Areas of Expertise:
modeling, environmental economics
Martin Ross is a senior research economist at Duke University's Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, specializing in environmental and energy economics and macroeconomic-simulation modeling.
Prior to joining the Nicholas Institute at the end of 2011, he worked with RTI International where he developed the Applied Dynamic Analysis of the Global Economy (ADAGE) model, which is used by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to respond to Congressional requests for legislative analyses. The ADAGE model can investigate many types of economic, energy, environmental, and trade policies at the international, national, and U.S. regional levels. It is particularly useful for examining how climate-change mitigation policies limiting carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from energy consumption and non-CO2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions will affect all sectors of the economy, altering industrial and residential energy consumption and efficiency. Research conducted for the U.S. EPA Climate Change Division, the Stanford Energy Modeling Forum, and the Pew Center on Global Climate Change has involved using the ADAGE model to estimate U.S. macroeconomic impacts of legislative proposals to reduce GHG emissions. Other modeling by Ross has included developing a detailed technology model of electricity markets to examine how criteria pollutant and GHG policies affect capacity planning decisions and generation costs.
Prior to joining RTI, Ross spent several years at Charles River Associates where he developed regional models to look at effects of climate-change mitigation policies and macroeconomic impacts of electric-utility legislation. In addition to his legislative analysis, Ross has advised industry groups such as the Electric Power Research Institute and Edison Electric Institute on economic and electricity modeling, and is published in The Energy Journal, Energy Economics, and Climactic Change, among others.
Ross holds both a doctoral and master's degree in economics from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a bachelor's degree in economics Michigan State University.
On August 2, 2007 Senator Lieberman and John Warner (R-VA) introduced a framework for Lieberman-Warner America's Climate Security Act of 2007. The proposal, which we refer to here as the "Lieberman-Warner" bill, calls for the United States to make substantial cuts in greenhouse gas emissions below current levels by 2050. Such greenhouse gas emissions cuts will contribute to global efforts aimed at reducing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases and mitigating harm to our climate system. The most recent assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change provides a scientific basis for th world's countries to take strong action to mitigate the threats of climate change.
This study employs a computable general equilibrium model of the U.S. integrated into the global economy (ADAGE) and a detailed model of the U.S. energy sector (NI-NEMS) to examine the broad and deep economic implications of interim-term greenhouse gas cap-and-trade programs across sectors and regions of the U.S. economy over time. Interim target scenarios hold U.S. emissions to either 1990 or 2005 levels in the year 2020. These 2020 emission targes are in the range of those now being considered by the U.S. Congress, though several of the Congressional proposals call for continued cuts beyond 2020. This study therefore provides abounding assessment of the initial pathway to greenhouse gas reductions, one which can provide a first order assessment of "economic harm" and provides a platform for guaging implications of longer term cuts should they be applied. Results suggest rather modest macroeconomic impacts on the U.S. economy of greenhouse gas targets considered, though impacts tend to be concentrated, as expected, in the more energy intensive sectors.
This paper introduces, explains and describes the methods for addressing the issues of permanence, leakage and additionality (PLA) of agricultural soil carbon sequestration (ASCS) activities at the project level. Further, it evaluates methords for identifying and estimating PLA and guages the potential magnitude of these effects on the economic returns to a project.
Author(s):Brian C. Murray, Brent Sohngen, and Martin T. Ross
Approximately 60 percent of United States biomass energy consumption occurs in the forest products industry. The large majority of this consumption is for process heat and steam. The forest products industry produces its own sources of biomass, as a by-product of pulp and paper production and woods products manufacturing. The pulp and paper sector of the forest products industry is particularly energy intensive, and the economics of the industry greatly depend on efficient reuse and recycling of chemicals, water and energy. In its Manufacturing Energy Consumption Survey (MECS) conducted every four years, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) inly surveys biomass facilities that solely produce process heat and steam as an ancillary fuel. Thus, it is important to understand how changes in the sector during intervening years may affect biomass energy use in the forest products industry.
Author(s):Brian Murray, Rebecca Nicholson, Martin Ross, Thomas Holloway, and Sumeet Patil
