Search

Showing total 2 results
2 results

1. Stormwater utility fees and household affordability of urban water services.

Author

Porse, Erik, Kerner, Maureen, Shinneman, Joel, Kaplan, Jonathan, Stone, Samuel, and Cadenasso, Mary L.

Subjects
*MUNICIPAL water supply, *HOUSEHOLDS, *LAND use, *ADMINISTRATIVE fees, *WATER utilities
Abstract

Stormwater utility fees provide dedicated revenues for managing stormwater. In setting fees, household-level affordability should be considered. Existing research does not address methods to evaluate the affordability of stormwater utility fees, especially alongside other household water costs. This paper aims to fill that gap. We present a scenario-based approach to evaluate household affordability of stormwater utility fees in a municipality, which considers other essential household water service charges. We estimate the relative contribution of stormwater utility fees to total household water costs and evaluate affordability across income brackets by integrating data for socioeconomic status, land use, water utility charges, and impervious surface cover. Using data for a case study region, results indicate that stormwater utility fees are small contributors to overall household urban water costs and comprise no more than 2% of the median household income across nearly all income quintiles. For low-income households, stormwater charges only exceed 1% of the household income for the lowestincome brackets (,$20,000) and still represent a small portion of household water costs. The analysis demonstrates a generalizable approach that can be applied everywhere when evaluating a stormwater utility fee as a funding strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2022
Full Text
View/download PDF

2. Life-Cycle Carbon Emissions and Energy Implications of High Penetration of Photovoltaics and Electric Vehicles in California.

Author

Raugei, Marco, Peluso, Alessio, Leccisi, Enrica, and Fthenakis, Vasilis

Subjects
*CARBON emissions, *PHOTOVOLTAIC power generation, *ELECTRIC vehicle batteries, *ZERO emissions vehicles, *BATTERY storage plants, *ELECTRIC vehicles
Abstract

California has set two ambitious targets aimed at achieving a high level of decarbonization in the coming decades, namely (i) to generate 60% and 100% of its electricity using renewable energy (RE) technologies, respectively, by 2030 and by 2045, and (ii) introducing at least 5 million zero emission vehicles (ZEVs) by 2030, as a first step towards all new vehicles being ZEVs by 2035. In addition, in California, photovoltaics (PVs) coupled with lithium-ion battery (LIB) storage and battery electric vehicles (BEVs) are, respectively, the most promising candidates for new RE installations and new ZEVs, respectively. However, concerns have been voiced about how meeting both targets at the same time could potentially negatively affect the electricity grid's stability, and hence also its overall energy and carbon performance. This paper addresses those concerns by presenting a thorough life-cycle carbon emission and energy analysis based on an original grid balancing model that uses a combination of historical hourly dispatch and demand data and future projections of hourly demand for BEV charging. Five different scenarios are assessed, and the results unequivocally indicate that a future 80% RE grid mix in California is not only able to cope with the increased demand caused by BEVs, but it can do so with low carbon emissions (<110 g CO2-eq/kWh) and satisfactory net energy returns (EROIPE-eq = 12–16). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2021
Full Text
View/download PDF