Narrow Results

This chapter describes how economic models are used to answer questions about policy changes, specifically in the context of a carbon fee-and-dividend system. A carbon fee-and-dividend is a price on carbon dioxide emissions that returns the revenues gained to ordinary households in the form of a monthly check. The chapter describes, in nontechnical terms, the economic models and modeling processes involved and how they are similar and different from climate models…

This chapter investigates efficiency determinants in electricity markets. This case study examines three possible futures for the electricity industry in China and Singapore: business-as-usual, energy efficiency improvement, and regulation and incentive improvement. A panel dataset spanning 1995–2018 was subjected to cross-sectional analysis using data envelopment analysis and Tobit regression. According to empirical data, these reforms would reduce fossil fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions by 8.25–12.68%, while removing more than 50% of pollutant emissions at a yearly cost of $45.9–$99.7 billion. In the last 10 years, the electric power sector has reduced sulphur dioxide, nitrous oxide, and particulate matter emission rates by 90%, 88%, and 95%, respectively, as a result of imperatives for the closing of small coal-fired power stations and their substitution with larger ones, as well as air emissions regulations and the utilisation of renewable energy initiatives. Finally, it is suggested that the maximum results of such expenditures can only be achieved if they are considered and involved in the project discovery process rather than just an add-on to demand initiatives.