Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/107659 
Year of Publication: 
2014
Series/Report no.: 
Darmstadt Discussion Papers in Economics No. 219
Publisher: 
Technische Universität Darmstadt, Department of Law and Economics, Darmstadt
Abstract: 
On June 25, 2013, President Obama announced his plan to introduce carbon dioxide emission standards for electricity generation. This paper proposes an efficiency analysis approach that addresses which mission rates (and standards) would be feasible if the existing generating units adopt best practices. A new efficiency measure is introduced and further decomposed to identify different sources' contributions to emission rate improvements. Estimating two Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models - the well-known joint production model and the new materials balance model - on a dataset consisting of 160 bituminous-fired generating units, we find that the average generating unit's electricity-to-carbon dioxide ratio is 15.3 percent below the corresponding best-practice ratio. Further examinations reveal that this discrepancy can largely be attributed to non-discretionary factors and not to managerial inefficiency. Moreover, even if the best practice ratios could be implemented, the generating units would not be able to comply with the EPA's recently proposed carbon dioxide standard.
Subjects: 
Emission standards
Carbon dioxide emissions
Materials balance condition
Electricity generation
Weak G-disposability
Data Envelopment Analysis
JEL: 
Q53
Q48
D24
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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