Groundwater trends in the Esperance sandplain and malleee sub-regions

The South Coast Regional Initiative Planning Team (SCRIPT) has divided the South Coast region of Western Australia into six sub-regions. The Esperance Sandplain and Mallee subregions encompass the Esperance agricultural district, which contains about 1.5 million hectares of agricultural land. This publication describes the groundwater trends, risk of shallow watertables, and technical feasibility of salinity management in the soil-landscape zones within the Esperance agricultural district

Lease Structures & Occupancy Costs in Eco-Labeled Buildings

Purpose: This research investigates whether energy-efficient green buildings tend to provide net lease structures over gross lease ones. It then considers whether owners benefit by trading away operational savings in a net lease structure. Design: Empirical models of office leasing transactions in Sydney, Australia, with wider transferability supported by analysis of office rent data in the United States. Findings: Labelled green buildings are approximately four to five times more likely than non-labelled buildings to use a net lease structure. However, despite receiving operational savings, tenants in net leases pay higher total occupancy costs, benefiting owners. On average, the increase in total occupancy costs paid by tenants in a net lease is equal to or greater than savings attributed to an eco-labelled building. Implications: A full accounting of total occupancy costs in eco-labelled buildings suggests that net lease structures provide numerous benefits to owners that offset the loss of trading away operational savings. Originality/Value: The principal-agent market inefficiency, or “split incentive”, is a widely cited barrier to private investment in energy-efficient building technology. Here, a uniquely broad look at rental cash flows suggests its role as a barrier is exaggerated

Coming to America: Multiple Origins of New World Geckos

Geckos in the Western Hemisphere provide an excellent model to study faunal assembly at a continental scale. We generated a time-calibrated phylogeny, including exemplars of all New World gecko genera, to produce a biogeographic scenario for the New World geckos. Patterns of New World gecko origins are consistent with almost every biogeographic scenario utilized by a terrestrial vertebrate with different New World lineages showing evidence of vicariance, dispersal via temporary land bridge, overseas dispersal, or anthropogenic introductions. We also recovered a strong relationship between clade age and species diversity, with older New World lineages having more species than more recently arrived lineages. Our data provide the first phylogenetic hypothesis for all New World geckos and highlight the intricate origins and ongoing organization of continental faunas. The phylogenetic and biogeographical hypotheses presented here provide an historical framework to further pursue research on the diversification and assembly of the New World herpetofauna

The Economic and Fiscal Impact of a Microgrid in Downtown Cleveland, Ohio

This report relates the results of an investigation into market conditions for a proposed microgrid in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, as well the potential for additional jobs, income, and tax revenues that might accompany such an enterprise. Power interruptions have been estimated to cost commercial and industrial customers more than $100 billion each year in the United States.1 Because microgrids can reduce or eliminate power disruptions, the proposed microgrid could position Cleveland to capture growth among those industries that experience relatively greater losses when power outages occur. This includes momentary interruptions, which account for a “substantial portion”2 of such costs. The improved quality, reliability, resiliency, and security associated with a Cleveland microgrid could offer a locational advantage in attracting companies for which a power interruption is particularly costly. Access to clean, distributed generation is also an attribute that is of significant interest to commercial end users

Fiscal and Economic Impact Analysis of Proposed Nexus Natural Gas Pipeline on the City of Green, Ohio

In 2014 Spectra Energy (“Spectra”) and DTE Energy announced plans to build a high-pressure natural gas transmission pipeline (called “Nexus”) that would run from the Utica-Marcellus region near eastern Ohio across northern Ohio, into Michigan, and ultimately into Chicago and Ontario, Canada. The stated purpose for building the proposed pipeline is to take anticipated “growing” gas supplies produced from the Appalachian Basin to the “high demand” markets in Ohio, Michigan, Chicago and Ontario. Nexus proposes 250 miles of high pressure, 36 inch diameter pipeline capable of carrying around 1.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day. However the route proposed by Nexus takes the pipeline through some of Ohio’s fastest growing and most prosperous communities. In particular, the pipeline route promises to disrupt development plans in the City of Green (Summit County). Importantly, as will be shown in the discussion below, the proposed route will render useless large portions of prime industrial and commercially zoned land that Green has earmarked for near term development. Much of this land is next to the Akron-Canton airport, and is of considerable interest to the business community. Accordingly, the City of Green has proposed to Nexus an alternate route that accomplishes Nexus’s goals of moving natural gas from Appalachia to Michigan and Ontario. The alternate route, which could be built for about the same cost as Nexus’s plan, bypasses and spares the fast growing City of Green, instead taking the pipeline through a more rural area. With proper planning, potential negative impacts on future industrial or commercial development could be minimized by using an alternate route in a more rural setting. Although we expect that property value and tax losses, if any, would be minimal for the alternate route, these results are not set forth here. The route currently proposed through the City of Green would, however, lead to uneconomic remnant parcels, as well as devalued or stranded residential parcels. The proposed route is shown on Exhibit 1 (both panels). Over the life of the pipeline, this would in turn lead to very substantial losses in property taxes and income tax for the City of Green. In short, while there may be compelling reasons for the pipeline to be built, and while it may be beneficial for portions of Ohio in terms of taxes and construction jobs, the current route leaves the City of Green to suffer disproportionately the losses the pipeline will cause. The following discussion sets forth the basis for this determination

More Than a Safety Net: Ethiopia\u27s Flagship Public Works Program Increases Tree Cover

More than one billion people worldwide receive cash or in-kind transfers from social protection programs. In low-income countries, these transfers are often conditioned on participation in labor-intensive public works to rehabilitate local infrastructure or natural resources. Despite their popularity, the environmental impacts of public works programs remain largely undocumented. We quantify the impact on tree cover of Ethiopia\u27s Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP), one of the world\u27s largest and longest-running public works programs, using satellite-based data of tree cover combined with difference-in-differences and inverse probability treatment weighting methodologies. We find that the PSNP increased tree cover by 3.8% between 2005 and 2019, with larger increases in less densely populated areas and on steep-sloped terrain. As increasing tree cover is considered an important strategy to mitigate global warming, our results suggest a win–win potential for social safety net programs with an environmental component

The Economic and Fiscal Impact of a Microgrid in Downtown Cleveland, Ohio

This report relates the results of an investigation into market conditions for a proposed microgrid in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, as well the potential for additional jobs, income, and tax revenues that might accompany such an enterprise. Power interruptions have been estimated to cost commercial and industrial customers more than $100 billion each year in the United States.1 Because microgrids can reduce or eliminate power disruptions, the proposed microgrid could position Cleveland to capture growth among those industries that experience relatively greater losses when power outages occur. This includes momentary interruptions, which account for a “substantial portion”2 of such costs. The improved quality, reliability, resiliency, and security associated with a Cleveland microgrid could offer a locational advantage in attracting companies for which a power interruption is particularly costly. Access to clean, distributed generation is also an attribute that is of significant interest to commercial end users

A Ka-Band (26 GHz) Circularly Polarized 2x2 Microstrip Patch Sub-Array with Compact Feed

A Ka-Band (26 gigahertz) 2 by 2 sub-array with square-shaped microstrip patch antenna elements having two truncated corners for circular polarization (CP) is presented. In addition, the layout for a new compact microstrip feed network for the sub-array is also presented. The compact feed network offers a footprint size reduction of near 60 percent over traditional sub-array at 26 gigahertz. Experimental data indicates that a truncation amount a equals 0.741 millimeters for an isolated patch element results in a return loss (S (sub II)) of minus 35 decibels at 26.3 gigahertz. Furthermore, the measured S (sub II) for the proof-of-concept sub-array with the above elements is better than minus 10.0 decibels at 27.7 gigahertz. However, the impedance match and the operating frequency can be fine-tuned to 26 gigahertz by adjusting the feed network dimensions. Lastly, good agreement is observed between the measured and simulated S (sub II) for the subarray for both right hand and left hand CP. The goal of this effort is utilize the above sub-array as a building block for a larger N by N element array, which would serve as a feed for a reflector antenna for satellite communications