Regulating Greenhouse Gases from Coal Power Plants under the Clean Air Act

Joshua Linn, Erin Mastrangelo and Dallas Burtraw

RFF Working Paper Series from Resources for the Future

Abstract: The Clean Air Act has assumed the central role in US climate policy, directing the development of regulations governing greenhouse gas emissions from existing coal-fired power plants. This paper examines the operation of coal-fired generating units over 25 years to estimate the marginal costs and potential magnitude of emissions reductions from improving their efficiency. We find that a 10 percent increase in coal prices causes a 0.2 to 0.5 percent heat rate reduction, broadly consistent with engineering assessments. We also find that coal prices have a significant effect on utilization. The results are used to compare cost-effectiveness of alternative policies.

Keywords: efficiency; regulation; greenhouse gas; carbon dioxide; coal; performance standards (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L94 Q54 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-02-19
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene, nep-env, nep-reg and nep-res
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Journal Article: Regulating Greenhouse Gases from Coal Power Plants under the Clean Air Act (2014)
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