Brian Snyder
Associate Professor Louisiana State University
- Baton Rouge LA
Dr. Snyder is an ecologist with interests in human-environmental systems, especially energy and the evolution of sustainability.
Areas of Expertise
Research Focus
Energy System Decarbonization & Climate Policy
Dr. Snyder’s research focuses on energy-system decarbonization and climate policy—carbon-dioxide removal, hydrogen deployment, and the socio-ecological factors that shape sustainable transitions. He fuses lifecycle and econometric modeling with policy analysis and stakeholder engagement to map low-carbon pathways and guide state and national energy strategy.
Answers
- What new technologies, like hydrogen or carbon removal, show the most promise for helping us reach a cleaner energy future?
Solar and carbon removal are perhaps the most important. Battery technologies are really important too though. So, if I can pick three, its solar, carbon removal, and batteries.
Education
University of Maryland
B.S.
Biology
2002
University of Georgia,
Ph.D.
Ecology
2013
Media Appearances
Aggressive push to 100% renewable energy could save Americans billions – study
The Guardian online
2020-10-22
Such a scenario would be difficult given the required ramp-up in solar across US towns and cities, according to Brian Snyder, an energy and environment expert at Louisiana State University. “We would need to build an electrical generation system on top of our roofs that is the same size as contemporary US generation,” he said.
Could Biden Rebuild the Economy by Funding Green Energy?
WIRED online
2020-10-08
One of the main things Biden has promised to upgrade is the nation’s infrastructure, which means roads, water pipelines, and broadband connections. It also means the power grid. And experts agree that’s important, because our existing energy system is woefully unprepared for the transition to a green grid. We actually have three separate regional electrical grids in the US that don’t share power super well. “It turns out, that's really important for creating a grid with a lot of renewable energy, because there's all that difference in climate across the entire United States,” says Louisiana State University environmental scientist Brian Snyder. “If it's a sunny day in California and you can produce a lot of solar, but it's not windy in the Midwest—well, right now that power can’t really move from one side of the country to the other.”
Yes, Emissions Have Fallen. That Won’t Fix Climate Change
WIRED
2020-08-07
But that’s going to be a tall order, says Louisiana State University environmental scientist Brian Snyder, who wasn’t involved in the research. Humanity has two hulking problems, he says: China and the United States. “In China, they built a tremendous number of coal power plants over the past 20 years or so. They can't really shut those down and continue to grow their economy,” says Snyder. And governments will be tempted to push their economies more aggressively than ever to make up for revenue lost during the pandemic.
How Is the Coronavirus Pandemic Affecting Climate Change?
WIRED online
2020-04-21
But looking back at the 2008 financial crisis shows a way forward: The stimulus package in the US helped invigorate the green-energy economy by pumping $90 billion into the development of technologies like geothermal power, biofuels, and solar energy. “If you look at the data, a few years after that, you do start to see a huge increase in solar,” says Louisiana State University environmental scientist Brian Snyder.
Articles
Biomass slurry fracture injection as a potential low-cost negative emissions technology
Environmental Research Letters2022
Negative emissions technologies (NETs) are systems which remove carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere and sequester it in permanent storage and they are required to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. However, all NETs are limited by biological, physical and economic factors. Here, we model the life cycle emissions, geospatial potential, technoeconomic feasibility of a new NET based on slurry fracture injection, a technique which has been used for decades in the oil and gas industry to dispose of wastes. In the proposed system, called biomass slurry fracture injection (BSFI), biogeneic wastes are injected into fractures created in permeable saline formations. We calculate that the costs of BSFI are generally lower than $95 tonne− 1 of CO 2 removed, even at biomass prices above $75 dry tonne− 1.
Financial liabilities and environmental implications of unplugged wells for the Gulf of Mexico and coastal waters
Nature Energy2023
Plugging and abandoning (P&Aing) wells is a policy priority because unplugged wells present potential financial and environmental risks to the public. Offshore wells, compared with land wells, generally produce more, cost more to P&A and present different environmental risks. Here we estimate that the cost to P&A all 14,000 unplugged, non-producing wells in US Gulf of Mexico offshore waters, inland waters and wetlands is US$30 billion. Wells in shallower waters closer to shore make up 90% of inactive wells but only 25% of total P&A costs. They also present larger environmental risks. Prior owners of wells in federal waters (deeper and farther from shore) can be held liable for P&A costs if the current owner does not P&A them.
Economic Viability of Implementing Structural Health Monitoring Systems on the Support Structures of Bottom-Fixed Offshore Wind
Energies2023
Offshore wind (OSW) energy is a renewable source with strong prospects of development that may decisively contribute towards energy independence. Offshore wind is, however, not yet ubiquitously cost competitive, and frequently requires support schemes to finance its extensive capital requirements. Therefore, cost reduction strategies are necessary for the future development of offshore wind technologies. Even if structural health monitoring (SHM) systems are currently applied for the inspection of critical mechanical structures, they have not been the focus of research from offshore wind stakeholders. The main goal of this study is to evaluate the viability of SHM systems on the support structures of bottom-fixed offshore wind (BFOSW), alongside the impact of implementing these systems on life-cycle.
The inheritance of energy and the evolution of unsustainability
Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy2023
Across contemporary and historical human groups, there is variation in how cultures interact with the environment and this variation is inherited through culture. Some human-environment relationships maximize group fitness relative to other relationships. Thus, there is heritable, fitness-associated variation in human-environment interactions and so human-environment interactions may be understood to be an evolved trait. However, one fitness-maximizing human-environment relationship could be unsustainable resource extraction. Anthroecological theory proposes that human cultures and genotypes have been selected for unsustainability, although several mechanisms have been proposed for how this selection may have worked.
Meta-Analysis and Spatial Distribution of Ecosystem Services in Louisiana’s Coastal Zone: Implications for Coastal Restoration
Journal of Coastal Research2024
Coastal Louisiana is shaped by dynamic and complex nature–society relationships. In environmental policymaking, the ecosystem services framework is a common approach to conceptualizing this relationship. A meta-analysis of 46 studies from 1974 to 2019 was conducted, which contained 168 primary ecosystem services valuations for wetlands in coastal Louisiana. Ecosystem services values for freshwater, brackish, and saltwater wetlands are presented. Services include disturbance regulation, fisheries, gas regulation, primary production, nutrient regulation, recreation, and waste regulation.
Affiliations
- Ecological Society of America
- Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences
Research Grants
Panacea or Pandora’s box: Coastal Restoration and Recreational Fishing Livelihoods in Louisiana
National Academies of Science Gulf Research Program
2016-2020
Media
