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Dynamic analysis of sulfur dioxide monthly emissions in U.S. power plants

Kim, Tae-Kyung
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1086195964

Abstract Details

2004, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, City and Regional Planning.
The Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA) of 1990 marked a moving away from command-and-control air quality regulations towards a market-based approach, whereby polluters are assigned annual emission allowances, and are free to select the minimum-cost approach that will keep their actual annual emissions within this allowance limit. Within this context, the objectives of this research are to better understand (1) the temporal patterns of SO2 emissions from power plants, and (2) the factors affecting fuel choice and SO2 emissions. Large power plant-related datasets from various sources are collected, processed, and combined for empirical analyses, to explain monthly fuel shipments, fuel consumptions, sulfur shipments, gross and net SO2 emissions, and fuel choices. Because of the interdependency of these various sulfur dioxide, simultaneous equations estimation techniques are used. The empirical findings are as follows. First, forecasts of electricity demand and fuel prices are the main determinants of the amounts and types of fuel shipments. The relationship between fuel shipments and forecasted fuel needs is very strong for the current month, and gradually weakens over future months, due to forecasting difficulties and the costs of fuel inventories. Second, net SO2 emissions increase with allowances, although not proportionately, because of the likely effects of allowance banking and trading. Third, each plant reduces SO2 emissions gradually over time, to account for the future more stringent Phase II emissions constraints. Fourth, plants emit less in winter, possibly because higher electricity leads to reduced unit SO2 emission abatement costs. Finally, plants with an FGD usually consume more high-sulfur fuels due to their potential abatement capability. An integrated analysis of the effects of changing emission allowances and installing FGD is conducted through a simulation. Reducing allowances by 1% leads to an emissions reduction of 0.15% at the plant level. However, if allowances were reduced uniformly nationwide, this effect would be stronger because of reduced allowance trading opportunities.
Jean-Michel Guldmann (Advisor)
237 p.
Sulfur dioxide emissions; Annual emission allowances; Emission trading; Environmental regulation; Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Kim, T.-K. (2004). Dynamic analysis of sulfur dioxide monthly emissions in U.S. power plants [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1086195964

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Kim, Tae-Kyung. Dynamic analysis of sulfur dioxide monthly emissions in U.S. power plants. 2004. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1086195964.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Kim, Tae-Kyung. "Dynamic analysis of sulfur dioxide monthly emissions in U.S. power plants." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2004. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1086195964

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1086195964
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© 2004, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.