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An assessment of greenhouse gas emissions-weighted clean energy standards

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  • Coffman, Makena
  • Griffin, James P.
  • Bernstein, Paul

Abstract

This paper quantifies the relative cost-savings of utilizing a greenhouse gas emissions-weighted Clean Energy Standard (CES) in comparison to a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS). Using a bottom-up electricity sector model for Hawaii, this paper demonstrates that a policy that gives “clean energy” credit to electricity technologies based on their cardinal ranking of lifecycle GHG emissions, normalizing the highest-emitting unit to zero credit, can reduce the costs of emissions abatement by up to 90% in comparison to a typical RPS. A GHG emissions-weighted CES provides incentive to not only pursue renewable sources of electricity, but also promotes fuel-switching among fossil fuels and improved generation efficiencies at fossil-fired units. CES is found to be particularly cost-effective when projected fossil fuel prices are relatively low.

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  • Coffman, Makena & Griffin, James P. & Bernstein, Paul, 2012. "An assessment of greenhouse gas emissions-weighted clean energy standards," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 122-132.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:45:y:2012:i:c:p:122-132
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2012.01.068
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Makena Coffman & Paul Bernstein, 2013. "Economic Impacts of Inter-Island Energy in Hawaii," Working Papers 2013-16, University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization, University of Hawaii at Manoa.
    2. Makena Coffman & Paul Bernstein & Sherilyn Wee, 2014. "Cost Implications of GHG Regulation in Hawai�i," Working Papers 2014-5, University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization, University of Hawaii at Manoa.
    3. Warwick J. McKibbin & Adele Morris & Peter J. Wilcoxen, 2015. "Controlling carbon emissions from U.S. power plants: how a tradable performance standard compares to a carbon tax," CAMA Working Papers 2015-30, Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    4. Makena Coffman & Paul Bernstein & Sherilyn Wee & Clarice Schafer, 2017. "Economic and GHG impacts of natural gas for Hawaii," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 19(3), pages 519-536, July.
    5. Makena Coffman & Paul Bernstein, 2015. "Linking Hawaii’s Islands with wind energy," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 54(1), pages 1-21, January.
    6. Geoffrey J. Blanford, James H. Merrick, and David Young, 2014. "A Clean Energy Standard Analysis with the US-REGEN Model," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Special I).
    7. Makena Coffman & Sherilyn Wee & Carl Bonham & Germaine Salim, 2013. "A Policy Analysis of Hawaii�s Solar Tax Credit Incentive," Working Papers 2013-11, University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization, University of Hawaii at Manoa.
    8. Rouhani, Omid M. & Niemeier, Debbie & Gao, H. Oliver & Bel, Germà, 2016. "Cost-benefit analysis of various California renewable portfolio standard targets: Is a 33% RPS optimal?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1122-1132.

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