MACC analysis Flashcards
MACC
marginal abatement cost curve
what is a MACC
a visualization of CO2 potential and its costs
Cost in MACC
difference in cost with reference situation
negative cost for specific cost
are cost effective options
barriers that prevent from cost effective options to be implemented
- higher upfront costs
- limited access to capital
- unknown options
How many points of attention do MACCs have?
11
why is cost perspective a point of attention?
MACC results can be very sensitive to the cost perspective chosen
Social vs. private perspective
Why is lifetime a point of attention in a MACC
- different lifetime give different costs
2. different lifetime give a different potential
What happends to the cost of a MACC if we increase the lifetime
specific costs will be lower because there is a longer period to spread those costs over
Why does lifetime influence the potential of a MACC
if it is based on a deployment potential, the lifetime influences stock turnover
Why is lock-in in frozen technology a point of attention in MACCs?
Often there is not enough data on how they determined the BAU potential, so a Frozen baseline has to be used.
Policy makers don’t understand what a frozen baseline is.
What is the danger zone in a MACC
The cost effective options
- It is often unclear that negative is a good thing
- There is no ranking in MACC, therefore it might look like something with a very high cost-efficiency is better, but that says nothing about the co2 reduction.
Why is demand side competition a point of attention in MACCs
some technologies share the same market, therefore implementing them both does mean you cannot add up their potential since they are in competition
How to deal with competing options at the demand side?
- divide market between technologies based on expert guess
- adopt a moving reference approach
What is a moving reference approach in MACC
option 1 becomes the reference for option 2
option 2 having somewhat better performance characteristics
How to deal with competing options at the demand side?
- 50/50 market share
- moving reference technology
- leaving option 1 out of the MACC
What are stacking options in a MACC
options that when implementing them reduce the potential of another otion
What is a solution to the stacking option problem
Show a combination of these options and their costs in a package
Why is competition between supply and demand a point of attention in a MACC
Because taking measures at the demand side, influence the demand for the supply side
An example of competition between supply and demand side
electricity production vs. electricity savings
What are the 3 solutions to dealing with supply vs demand side problems
- neglect interaction
(this will overestimate supply side potential and therefore not recommended.) - follow trias energetica
- Scenario approach
What is the scenario approach in a MACC
start with the cheapest demand side options. when the demand side options get expensive switch to doing supply side options
Why is supply side competition a point of attention in MACCs
Multiple options are competing for the same demand. An solution would be the scenario approach
Why is CO2 intensity of electricity a point of attention in a MACC
- for energy saving options the CO2 intensity determines how much reduction potential a technology has
- since the specific costs in costs/CO2, the CO2 potential partly determines how high or low the specific costs are
Why is Dependent potentials a point of attention in MACCs
There is cost reduction potential through learning. If the first version of a technology is not installed, there will be no chance to install the second or third option.
solution to dependent potentials in MACC
choose an weighted average marginal cost option
What are downsides to a weighted average marginal cost option?
In the beginning the marginal costs will be much higher then projected
At the end the marginal costs will be lower then projected
MACC = snapshot
- it only shows the result of technology diffusion in the target period
- it does not show early stage of diffusion in case of technologies with short lifetimes
Why are energy prices a point of attention in MACCs
Energy prices influence the cost and benefits in a MACC
What is an uncertainty about energy prices in a MACC
Long term energy prices are not straightforward
