Heterogeneous firms and the environment: a cap-and-trade program

Currently, cap-and-trade programs are a cornerstone of many countries' climate change policies and proposals. This paper investigates the economic and environmental effects of different climate change policy designs in a general equilibrium setting with heterogeneous firms and monopolistic competition. The analysis predicts that the cap on emissions perfectly defines the environmental quality but has no effect on firms' profits, or decisions to enter or exit the market. In contrast, increasing the share of free allocations of emission allowances, as opposed to auctions, has no effect on environmental quality but reallocates resources among firms toward the most productive ones which has an impact on firms' entry and exit decisions, the mass of firms, and the composition of the market. Firm heterogeneity magnifies these economic effects of changes in the initial allocation of allowances. The paper provides a decomposition of the change in aggregate emissions which takes account of the changes at sector level, across the firms within a sector, and at the firm level.     

Changes in the Chemistry of Small Irish lakes

A re-survey of acid-sensitive lakes in Ireland (initial survey 1997) was carried out during spring 2007 (n = 60). Since 1997, atmospheric emissions of sulfur dioxide and deposition of non-marine sulfate (SO₄ ²⁻) in Ireland have decreased by ~63 and 36%, respectively. Comparison of water chemistry between surveys showed significant decreases in the concentration of SO₄ ²⁻, non-marine SO₄ ²⁻, and non-marine base cations. In concert, alkalinity increased significantly; however, no change was observed in surface water pH and total aluminum. High inter-annual variability in sea salt inputs and increasing (albeit non-significant) dissolved organic carbon may have influenced the response of pH and total aluminum (as ~70% is organic aluminum). Despite their location on the western periphery of Europe, and dominant influence from Atlantic air masses, the repeat survey suggests that the chemistry of small Irish lakes has shown a significant response to reductions in air pollution driven primarily by the implementation of the Gothenburg Protocol under the UNECE Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution.     

Review of biosolids management options and co-incineration of a biosolid-derived fuel

This paper reviews current biosolids management options, and identifies incineration as a promising technology. Incineration is attractive both for volume reduction and energy recovery. Reported emissions from the incineration of biosolids were compared to various regulations to identify the challenges and future direction of biosolids incineration research. Most of the gaseous and metal emissions were lower than existing regulations, or could be met by existing technologies. This paper also presents the results of an experimental study to investigate the potential use of biosolids for co-incineration with wood pellets in a conventional wood pellet stove. Pilot scale combustion tests revealed that co-incineration of 10% biosolids with 90% premium grade wood pellets resulted in successful combustion without any significant degradation of efficiency and emissions.     

Emissions cap or emissions tax? A multi-sector business cycle analysis

We develop a multi-sector business cycle model to analyze stochastic implications of reducing CO₂ emissions with carbon permits or with carbon taxes in the presence of multiple sources of macroeconomic uncertainty. The model is calibrated to reflect the U.S. experience. As in previous studies, using a single-sector version of our model, we find that the cap regime generates lower volatility of real variables than the tax regime, but the latter may be preferable from the welfare perspective. Still, our multi-sector analysis points to the importance of the origin of the shocks in the ranking of the two instruments and to the desirability of going beyond a single-sector analysis in evaluating their merits. We find no significant difference between the cap and the tax regimes when shocks come from non-energy sectors. In contrast, the cap has lower volatility but higher welfare costs than the tax for the shocks to energy production.     

Process integrated modelling for steelmaking Life Cycle Inventory analysis

During recent years, strict environmental regulations have been implemented by governments for the steelmaking industry in order to reduce their environmental impact. In the frame of the ULCOS project, we have developed a new methodological framework which combines the process integrated modelling approach with Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method in order to carry out the Life Cycle Inventory of steelmaking. In the current paper, this new concept has been applied to the sinter plant which is the most polluting steelmaking process. It has been shown that this approach is a powerful tool to make the collection of data easier, to save time and to provide reliable information concerning the environmental diagnostic of the steelmaking processes.     

某化学工业园区重点行业企业VOCs污染问题初探

针对某化工园区重点行业企业挥发性有机物(VOCs)污染问题,通过对其中50家企业的原料、设备、数据调查以及现场考察,总结其VOCs的使用种类与数量、治理设备与排放情况。对一些典型VOCs排放企业分析,提出针对性减污措施。根据化工园区的VOCs特点与危害性,提出管理、控制、治理等方面的建议。     

刷卡管理系统对总量控制的促进——以泰州市刷卡排污示范工程为例

简述了当前污染物总量控制现状,从技术角度和管理角度分析了其存在的缺陷。以泰州市刷卡排污试点工程为例,介绍了企业刷卡排污总量控制设备、环保部门刷卡排污系统控制管理平台、刷卡排污具体工作流程等。指出,刷卡管理系统有效提高了总量控制指导性,确保数据的真实、准确,加强环保监控,促进企业转型升级;有效实现总量定额分配,实现浓度、总量双控制,实现定向监管,减少企业偷排、漏排,促进排污权交易制度顺利实施。     

Indoor Aerosol Modeling: Basic Principles and Practical Applications

The type and amount of indoor air pollutants affects the comfort and quality of indoor environments. Therefore, indoor air quality is an important issue with different social, economic, and health aspects because people in developing countries spend most of their time indoors being exposed to different kinds of indoor pollutants. The indoor air quality can be assessed empirically by measuring the pollutant concentrations or can be predicted by means of mathematical models. An indoor aerosol model describes the dynamic behavior of indoor air pollutants. The basic concept of indoor air models is the mass-balance-conservation where several factors that govern the indoor particle concentrations can be described. These factors may include direct emissions from indoor sources, outdoor aerosol particles penetrating indoors as a result of the ventilation and filtration processes, deposition onto indoor surfaces, and removal from indoor air by means of ventilation. Here we present principles of indoor aerosol models and we also give examples of different kind of models.     

Price-based vs. quantity-based environmental regulation under Knightian uncertainty: an info-gap robust satisficing perspective

Conventional wisdom among environmental economists is that the relative slopes of the marginal social benefit and marginal social cost functions determine whether a price-based or quantity-based environmental regulation leads to higher expected social welfare. We revisit the choice between price-based vs. quantity-based environmental regulation under Knightian uncertainty; that is, when uncertainty cannot be modeled with known moments of probability distributions. Under these circumstances, the policy objective cannot be to maximize the expected net benefits of emissions control. Instead, we evaluate an emissions tax and an aggregate abatement standard in terms of maximizing the range of uncertainty under which the welfare loss from error in the estimates of the marginal benefits and costs of emissions control can be limited. The main result of our work is that the same criterion involving the relative slopes of the marginal benefit and cost functions determines whether price-based or quantity-based control is more robust to unstructured uncertainty. Hence, not only does the relative slopes criterion lead to the policy that maximizes the expected net benefits of control under structured uncertainty, it also leads to the policy that maximizes robustness to unstructured uncertainty.     

The Influence of Road Infrastructure and Traffic on Soil,Water, and Air Quality

Polluting substances are spread as a consequence of the construction and use of roads. This article provides a summary of the substances with which traffic pollutes the environment on a local, regional and global level. The mechanisms of dispersion of pollutants to soil and groundwater are described. Based on environmental quality requirements established in rules and regulations in the Netherlands, the paper discusses mitigating measures necessary to limit the distribution of pollutants along highways. Most of the data in this article come from original research carried out by or by order of the Road and Hydraulic Institute. For comparison, other data from the Netherlands have been included. It is shown that source-oriented measures (volume and technical) will have more effect on environmental quality than measures with regard to treating runoff. The use of porous asphalt instead of nonporous asphalt on highways in the Netherlands has environmental benefits. The article also pays attention to combined use of the roadside verges for treatment of runoff using ecological engineering techniques in the form of natural processes in helophyte filter systems in combination with enhancement of ecological values along highways.