SOCIETAL CHOICES IN CONSUMPTION AND MITIGATION: ESSAYS ON ELECTRICITY AND WILDFIRE

In this dissertation I present three essays on societal choices in consumption and mitigation, with a focus on electricity and wildfire within a climate change framework. In Chapter 2, I examine determinants of two important measures of electricity consumption: peak and base load. I create a dataset using a survey, smart meter, and weather data from a county in Northern New Mexico and I utilize a random effects model. My results suggest that peak and base load consumption are determined by different factors that include household and dwelling characteristics, appliance ownership, and heating and cooling in response to temperature changes. The results highlight the heterogeneity in residential electricity use and carry implications for efficiency programs and renewable integration. In Chapters 3 and 4, I shift focus to wildfire, an important impact of climate change driven in part by electricity use. In Chapter 3, I focus on prescribed burning and examine the health trade-off from smoke that results from the intentional use of prescribed burning to reduce future wildfire. I develop a stochastic wildfire model for four regions in the United States and find that given the assumptions of the model, prescribed burning introduces a net health cost to society for all forest types on a per-hectare and per-100,000 people basis. It is important to note that my model does not account for wildfire spread, thus the results in and of themselves do not suggest that prescribed burning is an ineffective wildfire mitigation strategy. Instead, the results highlight the complex nature of the dynamic and the need to consider potential feedbacks in policy design. Lastly, Chapter 4 examines the value of microgrids for wildfire risk reduction. Microgrids can facilitate public safety power shutoffs, which are performed by utilities to reduce the risk of wildfire during high winds. I use a contingent valuation approach to estimate household willingness-to-pay (WTP) and find a positive WTP that is determined by household characteristics, opinions and views on wildfire mitigation, as well as prior experience with wildfire. The results highlight the potential value of microgrids in wildfire prone areas and suggest that their societal value may grow as wildfires become more frequent and severe due to climate change. Together, my dissertation chapters examine the choices that society makes regarding a resource (electricity), the impacts of those choices on the environment and society, and the effectiveness and value of mitigation strategies.