{"id":6694,"date":"2020-09-14T02:26:19","date_gmt":"2020-09-14T06:26:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/offshore-renewable-energy\/?p=6694"},"modified":"2020-09-14T14:25:42","modified_gmt":"2020-09-14T18:25:42","slug":"meet-the-experts-tom-sproul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/offshore-renewable-energy\/features\/meet-the-experts-tom-sproul\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Experts \u2014 Tom Sproul"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Thomas Sproul\u2019s research background is in Agricultural and Resource Economics, with a focus on risk modeling, insurance and risk management. He has done research on a variety of topics, including pollution regulation, farm policy, strategic behavior in fisheries, and behavioral economics and finance. Here, he shares his perspectives on offshore wind energy, and how resource economics research can help us understand the benefits and tradeoffs of developing wind farms.    <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

For Tom Sproul<\/a>, an Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental and Natural Resource Economics in the College of the Environment and Life Science at the University of Rhode Island, the most exciting aspect of his work, whether he\u2019s working on agricultural, transportation, or offshore wind energy issues, is giving people information they need to make informed choices about important shared resources. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEconomics is really about tradeoffs,\u201d says Sproul. \u201cWith energy renewables, including offshore wind, it\u2019s clear that there are benefits, but what\u2019s fascinating is figuring out exactly how to get there. What are the incentives? What are the tradeoffs?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

By offering society a clean source of power, an alternative to fossil fuels, offshore wind energy is well worth consideration, Sproul indicates, but its value can\u2019t be fully realized unless its pros and cons are fully understood \u2013 and that\u2019s why the science is so important. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, with offshore wind, we are hearing a lot of talk now about whether or how fishermen are going to be able to navigate through turbines,\u201d says Sproul. \u201cThe patterns matter, so we need good information about vessel transportation, the fish that are out there, and where fishermen are going to get them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Sproul is working on several collaborative efforts that are gathering and studying data to assist stakeholders in their decision-making about wind farms being proposed along the Atlantic seaboard. The research projects, including one funded by the National Science Foundation, include mapping, modeling, and statistical analysis and enhance the level of detail available about ocean resources. <\/span><\/p>\n

His guidance to students is to always remember that economics isn\u2019t simply about numbers; it\u2019s about very real issues that directly impact people\u2019s lives and the environments they depend on. \u201cWhether the industry we\u2019re looking at is agriculture or offshore wind, what we\u2019re really talking about generally is basic issues \u2013 food and jobs. <\/span><\/p>\n

And with climate change increasingly serving as the lens through which these basic issues are researched, it\u2019s an exciting time for students considering futures as economists. \u201cThese are difficult issues, but they represent lots of opportunity to improve the state of the science,\u201d says Sproul. <\/span><\/p>\n

Ultimately, the extent to which the country is truly able to reap the benefits of offshore wind energy will depend in great part upon the choices people make in developing wind farms, and whether sound and detailed science informs those decisions. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe absolutely need solutions to climate change, and renewables offer great possibilities,\u201d says Sproul, \u201cbut we need to pay attention to the tradeoffs when we design systems like windfarms \u2013 if we don\u2019t, we may really miss out on getting the benefits.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Thomas Sproul\u2019s research background is in Agricultural and Resource Economics, with a focus on risk modeling, insurance and risk management. He has done research on a variety of topics, including pollution regulation, farm policy, strategic behavior in fisheries, and behavioral economics and finance. Here, he shares his perspectives on offshore wind energy, and how resource economics research can help us understand the benefits and tradeoffs of developing wind farms.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1480,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[126,154],"tags":[137],"class_list":["post-6694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-meet-the-experts","tag-tom-sproul"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/offshore-renewable-energy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/offshore-renewable-energy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/offshore-renewable-energy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/offshore-renewable-energy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6694"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/offshore-renewable-energy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6694\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7100,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/offshore-renewable-energy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6694\/revisions\/7100"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/offshore-renewable-energy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/offshore-renewable-energy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/offshore-renewable-energy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/offshore-renewable-energy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}