ch18: energy policy and the environment Flashcards
demand side management tactics to promote energy efficiency
- promote technologies that use energy more efficiently or at more efficient times of the day
- produce energy by freeing up supply
how can supply be freed up?
- weatherization
- cogeneration
- energy efficient lighting, industrial motors, and cooling and cleaning appliances
- peak shifting
what are the 8 main sources of energy?
- coal
- nuclear
- natural gas
- hydro-electricity
- solar
- wind power
- geothermal
- biomass
Advantages and Disadvantages of coal
advantages:
- easy to mine
- cheap
disadvantages
- high-polluting
*but recent advances of coal gasification and carbon capture can reduce emissions.
Advantages and disadvantages of nuclear
advantages:
- cheap to run
disadvantages
- expensive to build, often requires gov funds but lacks taxpayer support bc ppls are risk averse
- environmental risks resulting from radioactive fuel rods
- nimbysm - no one wants to be at the frontline of radiation (if it were to occur)
high level vs low level nuclear waste
high level waste: toxic for hundreds of thousands of years
- spent fuel rods must be stored (underground, in some secure geological formation, or above ground)
- if was not secure, could expose a huge amount of society to radiation at unsafe levels
low level waste: toxic for decades
- workers are exposed to low level radiation all the time and their clothing can become radioactive
Natural gas advantages and disadvantages
advantage:
- cleanest of fossil fuels
disadvantage:
- trapped underground in shale formation so often expensive to mine
- fracking has large environmental impacts: fugitive emissions, detrimental to water quality, change in ground structure increases earthquakes
Hydro advantages and disadvantages
advantages:
- clean
disadvantages:
- limited supply of fast moving rivers that can dam
- requires flooding large areas = environmental and societal impact
Solar advantages and disadvantages
advantages:
- clean
- cost competitive w coal, natural gas
disadvantages:
- intermittency: when the sun goes down, no energy is produced. so need a storage mechanism for use at night and on cloudy days.
Active vs passive solar
active solar producers power
passive solar produces heat
2 types of active solar
solar thermal: takes energy from sun–> heats fluid–> uses heat to create electricity. often used in large plants.
photovoltaic: solar cells. used more residentially.
wind power advantages and disadvantages
advantage:
- cheap to manufacture
- cheap to distribute when close to people (gets more difficult and expensive the further move away)
disadvantage:
- intermittency
- nimbyism (ugly + loud)
geothermal advantages and disadvantages
advantage:
- can be done at commercial scale to generate large amounts of heat at minimal costs so good for industrial use
disadvantage
- too new tech to work on a residential scale
How does geothermal work?
stick pipes into earth that are linked underground. As water goes down pipe it is heated by the warmth from earth’s core and comes back out the other pipe as hot water.
Biomass advantages and disadvantages
advantage: low cost
disadvantage: has the potential to be carbon intensive
what is biomass energy?
burning of dead matter to get energy
What are the three ways to reduce use of fossil fuels for transportation?
- increase fuel efficiency
- require min fuel efficiency - fuel switching
- encourage use of other forms of energy
- ex: evs (moving from early-late stage), biofuels (early stage) - mode switching
- encourage people to replace driving with public transit, carpooling, car sharing, walking, or biking
- ex taxes on driving, first-class public transit, congestion pricing, zoning laws
disruptive energy transition
in the electricity space: solar
if solar and batteries cost declines continue, they will soon become cheaper than grid power.
this could lead to a rapid, disruptive change as people and businesses move quickly off the grid.
in the transportation space:
if evs and driverless taxis continue to decline in cost, they will soon become cheaper than private driving
this could lead to a rapid, disruptive change, as people and businesses move quickly from driving vehicles to using automated taxis and trucks.
policy options for electricity and heat
- pick the clean, low-cost tech
- increase ct profitability by eliminating subsidies and/or internalizing social costs for competitor tech
- promote the tech directly
3 ways to directly promote cts
- develop better tech through r and d
- capture cost savings through economics of scale
- smooth the path to adoption by creating local siting and other regulatory policies that are favorable to cts
problems w direct subsidy policies for cts + solution to these problems
- equity issues
- strategic behavior
- free-riding
- rebound effects
solution: requiring recipients to pay at least a portion of the cost should reduce these problems
price policies for promoting cts
- feed-in tariff: electric companies must buy back electricity produced by households and businesses at a set rate
- purchase power agreements: longterm contracts for power negotiated with small producers
- on-bill-recovery program and pace:
- on-bill-recovery program: new york policy that allows residents to borrow money for energy efficiency upgrades through their utilities and then pay the loans back as part of their utility bill.
- property assessed clean energy: supports investment by property owners in efficiency and distributed solar
environmental benefits of urban mass transit
- energy efficiency
- reduce both local and global air pollutants
- slows down growth in total miles traveled by creating denser neighborhoods
policies to encourage fuel efficiency and switching
- cafe-type standards
- easily justified on efficiency grounds - gas taxes
- auto emissions tax
- feebates
- combine a fee on gas cars w a rebate on fuel efficient cars
- would be revenue neutra
- probably not regressive as poor people would opt for the subsidy - pay by the mile auto insurance
- if accident rates correlate with miles driven, people who drive less should pay less for insurance
policies for mode switching
- remove subsidies for private transport
- internalize externalities (associated w congestion)
- congestion or peak-load pricing
- dedicated traffic lanes
