ch18: energy policy and the environment

Question 1

demand side management tactics to promote energy efficiency

Answer 1

1. promote technologies that use energy more efficiently or at more efficient times of the day
2. produce energy by freeing up supply

Question 2

how can supply be freed up?

Answer 2

1. weatherization
2. cogeneration
3. energy efficient lighting, industrial motors, and cooling and cleaning appliances
4. peak shifting

Question 3

what are the 8 main sources of energy?

Answer 3

1. coal
2. nuclear
3. natural gas
4. hydro-electricity
5. solar
6. wind power
7. geothermal
8. biomass

Question 4

Advantages and Disadvantages of coal

Answer 4

advantages:
- easy to mine
- cheap

disadvantages
- high-polluting
*but recent advances of coal gasification and carbon capture can reduce emissions.

Question 5

Advantages and disadvantages of nuclear

Answer 5

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)

Question 6

high level vs low level nuclear waste

Answer 6

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

Question 7

Natural gas advantages and disadvantages

Answer 7

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

Question 8

Hydro advantages and disadvantages

Answer 8

advantages:
- clean

disadvantages:
- limited supply of fast moving rivers that can dam
- requires flooding large areas = environmental and societal impact

Question 9

Solar advantages and disadvantages

Answer 9

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.

Question 10

Active vs passive solar

Answer 10

active solar producers power

passive solar produces heat

Question 11

2 types of active solar

Answer 11

solar thermal: takes energy from sun–> heats fluid–> uses heat to create electricity. often used in large plants.

photovoltaic: solar cells. used more residentially.

Question 12

wind power advantages and disadvantages

Answer 12

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)

Question 13

geothermal advantages and disadvantages

Answer 13

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

Question 14

How does geothermal work?

Answer 14

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.

Question 15

Biomass advantages and disadvantages

Answer 15

advantage: low cost

disadvantage: has the potential to be carbon intensive

Question 16

what is biomass energy?

Answer 16

burning of dead matter to get energy

Question 17

What are the three ways to reduce use of fossil fuels for transportation?

Answer 17

1. increase fuel efficiency
   - require min fuel efficiency
2. fuel switching
   - encourage use of other forms of energy
   - ex: evs (moving from early-late stage), biofuels (early stage)
3. 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

Question 18

disruptive energy transition

Answer 18

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.

Question 19

policy options for electricity and heat

Answer 19

1. pick the clean, low-cost tech
2. increase ct profitability by eliminating subsidies and/or internalizing social costs for competitor tech
3. promote the tech directly

Question 20

3 ways to directly promote cts

Answer 20

1. develop better tech through r and d
2. capture cost savings through economics of scale
3. smooth the path to adoption by creating local siting and other regulatory policies that are favorable to cts

Question 21

problems w direct subsidy policies for cts + solution to these problems

Answer 21

1. equity issues
2. strategic behavior
3. free-riding
4. rebound effects

solution: requiring recipients to pay at least a portion of the cost should reduce these problems

Question 22

price policies for promoting cts

Answer 22

1. feed-in tariff: electric companies must buy back electricity produced by households and businesses at a set rate
2. purchase power agreements: longterm contracts for power negotiated with small producers
3. 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

Question 23

environmental benefits of urban mass transit

Answer 23

1. energy efficiency
2. reduce both local and global air pollutants
3. slows down growth in total miles traveled by creating denser neighborhoods

Question 24

policies to encourage fuel efficiency and switching

Answer 24

1. cafe-type standards
   - easily justified on efficiency grounds
2. gas taxes
3. auto emissions tax
4. 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
5. pay by the mile auto insurance
   - if accident rates correlate with miles driven, people who drive less should pay less for insurance

Question 25

policies for mode switching

Answer 25

1. remove subsidies for private transport
2. internalize externalities (associated w congestion)
3. congestion or peak-load pricing
4. dedicated traffic lanes