Three Essays on Environmental Economics in the Energy Sector [electronic resource].

9781088315064

Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, 2019.

1 online resource (160 p.)

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This dissertation is comprised of three essays on environmental economics in the energy sector. The first essay examines how a greenhouse gas regulation in the electricity sector impacts the spatial distribution of local air quality. In this paper, I investigate the impact of a regulation that prices carbon on an industry with dynamic production decisions. While carbon pricing is designed to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, it also impacts the emissions of local air pollutants. I demonstrate that with dynamic production decisions it is theoretically possible for a carbon price in the electricity sector to increase pollution in some areas. However, the outcome depends on the empirical cost structure of the regulated firms. I develop a dynamic model of electricity production and generating unit efficiency investment decisions to analyze how firm decisions in California's electricity sector are affected by the state's carbon price. I use the model to simulate market outcomes across policy scenarios with and without carbon prices, as well as a location-specific Pigouvian tax on air pollutants. I show that under current carbon prices, the regulation leads to minimal production reallocation and small changes in the spatial distribution of local air pollutants compared to a no carbon price scenario. Higher carbon prices lead to production reallocation and co-benefits from changes in the spatial distribution of air pollutants; though, the co-benefits occur predominantly outside of state's heavily polluted regions. On the other hand, the location-specific Pigouvian tax concentrates these benefits in heavily polluted regions. In addition, I demonstrate that under certain plausible conditions, private and social returns are largest when efficiency investments occur in the cleanest, most frequently utilized units. The second essay investigates the efficacy of energy audits and retro-commissionings in the commercial buildings sector. This essay leverages a unique empirical setting in New York City that randomly assigns an information-based policy to large commercial buildings. We exploit this randomization to estimate the causal effects of an energy audit and retro-commissioning policy on building energy consumption. The intention to treat estimate shows that this intervention reduces energy consumption per square foot by two percent on average, while the local average treatment effect (LATE) reduction is around three percent. Pre-treatment building efficiency, as well as building size and age, contribute to substantial heterogeneity in the treatment effects. In addition, we find larger reductions in energy use from the treatment when building owners are financially responsible for energy use, indicating the influence of split incentives in the response to information interventions.The third essay studies the impact of the structure of the local built environment (urban form) on one of the nation's largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions, the transportation sector. This study matches detailed micro-data on driving demand and vehicle characteristics gathered from annual emissions inspection tests in Massachusetts (MA) to localized features of the the built environment to understand the relationship between urban form and driving. Novel features of the built environment are developed using geospatial analysis to capture urban amenities such as public transit access and walkability. We use cross-sectional and intertemporal variation in urban form, as well as instrumental variables, to overcome the endogeneity issue that arises from self-selection of drivers to residential location. The results indicate that on average a 10 percent increase in average walkability can lead to a decrease in daily vehicle miles traveled (VMT) by up to 2.5 percent per driver in MA, equivalent to over 260 miles annually. This paper is the first of its kind to provide causal evidence of the impact of walkability on driving, demonstrating that strategic urban planning that incorporates amenity accessibility can reduce energy use from transportation.

Dissertations & Theses @ Yale University.

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English

January 17, 2020

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Yale University, 2019.

Yale University. Forestry and Environmental Studies.