. To our knowledge, fourteen peer-reviewed studies have been conducted to estimate stated preferences (SP) for onshore and/or offshore wind development, yet less than half of those utilize any measure to account for the relationship between spatial effects and preferences. Fewer still undertake more robust measures that account for these spatially dependent relationships, such as via GIS, outside incorporating a single 'distance' attribute within the choice experiment (CE) referenda. This paper first reviews the methodologies of the SP wind valuation studies that have integrated measure(s) to account for spatial effects. We then categorize these effects into three dimensions-distance to a proposed wind project, distance to existing wind project(s), and cumulative effects-supporting each with a discussion of significant findings, including those OPEN ACCESSEnergies 2015, 8 6178 found in the wind hedonic and acceptance literature. Policy implications that can be leveraged to maximize social welfare when siting future wind projects as well as recommendations for additional research to control for preference spatial heterogeneity in wind CEs are also posited.

Oyster aquaculture has experienced tremendous growth in the United States over the past decade, but little is known about consumer preferences for oysters. This study analyzed preferences for oysters with varied combinations of brands, production locations, and production methods (aquaculture vs. wild-caught) using dichotomous choice, revealed preference economic field experiments. Results suggest significant and distinct differences in behavior between first-time and regular oyster consumers. While infrequent oyster consumers were drawn to oysters labeled as wild-caught, experienced oyster consumers preferred oysters raised via aquaculture. These findings will be valuable for growers and policymakers who invest in aquaculture to improve surrounding ecosystems.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

PURPOSE:This Coastal and Hydraulics Engineering Technical Note (CHETN) presents the results from an interagency collaboration within the U.S. Committee on the Marine Transportation System (CMTS) and its Marine Transportation System Resilience Integrated Action Team (MTS R-IAT) ( Figure 1) to identify priority resilience factors affecting operation of the Marine Transportation System (MTS). The MTS R-IAT analyzed resilience factors impacting the MTS to understand, categorize, and prioritize the MTS resilience issues of concern among federal agencies. This CHETN provides guidance on the capabilities for measuring resilience using existing federal datasets and proposes a framework to identify feasible and meaningful factors (metrics) for tracking port or infrastructure system performance before, during, and after disasters. This approach may be useful for understanding vulnerability of other regions or within other types of systems. Figure 1. Federal membership of the MTS R-IAT.