Is Real-Time Pricing Green? The Environmental Impacts of Electricity Demand Variance

Stephen Holland and Erin Mansur

No 13508, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Real-time pricing (RTP) of electricity would improve allocative efficiency and limit wholesalers' market power. Conventional wisdom claims that RTP provides additional environmental benefits. This paper argues that RTP will reduce the variance, both within- and across-days, in the quantity of electricity demanded. We estimate the short-run impacts of this reduction on SO2, NOx, and CO2 emissions. Reducing variance decreases emissions in regions where peak demand is met more by oil-fired capacity than by hydropower, such as the Mid-Atlantic. However, reducing variance increases emissions in more US regions, namely those with more hydropower like the West. The effects are relatively small.

JEL-codes: L51 L94 Q53 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene and nep-env
Note: EEE IO
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Published as Stephen P. Holland & Erin T. Mansur, 2008. "Is Real-Time Pricing Green? The Environmental Impacts of Electricity Demand Variance," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 90(3), pages 550-561, 04.

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