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The Impact of Energy Prices on Technology Choice in the United States Steel Industry

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  • Gale A. Boyd
  • Stephen H. Karlson

Abstract

In the last 30 years, U.S. steel producers have replaced their aging open hearth steel furnaces with basic oxygen (BOF) or large electric are furnaces (LEF). This choice of technology creates the opportunity to substitute electricity for fossil fuels. We extend earlier research to investigate whether energy prices affect this type of technology adoption. The econometric model uses the "seemingly unrelated Tobit" method to capture the effects of the industry's experience with both technologies, technical change, and potential cost reductions, as well as energy prices, on adoption. Men we include the prices of electricity and coking coal as explanatory variables, the four energy price coefficients have the signs predicted by the law of demand, but the magnitude of the coefficients is such that the non-price terms are more important, e.g. a 50% increase in electricity prices would delay LEF adoption by only 12 days. Our results suggest that the adoption of LEF represents a form of major process technical change (factor biased - electricity using), rather than a price-induced technological innovation.

Suggested Citation

  • Gale A. Boyd & Stephen H. Karlson, 1993. "The Impact of Energy Prices on Technology Choice in the United States Steel Industry," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2), pages 47-56.
    • Handle: RePEc:aen:journl:1993v14-02-a03
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    Cited by:

    1. Jaffe, Adam B. & Newell, Richard G. & Stavins, Robert N., 2003. "Chapter 11 Technological change and the environment," Handbook of Environmental Economics, in: K. G. Mäler & J. R. Vincent (ed.), Handbook of Environmental Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 11, pages 461-516, Elsevier.
    2. Katrin Millock & Céline Nauges & Åsa Löfgren, 2007. "Using Ex Post Data to Estimate the Hurdle Rate of Abatement Investments – An Application to the Swedish Pulp and Paper Industry and Energy Sector," Post-Print halshs-00272041, HAL.
    3. Popp, David & Newell, Richard G. & Jaffe, Adam B., 2010. "Energy, the Environment, and Technological Change," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 873-937, Elsevier.
    4. Stavins, Robert & Jaffe, Adam & Newell, Richard, 2000. "Technological Change and the Environment," Working Paper Series rwp00-002, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    5. Arie ten Cate, 2006. "The derivatives of complex characteristic roots in the econometric modelling textbook of Kuh et al," CPB Memorandum 165.rdf, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    6. Paul Hek & Daniel Vuuren, 2011. "Are older workers overpaid? A literature review," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 18(4), pages 436-460, August.
    7. Löfgren, Åsa & Millock, Katrin & Nauges, Céline, 2008. "The effect of uncertainty on pollution abatement investments: Measuring hurdle rates for Swedish industry," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 475-491, December.
    8. Åsa Löfgren & Katrin Millock & Céline Nauges, 2008. "Using ex post data to estimate the hurdle rate of abatement investments - an application to sulfur emissions from the Swedish pulp and paper industry and energy sector," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne v08017, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    9. Adugna Olani & Samuel Gamtessa, 2016. "How Does Energy-cost Lead To Energy Efficiency? Panel Evidence From Canada," Working Paper 1368, Economics Department, Queen's University.
    10. Gamtessa, Samuel & Olani, Adugna Berhanu, 2018. "Energy price, energy efficiency, and capital productivity: Empirical investigations and policy implications," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 650-666.
    11. Pizer, William & Kopp, Raymond & Morgenstern, Richard & Harrington, Winston & Shih, Jhih-Shyang, 2002. "Technology Adoption and Aggregate Energy Efficiency," RFF Working Paper Series dp-02-52, Resources for the Future.
    12. Schumacher, Katja & Sands, Ronald D., 2007. "Where are the industrial technologies in energy-economy models? An innovative CGE approach for steel production in Germany," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 799-825, July.
    13. Kander, Astrid & Schon, Lennart, 2007. "The energy-capital relation--Sweden 1870-2000," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 291-305, September.
    14. Adam Jaffe & Richard Newell & Robert Stavins, 2002. "Environmental Policy and Technological Change," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 22(1), pages 41-70, June.

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    JEL classification:

    • F0 - International Economics - - General

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