IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/resene/v58y2019ics0928765518303270.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Natural gas prices, electric generation investment, and greenhouse gas emissions

Author

Listed:
  • Brehm, Paul

Abstract

Between 2007 and 2013 the natural gas price dramatically declined, in large part due to hydraulic fracturing. These lower natural gas prices induced switching from coal generation to natural gas generation. I find that switching caused 2013 carbon emissions to fall by 14,700 tons/h. Lower gas prices also incentivized new investment in natural gas capacity. This less carbon-intensive capital stock led to an additional decrease of 2,100 tons/h in 2013. Using three approaches, I estimate that 65–85% of new capacity was constructed because of lower gas prices. A social cost of carbon of $35/ton values the estimated total decrease in 2013 emissions at roughly $5.1 billion.

Suggested Citation

  • Brehm, Paul, 2019. "Natural gas prices, electric generation investment, and greenhouse gas emissions," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:resene:v:58:y:2019:i:c:s0928765518303270
    DOI: 10.1016/j.reseneeco.2019.06.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0928765518303270
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.reseneeco.2019.06.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Burtraw, Dallas & Palmer, Karen & Paul, Anthony & Woerman, Matt, 2012. "Secular Trends, Environmental Regulation, and Electricity Markets," RFF Working Paper Series dp-12-15, Resources for the Future.
    2. Duncan S. Callaway & Meredith Fowlie & Gavin McCormick, 2018. "Location, Location, Location: The Variable Value of Renewable Energy and Demand-Side Efficiency Resources," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 5(1), pages 39-75.
    3. Lucas Davis & Catherine Hausman, 2016. "Market Impacts of a Nuclear Power Plant Closure," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 8(2), pages 92-122, April.
    4. Koichiro Ito, 2014. "Do Consumers Respond to Marginal or Average Price? Evidence from Nonlinear Electricity Pricing," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(2), pages 537-563, February.
    5. Joshua Linn & Erin Mastrangelo & Dallas Burtraw, 2014. "Regulating Greenhouse Gases from Coal Power Plants under the Clean Air Act," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 1(1), pages 97-134.
    6. Graff Zivin, Joshua S. & Kotchen, Matthew J. & Mansur, Erin T., 2014. "Spatial and temporal heterogeneity of marginal emissions: Implications for electric cars and other electricity-shifting policies," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 107(PA), pages 248-268.
    7. Lafrancois, Becky A., 2012. "A lot left over: Reducing CO2 emissions in the United States’ electric power sector through the use of natural gas," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 428-435.
    8. Holladay, J. Scott & LaRiviere, Jacob, 2017. "The impact of cheap natural gas on marginal emissions from electricity generation and implications for energy policy," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 205-227.
    9. Harrison Fell & Daniel T. Kaffine, 2018. "The Fall of Coal: Joint Impacts of Fuel Prices and Renewables on Generation and Emissions," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 10(2), pages 90-116, May.
    10. Daniel T. Kaffine & Brannin J. McBee & Jozef Lieskovsky, 2013. "Emissions Savings from Wind Power Generation in Texas," The Energy Journal, , vol. 34(1), pages 155-176, January.
    11. Lucas W. Davis & Lutz Kilian, 2011. "The Allocative Cost of Price Ceilings in the U.S. Residential Market for Natural Gas," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 119(2), pages 212-241.
    12. Kevin Novan, 2015. "Valuing the Wind: Renewable Energy Policies and Air Pollution Avoided," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 7(3), pages 291-326, August.
    13. Linn, Joshua & Muehlenbachs, Lucija, 2018. "The heterogeneous impacts of low natural gas prices on consumers and the environment," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 1-28.
    14. Joseph A. Cullen & Erin T. Mansur, 2017. "Inferring Carbon Abatement Costs in Electricity Markets: A Revealed Preference Approach Using the Shale Revolution," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 106-133, August.
    15. Joseph Cullen, 2013. "Measuring the Environmental Benefits of Wind-Generated Electricity," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 5(4), pages 107-133, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Christopher R. Knittel & Konstantinos Metaxoglou & Andre Trindade, 2015. "Natural Gas Prices and Coal Displacement: Evidence from Electricity Markets," NBER Working Papers 21627, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Goodell, John W. & Gurdgiev, Constantin & Paltrinieri, Andrea & Piserà, Stefano, 2023. "Global energy supply risk: Evidence from the reactions of European natural gas futures to Nord Stream announcements," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    3. Brehm, Paul A. & Zhang, Yiyuan, 2021. "The efficiency and environmental impacts of market organization: Evidence from the Texas electricity market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    4. Xie, Li & Li, Zexin & Ye, Xiuhua & Jiang, Yanru, 2021. "Environmental regulation and energy investment structure: Empirical evidence from China's power industry," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    5. Han, Zhixin & Fang, Debin & Yang, Peiwen & Lei, Leyao, 2023. "Cooperative mechanisms for multi-energy complementarity in the electricity spot market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(PB).
    6. Carroll, Deborah A. & Stevens, Kelly A., 2021. "The short-term impact on emissions and federal tax revenue of a carbon tax in the U.S. electricity sector," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    7. Muehlenbachs, Lucija & Staubli, Stefan & Chu, Ziyan, 2021. "The accident externality from trucking: Evidence from shale gas development," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rivera, Nathaly M. & Ruiz-Tagle, J. Cristobal & Spiller, Elisheba, 2024. "The health benefits of solar power generation: Evidence from Chile," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    2. Linn, Joshua & Muehlenbachs, Lucija, 2018. "The heterogeneous impacts of low natural gas prices on consumers and the environment," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 1-28.
    3. Gugler, Klaus & Haxhimusa, Adhurim & Liebensteiner, Mario, 2023. "Carbon pricing and emissions: Causal effects of Britain's carbon tax," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    4. Harrison Fell & Daniel T. Kaffine & Kevin Novan, 2021. "Emissions, Transmission, and the Environmental Value of Renewable Energy," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 13(2), pages 241-272, May.
    5. LaRiviere, Jacob & Lyu, Xueying, 2022. "Transmission constraints, intermittent renewables and welfare," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    6. Steven M. Smith, 2019. "The Relative Economic Merits of Alternative Water Rights," Working Papers 2019-08, Colorado School of Mines, Division of Economics and Business.
    7. Brittany Tarufelli & Ben Gilbert, 2019. "Leakage in Regional Climate Policy? Implications of Electricity Market Design," Working Papers 2019-07, Colorado School of Mines, Division of Economics and Business, revised Dec 2021.
    8. Jan Abrell & Mirjam Kosch, 2022. "The Impact of Carbon Prices on Renewable Energy Support," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 9(3), pages 531-563.
    9. Harding, Matthew & Kettler, Kyle & Lamarche, Carlos & Ma, Lala, 2023. "The (alleged) environmental and social benefits of dynamic pricing," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 574-593.
    10. Harrison Fell & Daniel T. Kaffine, 2018. "The Fall of Coal: Joint Impacts of Fuel Prices and Renewables on Generation and Emissions," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 10(2), pages 90-116, May.
    11. Chu, Yin & Gao, Juanxia & Li, Haoyang, 2023. "Wind power expansion and regional allocative efficiency among fossil-fuel electricity generators," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    12. Novan, Kevin & Wang, Yingzi, 2024. "Estimates of the marginal curtailment rates for solar and wind generation," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    13. LaPlue, Lawrence D., 2022. "Environmental consequences of natural gas wellhead pricing deregulation," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    14. Harrison Fell & Daniel T. Kaffine, 2014. "A one-two punch: Joint effects of natural gas abundance and renewables on coal-fired power plants," Working Papers 2014-10, Colorado School of Mines, Division of Economics and Business.
    15. Abrell, Jan & Kosch, Mirjam & Rausch, Sebastian, 2019. "Carbon abatement with renewables: Evaluating wind and solar subsidies in Germany and Spain," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 172-202.
    16. Gugler, Klaus & Haxhimusa, Adhurim & Liebensteiner, Mario, 2021. "Effectiveness of climate policies: Carbon pricing vs. subsidizing renewables," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    17. Brett Watson & Ian Lange & Joshua Linn, 2023. "Coal demand, market forces, and U.S. coal mine closures," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 61(1), pages 35-57, January.
    18. John J. García Rendón & Alex F. Pérez-Libreros, 2019. "El precio spot de la electricidad y la inclusión de energía renovable no convencional: evidencia para Colombia," Documentos de Trabajo de Valor Público 17393, Universidad EAFIT.
    19. Joseph A. Cullen & Erin T. Mansur, 2017. "Inferring Carbon Abatement Costs in Electricity Markets: A Revealed Preference Approach Using the Shale Revolution," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 106-133, August.
    20. Li, Haoyang & Lin, Wen, 2023. "Cheaper solar, cleaner grid?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(PB).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Carbon emissions; Climate change; Electricity; Fracking; Capital investment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q31 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation - - - Demand and Supply; Prices
    • Q35 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation - - - Hydrocarbon Resources
    • Q51 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Valuation of Environmental Effects
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming
    • L94 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Electric Utilities
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:resene:v:58:y:2019:i:c:s0928765518303270. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505569 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.