Why are nature-based carbon offset prices so low?
By Brent Sohngen (sohngen.1@osu.edu) For nearly 25 years, carbon offsets in agriculture and forestry have been the next big thing – a market with huge potential to increase revenue for farming with certain practices like conservation or no till,…
The Economics of Solar Development in Ohio
By Grayson Penland and Brent Sohngen This report examines a number of economic aspects of solar development in Ohio. Here is a summary of the findings. A PDF of the report can be downloaded here. Solar energy constitutes about 1.4%…
Real Property Tax Versus PILOT for Solar?
by Brent Sohngen, AED Economics (Sohngen.1@osu.edu) Amid the debate about installing solar power on farmland in the state lies a discussion about how to evaluate the approach any county takes when taxing solar fields. It is well known that…
The pathway to net zero emissions runs straight through the farm
by Brent Sohngen, Professor of Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, Ohio State University. [This post appeared in The Columbus Dispatch on August 5, 2021. Click here] These days, it seems, farmers can get paid for all kinds of stuff. While…
Biomass Energy from Forests Can Be Sustainable and Carbon Neutral
by Brent Sohngen (sohngen.1@osu.edu) Originally published by Inside Sources The issue of carbon neutrality for wood-based bioenergy just won’t go away. In recent months, Politico, The New York Times and CNN all have run high level stories that take the…
Carbon in soils and trees: What should farmers and society worry about?
Carbon in soils and trees: What should farmers and society worry about? Brent Sohngen, Professor of Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, Ohio State University As the US re-enters the Paris Agreement and companies all over the world work to become…
Re-entering Paris Agreement could reduce pollution, cost most Americans little
By Brent Sohngen This article ran in the Columbus Dispatch on February 13, 2021: https://www.dispatch.com/story/opinion/columns/2021/02/13/re-entering-paris-agreement-likely-reduce-pollution-cost-americans-little/4282378001/ One of the first official acts of President Joe Biden was to re-enter the Paris Agreement, that 2015 pact among most of the world’s countries to…
Climate Mitigation is a Complex Systems Problem
Drs. Yongyang Cai and Sathya Gopalakrishnan discuss the complexity of climate mitigation, the social cost of carbon and if COVID-19 is enough of a disruption to be considered a tipping point. *Be sure to click ‘watch on youtube’ and hit…
Without a Doubt, Biomass Is Carbon Neutral – Ohio State University Professor Supports Wood Bioenergy In New Study
“Without a Doubt, Biomass Is Carbon Neutral” – Ohio State University Professor Supports Wood Bioenergy In New Study Blog post originally published on Future Forests & Jobs on APRIL 20, 2020 Ohio State University Professor Brent Sohngen is speaking up about…
Recent UN climate negotiation failure leaves few good choices
By Brent Sohngen See original post in Columbus Dispatch Predictably, the recent United Nations meeting on climate change ended with lots of headlines and even more heartburn. The U.S. is again the grand villain of the negotiations, but we have…
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