The Energy Efficiency Gap in EPA’s Benefit-Cost Analysis of Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Regulations: A Case Study

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 432-454 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gloria Helfand ◽  
Reid Dorsey-Palmateer
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Cost Analysis ◽  
Energy Saving ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Benefit Cost Analysis ◽  
Fuel Savings ◽  
Energy Efficiency Gap ◽  
Benefit Cost ◽  
Efficiency Gap

Recent federal regulations require new light-duty vehicles to have lower greenhouse gas emissions and better fuel economy. This paper presents the reasoning used by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in its benefit-cost analysis of the standards. According to EPA, many available technologies could achieve these goals without affecting other vehicle qualities, and fuel savings would pay for the increased technology costs with short payback periods. This lack of market adoption of cost-effective energy-saving technologies has been termed the energy efficiency gap or energy efficiency paradox. It suggests that either there are additional costs, such as changes in vehicle qualities, not considered in cost estimates, or markets for energy-saving technologies are not achieving all cost-effective savings. EPA argued that, even if consumers do not accurately consider expected future fuel savings when buying new vehicles, consumers are projected to receive those savings; the latter measure should reflect the impacts of the rule on fuel expenditures. For the cost side, EPA used a measure of technology costs required to meet the standards while maintaining baseline (2008) vehicle attributes. Estimates of how these costs would be affected by changes in vehicle attributes were not included.

Spatially explicit benefit-cost analysis of fire management for greenhouse gas abatement

2012 ◽  
Vol 37 (6) ◽  
pp. 724-732 ◽  
Author(s):  
SCOTT HECKBERT ◽  
JEREMY RUSSELL-SMITH ◽  
ANDREW REESON ◽  
JOCELYN DAVIES ◽  
GLENN JAMES ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cost Analysis ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Fire Management ◽  
Spatially Explicit ◽  
Benefit Cost Analysis ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Abatement ◽  
Benefit Cost

A Bond Graph Approach to Improve the Energy Efficiency of Ships

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sepideh Jafarzadeh ◽  
Eilif Pedersen ◽  
Emilio Notti ◽  
Antonello Sala ◽  
Harald Ellingsen
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Energy Saving ◽  
Fuel Consumption ◽  
Bond Graph ◽  
Current Level ◽  
Fishing Vessel ◽  
Information Barriers ◽  
Energy Efficiency Gap ◽  
Efficiency Gap

High fuel consumption coupled with increasing fuel prices, emission regulations and increasing concern about the environment, act as incentives to reduce the energy consumption of ships. However, different barriers hinder the adoption of cost-effective energy saving measures by ship owners and operators. These barriers are the reason for the existence of an ‘energy efficiency gap’ between the current level of energy efficiency and the potential for development of higher order efficiency. Imperfect information regarding the current level of energy consumption of vessels, availability and application of energy saving measures, and the impact of adopting these measures, form a group of so called ‘information barriers’. The main objective of this article is to reduce those information barriers, as faced in shipping and more specifically in the fishing sector. The bond graph methodology is presented as a potential solution to these issues. It is utilized as a modeling and simulation method by which to visualize energy flow in a fishing vessel. The bond graph method is employed to estimate the fuel consumption of the vessel under different operational conditions: steaming, trawling and hauling of the fishing gear. It is also applied in pinpointing the major energy consuming apparatuses onboard the vessel. In this way knowledge regarding the current levels of energy consumption can be increased. The main energy consumers can then be studied to further improve energy efficiency knowledge and subsequently reduce the energy efficiency gap of the fishing vessel. Finally, the effectiveness of implementing a slow steaming strategy as a possible energy saving mechanism is studied.

scholarly journals Benefit-cost analysis of water quality policy and criteria in the Delaware River

Water Policy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 313-327
Author(s):  
Gerald J. Kauffman
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Cost Analysis ◽  
Quality Criteria ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Optimal Level ◽  
Water Quality Criteria ◽  
Delaware River ◽  
Benefit Cost Analysis ◽  
Marginal Costs ◽  
Benefit Cost

Abstract This research conducts a benefit-cost analysis of water policies to reach an optimal level of dissolved oxygen (DO) to meet year-round fishable water quality criteria in the Delaware River. A watershed pollutant load model is utilized to estimate marginal cost curves of water quality improvements to meet a more protective year-round fishable standard and annual benefits are defined to achieve future DO criteria in the Delaware River. The most cost-effective DO standard is 4.5 mg/L defined by the point where the marginal benefits of willingness to pay (WTP) for improved water quality equals the marginal costs of pollution reduction. This optimal criteria (4.5 mg/L) can be achieved at a cost of $150 million with benefits ranging from $250 to $700 million/year. While a future DO standard of 4.5 mg/L reflects an economically efficient level of water quality, this DO criteria is less protective than the level of 5–6 mg/L needed to protect anadromous fish such as the Atlantic sturgeon. The policy to reach a DO level of 6 mg/L (at 80% DO saturation) may be difficult to achieve at summer water temperatures that approach 30 °C in the Delaware River at Philadelphia.

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