Recovery Through Retrofit

This report describes recommendations for federal action to address barriers to retrofitting home residences for energy efficiency

Refined forest land use classification with implications for United States national carbon accounting

The United States provides annual estimates of carbon sources and sinks as part of its National Green-house Gas Inventory (NGHGI). Within this effort, carbon stocks and fluxes are reported for six land use categories that are relevant to economic sectors and land use policy. The goal of this study is to develop methodologies that will allow the US to align with an internationally agreed upon forest land use definition which requires forest to be able to reach 5 m in height at maturity. Models to assess height potential are available for a majority of US forests except for woodland ecosystems. We develop a set of models to assess height potential in these systems. Our results suggest that ∼13.5 million ha of forests are unlikely to meet the international definition of forests due to environmental limitations to maximum attainable height. The incorporation of this height criteria in the NGHGI results in a carbon stock transfer of ∼848 Tg from the forest land use to woodland land use (a sub-category of grasslands) with minimal effect on sequestration rates. The development of a forest land use definition sensitive to climatic factors in this study enables a land use classification system that can be responsive to climate change effects on land uses themselves while being more consistent across a host of international and domestic carbon reporting efforts

RECENT TRENDS IN JOB TRAINING

"This paper analyzes new data on job qualifications and training. Between 1983 and 1991, the share of workers reporting skill-improvement training on their jobs increased as did the wage premium for this training. Even in 1991, however, 58 percent of all workers reported no training on their jobs, and 44 percent reported needing no special qualifications to obtain their jobs. Training rates are especially low for young and less-educated workers. Skill demands appear to have shifted toward general and cognitive skills-best taught in formal training programs and schools-and away from specific and manual skills acquired through informal on-the-job training". Copyright 1994 Western Economic Association International.

Improving customer service : accompanying report of the National Performance Review, Office of the Vice President.

"Vice President Al Gore"--Cover."From red tape to results: creating a government that works better & costs less"--Cover.Mode of access: Internet