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MULTIPOLLUTANT EFFICIENCY STANDARDS FOR ELECTRICITY PRODUCTION
Author(s) -
SCHWARZ PETER M.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
contemporary economic policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.454
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1465-7287
pISSN - 1074-3529
DOI - 10.1093/cep/byi026
Subject(s) - clean air act , electricity , production (economics) , natural resource economics , environmental protection , business , agricultural economics , environmental economics , air pollution , economics , environmental science , engineering , microeconomics , ecology , electrical engineering , biology
This study contains a simulation of a coal‐fired electric plant subject to multiple pollutant standards for SO 2 and NO x . It shows that firms may not choose the lowest cost technology. The firm's cost‐minimizing choice is compared for three increasingly stringent standards: the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, the 1997 New Source Performance Standards, and the 2002 North Carolina Clean Smokestacks Act. The study finds support on cost‐benefit grounds for the 2002 North Carolina standard, which is the most stringent standard, but not for the 1997 NSPS. (JEL Q28 , Q25 , L94 )