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Jan 13, 2025 | 
payneinstitute.mines.edu | Mikhail Zhizhin |Juliana Reid
PAYNE INSTITUTE COMMENTARY SERIES: COMMENTARY By Mikhail Zhizhin January 13, 2025 The impact of wildfires in California has been both devastating and transformative. Recent reports from major media outlets highlight the escalating scale of destruction, with the Palisade Fire near Malibu and the Pasadena Fire serving as stark examples. These fires have not only claimed thousands of structures but also exposed the vulnerabilities in existing disaster response frameworks. The Palisade Fire, in...
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Oct 24, 2024 | 
payneinstitute.mines.edu | Brad Handler |Juliana Reid
PAYNE INSTITUTE COMMENTARY SERIES: COMMENTARY By Brad HandlerOctober 24, 2024The following remarks were prepared for the Houston Strategy Forum’s “Carbon Conclave” held on October 22, in Houston, TX.
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Sep 12, 2024 | 
payneinstitute.mines.edu | Juliana Reid
PAYNE INSTITUTE COMMENTARY SERIES: RESEARCH By Kellis Ward1,2, William Daniels1,2, and Dorit Hammerling1,2 1 Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Colorado School of Mines, Golden CO 2 Payne Institute for Public Policy, Colorado School of Mines, Golden CO September 12, 2024 1 Abstract Accurate measurement of methane (CH4) concentrations on oil and gas sites is essential for accurate estimates of methane emission rates via inversion algorithms. Different types of continuous...
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Aug 23, 2024 | 
payneinstitute.mines.edu | Mikhail Zhizhin |Juliana Reid
PAYNE INSTITUTE COMMENTARY SERIES: COMMENTARY By Mikhail ZhizhinAugust 23, 2024Firefighters are now in their sixth day of battling a massive blaze that erupted at an oil storage facility in Proletarsk[1], Russia.
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Mar 27, 2024 | 
payneinstitute.mines.edu | Mikhail Zhizhin |Juliana Reid
PAYNE INSTITUTE COMMENTARY SERIES: COMMENTARY By Mikhail Zhizhin March 27, 2024 This study investigates the impact of the war in Ukraine on nighttime light intensity using satellite data. Nighttime light observations from Suomi NPP satellite (2012-2024) covering Ukraine and surrounding areas were analyzed. A segmented regression approach was employed to identify by-day changes and trends in nighttime light intensity over time for each grid cell at a resolution of 0.01 degrees. A Dimming...
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Mar 27, 2024 | 
payneinstitute.mines.edu | William Daniels |Dorit Hammerling |Morgan D. Bazilian |Juliana Reid
PAYNE INSTITUTE COMMENTARY SERIES: COMMENTARY By William Daniels, Dorit Hammerling, and Morgan Bazilian March 27, 2024 Reducing methane emissions is a key component of short-term climate action. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas with 84 times more heat trapping potential than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. Methane has a relatively short lifetime in the atmosphere, meaning that emission reduction efforts can be felt in our lifetime. The oil and gas sector accounts for 32% of...
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Mar 22, 2024 | 
payneinstitute.mines.edu | Kristin Ziv |Morgan D. Bazilian |Juliana Reid |Isabel Guajardo Retamales
PAYNE INSTITUTE COMMENTARY SERIES: COMMENTARY By Kristin Ziv, Isabel Guajardo Retamales, and Morgan D. Bazilian March 25, 2024 On March 20, the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW) convened a pivotal hearing titled “Examining PFAS as Hazardous Substances.” The session focused on the risks associated with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a group of synthetic chemicals found in various industrial and consumer products. The hearing shed light on the need for...
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Mar 22, 2024 | 
payneinstitute.mines.edu | Kristin Ziv |Isabel Guajardo Retamales |Morgan D. Bazilian |Juliana Reid
PAYNE INSTITUTE COMMENTARY SERIES: COMMENTARY By Kristin Ziv, Isabel Guajardo Retamales, and Morgan D. Bazilian March 25, 2024 On March 20, the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW) convened a pivotal hearing titled “Examining PFAS as Hazardous Substances.” The session focused on the risks associated with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a group of synthetic chemicals found in various industrial and consumer products. The hearing shed light on the need for...
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Feb 16, 2024 | 
payneinstitute.mines.edu | Mikhail Zhizhin |Kristin Ziv |Morgan D. Bazilian |Juliana Reid
PAYNE INSTITUTE COMMENTARY SERIES: COMMENTARY By Mikhail Zhizhin, Kristin Ziv, and Morgan Bazilian February 16, 2024 With images picked up by its VIIRS Nightfire satellites, the Earth Observation Group at the Payne Institute for Public Policy, Colorado School of Mines, was able to confirm several of the recent Ukrainian drone attacks on oil and gas infrastructure in Russia that have occurred over the past several weeks. On Thursday, another Ukrainian drone hit an oil depot in Russia’s Kursk...
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Feb 14, 2024 | 
payneinstitute.mines.edu | Morgan D. Bazilian |Juliana Reid |Kristin Ziv
PAYNE INSTITUTE COMMENTARY SERIES: COMMENTARY By Kristin Ziv and Morgan Bazilian February 14, 2024 As the global demand for solar panels soars, so does the demand for silver – a key component in the manufacturing of photovoltaic (PV) panels. Solar installations are breaking records worldwide in both volume and low price, according to BloombergNEF. Installations were up 64% from 2022 to 2023, to 413 gigawatts. Leading the charge is China, which added 240 gigawatts in 2023 alone. Last year...
