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Economic and environmental costs of regulatory uncertainty for coal-fired power plants.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Patiño-Echeverri, D; Fischbeck, P; Kriegler, E
Published in: Environmental science & technology
February 2009

Uncertainty about the extent and timing of CO2 emissions regulations for the electricity-generating sector exacerbates the difficulty of selecting investment strategies for retrofitting or alternatively replacing existent coal-fired power plants. This may result in inefficient investments imposing economic and environmental costs to society. In this paper, we construct a multiperiod decision model with an embedded multistage stochastic dynamic program minimizing the expected total costs of plant operation, installations, and pollution allowances. We use the model to forecast optimal sequential investment decisions of a power plant operator with and without uncertainty about future CO2 allowance prices. The comparison of the two cases demonstrates that uncertainty on future CO2 emissions regulations might cause significant economic costs and higher air emissions.

Duke Scholars

Published In

Environmental science & technology

DOI

EISSN

1520-5851

ISSN

0013-936X

Publication Date

February 2009

Volume

43

Issue

3

Start / End Page

578 / 584

Related Subject Headings

  • Uncertainty
  • Power Plants
  • Environmental Sciences
  • Costs and Cost Analysis
  • Coal
 

Citation

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ICMJE
MLA
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Patiño-Echeverri, D., Fischbeck, P., & Kriegler, E. (2009). Economic and environmental costs of regulatory uncertainty for coal-fired power plants. Environmental Science & Technology, 43(3), 578–584. https://doi.org/10.1021/es800094h
Patiño-Echeverri, Dalia, Paul Fischbeck, and Elmar Kriegler. “Economic and environmental costs of regulatory uncertainty for coal-fired power plants.Environmental Science & Technology 43, no. 3 (February 2009): 578–84. https://doi.org/10.1021/es800094h.
Patiño-Echeverri D, Fischbeck P, Kriegler E. Economic and environmental costs of regulatory uncertainty for coal-fired power plants. Environmental science & technology. 2009 Feb;43(3):578–84.
Patiño-Echeverri, Dalia, et al. “Economic and environmental costs of regulatory uncertainty for coal-fired power plants.Environmental Science & Technology, vol. 43, no. 3, Feb. 2009, pp. 578–84. Epmc, doi:10.1021/es800094h.
Patiño-Echeverri D, Fischbeck P, Kriegler E. Economic and environmental costs of regulatory uncertainty for coal-fired power plants. Environmental science & technology. 2009 Feb;43(3):578–584.
Journal cover image

Published In

Environmental science & technology

DOI

EISSN

1520-5851

ISSN

0013-936X

Publication Date

February 2009

Volume

43

Issue

3

Start / End Page

578 / 584

Related Subject Headings

  • Uncertainty
  • Power Plants
  • Environmental Sciences
  • Costs and Cost Analysis
  • Coal