| Summary: | There is an inherent tension between the ubiquity of gas station properties and the necessity of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the worst effects of climate change.
On the one hand a significant amount of real estate value, with all its appurtenant downstream outputs including local tax revenues, employee wages and owner equity is tied to the continued burning of fossil fuels to power light-duty personal vehicles. On the other hand, science and anecdotal evidence of extreme weather events continue to demonstrate the high cost of not reducing global emissions by adopting zero-emission vehicles.
This thesis examines the likely shape of how that tension between real estate and greenhouse gas emissions will play out, with a focus on properties located in Middlesex and Suffolk County Massachusetts.
The research is comprised of nine sections that follow the broad arc of establishing whether zero emission vehicle adoption is coming, the speed at which it is likely to occur, the effect such an occurrence would have on gas station real estate values, and the methodology for targeting groups of properties, and indeed selecting individual properties for redevelopment into new uses.
Analysis in this paper relies heavily on a comprehensive dataset of gas stations located in the target counties and augmented with local tax assessor data, as well as reporting from government agencies and interviews with industry experts. The result is a holistic assessment of when, and to what degree, gas stations will become viable targets for redevelopment due to the adoption of zero emission vehicles.
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