American Economic Journal:
Economic Policy
ISSN 1945-7731 (Print) | ISSN 1945-774X (Online)
Measuring the Environmental Benefits of Wind-Generated Electricity
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy
vol. 5,
no. 4, November 2013
(pp. 107–33)
Abstract
Production subsidies for renewable energy, such as solar or wind power, are rationalized by their environmental benefits. Subsidizing these projects allows clean, renewable technologies to produce electricity that otherwise would have been produced by dirtier, fossil-fuel power plants. In this paper, I quantify the emissions offset by wind power for a large electricity grid in Texas using the randomness inherent in wind power availability. When accounting for dynamics in the production process, the results indicate that only for high estimates of the social costs of pollution does the value of emissions offset by wind power exceed cost of renewable energy subsidies.Citation
Cullen, Joseph. 2013. "Measuring the Environmental Benefits of Wind-Generated Electricity." American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 5 (4): 107–33. DOI: 10.1257/pol.5.4.107Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- L94 Electric Utilities
- L98 Industry Studies: Utilities and Transportation: Government Policy
- Q42 Alternative Energy Sources
- Q48 Energy: Government Policy
- Q51 Valuation of Environmental Effects
- Q53 Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling
- Q54 Climate; Natural Disasters; Global Warming
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