Global Warming in Texas
ECON 410-Environmental Economics
Content
Introduction Page 2 Question Page 2 Answer Page 2 Conclusion Page 3 References Page 3

Global Warming in Texas

Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to identify an effective economic solution and to answer a question involving the impact of global warming in Texas.

Questions
What valuation technique would you use to measure the value of improving the environment to a defined level? What are some drawbacks to using this technique? How would you minimize problems associated with this technique? What are the explicit and implicit costs of the policy proposal to use tougher controls/standards for environmental improvement to your concern and explain the implicit and explicit costs involved?
Answer
The best valuation technique to use to prevent global warming would be the use of wind energy. I believe the use of the windmill will be a good measure and will quickly improve the environment. The cost of operating wind energy is more expensive, but I think our environment is well worth the cost. Some drawbacks of wind energy include, noise disturbances which all though wind energy are non-polluting, and the windmills may create some amount of noise when it’s turning. Wildlife can also be threatened due to large scale construction of wind turbines in remote locations, so it could cause a threat to wild life. The main disadvantage of wind energy is that wind can never be predicted. In areas where large amount of wind is needed or winds strength is too low to support wind turbine, there solar or geothermal energy could prove to be great alternatives (Conserve-Energy-Future, 2014). However these issues could be reduced, by the location in which he windmills are installed. If they are installed in areas with little to no wildlife and areas known to have lots of wind then they will prove to be beneficial to the environment.
“Although wind and solar will continue to be capital-intensive technologies, they are expected to achieve cost reductions that, along with a larger resource base, result in higher growth than other renewables under favorable conditions such as placement of an explicit or implicit value on CO2 emissions, or high natural gas prices” (Bredehoeft, 2014).
The implicit cost of wind energy solar can cost more per kilowatt-hour than that of oil based energy. These costs are many times more than other forms of energy. Actually 4-7 times more than that of oil, this includes costs of not only converting the resource to a usable form, but also the costs of the equipment needed to do so.

Conclusion

In conclusion, wind energy my not be as cost effective as petroleum based energy, but it will save our planet and that’s a lot more important than any cost. With the introduction of wind farms the future is looking bright and the future of the planet will hopefully get better with this clean energy. The idea is that it is better for our environment and the future of our planet.

Bibliography/References
Conserve-energy-future. (2014) Retrieved, from http://www.conserve-energy-future.com/Disadvantages_WindEnergy.php Bredehoeft, G. (2014, January 1). Annual Energy Outlook 2014. U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Retrieved July 28, 2014, from http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/aeo/elec_proj.cfm