Getting cars off the road: the cost-effectiveness of an episodic pollution control program

Arbeitspapier

Ground level ozone remains a serious problem in the United States. Because ozone non-attainment is a summer problem, episodic rather than continuous controls of ozone precursors are possible. We evaluate the costs and effectiveness of an episodic scheme that requires people to buy permits in order to drive on high ozone days. We estimate the demand function for permits based on a survey of 1,300 households in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Assuming that all vehicle owners comply with the scheme, the permit program would reduce VOCs by 50 tons and NOx by 42 tons per Code Red day at a permit price of $75. Allowing for non-compliance by 15% of respondents reduces the effectiveness of the scheme to 39 tons of VOCs and 33 tons of NOx per day. The cost per ozone season of achieving these reductions is approximately $9 million (2008 USD). This compares favorably with permanent methods of reducing VOCs that cost $645 per ton per year.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Nota di Lavoro ; No. 2010,46

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Pollution Control Adoption and Costs; Distributional Effects; Employment Effects ; Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling ; Environmental Economics: Government Policy
• Subject: Ground-Level Ozone ; Episodic Pollution Control Schemes ; Mobile Sources ; Volatile Organic Compounds (Vocs) ; Cost Per Ton of Vocs Removed

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Cropper, Maureen L. ; Jiang, Yi ; Alberini, Anna ; Baur, Patrick
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM)
• (where): Milano
• (when): 2010

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/43448
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET