The Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) of the Department of Agriculture has proposed regulations to implement the new Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP). Authorized in the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, BCAP is designed to ensure that a sufficiently large base of new nonfood,...

Biomass, a renewable energy source, has been viewed as “carbon neutral”—that is, its use as energy is presumed not to release net carbon dioxide. However, this assumption of carbon neutrality has recently been challenged. In 2010 two letters were sent to the Congress by eminent scientists...

Using a non cooperative climate policy game applied in the literature, we find that an agreement with international emissions trading leads to increased emissions and reduced efficiency.

Biomass energy is expected to play a major role in the substitution of renewable energy sources for fossil fuels over the next several decades. The US Energy Information Administration (EIA 2012) forecasts increases in the share of biomass in US energy production from 8 percent in 2009 to 15...

The regulation of greenhouse gas emissions from the electricity sector within a cap-and-trade system poses significant policy questions about how to allocate tradable emission allowances. Allocation conveys tremendous value and can have efficiency consequences. This research uses simulation...

At the present time no widely accepted temporal emissions path for greenhouse gases has been developed and adopted at either a country or a global level. What does exist is a set of nearterm, country-level emissions targets associated with the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol and a...

This paper analyzes uncertainties surrounding the benefits and costs of a policy to reduce nitrogen oxides (NOX) emissions from electricity generation in the eastern U.S. Under each of 18 scenarios examined, we find an annual policy would yield net benefits that are at least as great as those...

Policies to cap emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), such as the recently announced agreement among seven northeastern states, are expected to have important effects on the electricity industry and on the market value of firms that own electricity generation assets. The economics literature finds...

This paper analyzes the benefits and costs of policies to reduce nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions from electricity generation in the United States. Because emissions of NOx contribute to the high concentration of atmospheric ozone in the eastern states that is associated with health hazards, the...

The animal husbandry industry is a major emitter of methane, which is an important greenhouse gas. The industry is also a major emitter of ammonia, which is a precursor of fine particulate matter—arguably, the number-one environment-related public health threat facing the nation. We present an...