Elke Weber’s research highlighted by The New York Times

An article in the “green issue” of the New York Times’ Magazine (published on April 16, 2009) highlights research by project participant Elke Weber and her colleagues at the Center for Research on Environmental Decisions (CRED). The article, written by Jon Gertner, describes the current state of research on climate change decision science.

In particular, the article mentions a research experiment on group decisions being conducted simultaneously in New York, Amsterdam and Argentina. In the experiments, a few (3-5) subjects deal with several quandaries. The first involves reaching a consensus on how to apply $5 billion worth of federal funds to wind-energy technologies. Should they spend it all on conventional  wind turbines? Should they invest some (or all) of the money on an as-yet-unproven technology that would employ magnetic levitation to create a huge, long-lasting, superefficient wind-powered generator? After the group comes to a consensus in each of the test segments, members are asked to figure out their own individual decisions.

In Argentina, AACREA farmers from different regions are involved in the group decisions. The experiment, being coordinated by Fernando Ruiz Toranzo, will provide insights that will enhance modeling of decisions in the NSF-sponsored project.

>> Read more on the research performed by the Center for Research on Environmental Decisions