Science Inventory

Marginal abatement cost curve for NOx incorporating controls, renewable electricity, energy efficiency and fuel switching

Citation:

Loughlin, Dan, Alex Macpherson, K. Kaufman, AND B. Keaveny. Marginal abatement cost curve for NOx incorporating controls, renewable electricity, energy efficiency and fuel switching. JOURNAL OF THE AIR & WASTE MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION. Air & Waste Management Association, Pittsburgh, PA, 67(10):1115-1125, (2017). https://doi.org/10.1080/10962247.2017.1342715

Impact/Purpose:

In this work, we demonstrate that renewable electricity, energy efficiency and fuel switching can complement traditional end-of-pipe controls for reducing air pollutant emissions. Furthermore, these measures may increase achievable emission reductions cost-effectively.

Description:

A marginal abatement cost curve (MACC) traces out the relationship between the quantity of pollution abated and the marginal cost of abating each additional unit. In the context of air quality management, MACCs typically are developed by sorting end-of-pipe controls by their relative cost-effectiveness. Other potentially important abatement measures, such as renewable electricity, energy efficiency, and fuel switching (RE/EE/FS), are often not incorporated into MACCs as it is difficult to quantify their costs and abatement potential. In this paper, a U.S. energy system model is used to develop a MACC for nitrogen oxides (NOx) that incorporates both end-of-pipe controls and these additional measures. The MACC is decomposed by sector and region, and the relative cost-effectiveness of RE/EE/FS and end-of-pipe controls are compared. RE/EE/FS are shown to produce considerable emission reductions after end-of-pipe controls have been exhausted. Furthermore, some RE/EE/FS are shown to be cost-competitive with end-of-pipe controls.