Getting Cars Off the Road: The Cost-Effectiveness of an Episodic Pollution Control Program

Maureen Cropper, Yi Jiang (), Anna Alberini and Patrick Baur
Additional contact information
Patrick Baur: National Academy of Sciences

No 2010.46, Working Papers from Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei

Abstract: Ground level ozone remains a serious problem in the United States. Because ozone non-attainment is a summer problem, episodic rather than continuous controls of ozone precursors are possible. We evaluate the costs and effectiveness of an episodic scheme that requires people to buy permits in order to drive on high ozone days. We estimate the demand function for permits based on a survey of 1,300 households in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Assuming that all vehicle owners comply with the scheme, the permit program would reduce VOCs by 50 tons and NOx by 42 tons per Code Red day at a permit price of $75. Allowing for non-compliance by 15% of respondents reduces the effectiveness of the scheme to 39 tons of VOCs and 33 tons of NOx per day. The cost per ozone season of achieving these reductions is approximately $9 million (2008 USD). This compares favorably with permanent methods of reducing VOCs that cost $645 per ton per year.

Keywords: Ground-Level Ozone; Episodic Pollution Control Schemes; Mobile Sources; Volatile Organic Compounds (Vocs); Cost Per Ton of Vocs Removed (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q52 Q53 Q58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene, nep-env and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Getting Cars Off the Road: The Cost-Effectiveness of an Episodic Pollution Control Program (2014)
Working Paper: Getting Cars Off the Road: The Cost-Effectiveness of an Episodic Pollution Control Program (2010)
Working Paper: Getting Cars Off the Road: The Cost-Effectiveness of an Episodic Pollution Control Program (2010)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fem:femwpa:2010.46

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