Appalachian’s Research Institute for Environment, Energy, and Economics (RIEEE) was established in November 2008 to enhance research opportunities for faculty and students whose interests are associated with environmental science, renewable energy and economics.
The Institute will serve as an umbrella organization for three centers including The Appalachian Energy Center and the Center for Economic Research and Policy Analysis (CERPA), which currently exist, and the Southern Appalachian Environmental Research and Education Center (SAEREC), which has been proposed. The Centers represent the three major elements of research and educational outreach concerning the the environment, energy, and economics.
Because of its setting, Appalachian has drawn faculty and students who have a strong commitment and interest in environmental issues and expressed in many forms from energy conservation and innovative technologies to environmental economic policies. The University has built a reputation from its strong academic programs, community outreach and interdisciplinary research initiatives. Today, many faculty members across colleges and multiple disciplines focus on research at the intersection of energy, the environment and economic policy.
Welcome
The RIEEE welcomes Dr. Gregg Marland as a Research Professor. Dr. Marland joins the RIEEE from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory where he served for over 35 years and since 2000 as Distinguished Research and Development Staff. He has served as a member of the National Research Council Committee on Methods for Estimating Greenhouse Gas Emissions, co-chair of the United State Interagency Carbon Cycle Science Working Group, and National Research Council Committee on Global Change Research. He recently served the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) where he was lead author of Guidelines for National Emissions Inventories (2006), lead on for the Special Report on Carbon Capture and Storage, contributing author on Radiative Forcing of Climate Change for the First Assessment Report, lead author on Energy Primer for the Second Assessment Report, lead author on Land-Use Change and forestry for the Third Assessment Report, and lead author on Special Report on Land-Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry. He currently serves as a editorial board of the Environmental Science and Policy Journal and editorial advisory board for the Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change Journal.
September 2011
U.S. Scientists call for integrated study of carbon cycle
The carbon cycle science community in the United States has just finished its planning process for carbon cycle research for the upcoming decade. This reassessment of the U.S. carbon cycle science priorities was initiated by the U.S. Carbon Cycle Interagency Working Group (CCIWG) and Carbon Cycle Science Steering Group (CCSSG) in 2008. This planning process has culminated in the publication of the new U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Plan. The new Plan is intended to provide guidance for U.S. research efforts on the global carbon cycle for the next decade. A U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Plan (2011): A Report of the Carbon Cycle Science Steering Group and Subcommittee, Anna Michalak, Rob Jackson, Gregg Marland, Chris Sabine, Co-Chairs.
The Plan outlines priorities for research in carbon cycle science, including a substantial expansion in the scope of the field. In addition to reaffirming the need for basic research and for continuing the current areas of research in carbon cycle science, the Plan outlines specific recommendations for new priorities:
(1) With greenhouse-gas concentrations rising rapidly, active management of the global carbon cycle is increasingly urgent. The plan outlines the need for carbon-cycle research on the efficacy and environmental consequences of carbon management policies, strategies, and technologies.
(2) Because humans are an integral part of the carbon cycle, both through influences on “natural” systems and through direct emissions of greenhouse gases, study of the human elements of the carbon cycle must be more thoroughly integrated into the future research agenda.
(3) The Plan recommends increased exploration of the direct impact of rising greenhouse gas concentrations and carbon-management decisions on ecosystems, species, and natural resources.
(4) Finally, because decisions about the carbon cycle will inevitably be made with imperfect knowledge, the Plan emphasizes the need for a better understanding of uncertainly in all aspects of the global carbon cycle, and improved ways of conveying those uncertainties to policy and decision makers, as well as society at large.
Electronic copies of “A U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Plan” are available at: http://www.carboncyclescience.gov/carbonplanning.php
