Joseph M. Roop

The embodiment of carbon in imports of manufactured products : Implications for international agreements on greenhouse gas emissions

Abstract The design of many greenhouse gas policies is predicated on controlling emissions by reducing domestic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This ignores the importance of carbon embodied in international trade flows which could take on increased importance if emission reduction schemes are undertaken which include only a subset of GHG emitting countries. This article estimates the amount of carbon embodied in the imports of manufactured goods to six of the largest OECD countries — Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the UK and the USA — in order to determine whether or not the importation of carbon rich products is a problem worth addressing. The estimates reveal that a significant amount, about 13% of the total carbon emissions of these countries, is estimated to be embodied in manufactured imports. The article concludes by suggesting a number of policy implications that can be drawn from these findings.

Measuring industrial energy intensity: practical issues and problems

Abstract Because of limitations on the availability and quality of data, energy analysts and policy makers are forced to use indicators of industrial energy intensity (energy input/industrial output) that are less than ideal. In this paper, we identify and discuss several issues and problems that arise in the construction of commonly-used industrial energy intensity indicators; in particular, we focus on issues that arise due to the use of alternative measures of output in intensity indicators. Several commonly-used indicators of industry-level energy intensity were constructed for several US manufacturing industries in order to illustrate these issues and problems. We find that trends in energy intensity based on value of output (eg value of production) can diverge quite sharply from trends in energy intensity based on volume of output (eg tons of output). Discrepancies between value- and volume-based indicators of energy intensity in large part appear to be due to the way in which industrial output statistics are constructed under the US Standard Industrial Classification system. Discrepancies may also be the result of measurement errors in price deflators and simple definitional differences between various value-based measures of output. We conclude that policy makers should carefully examine and understand the limitations of commonly-used energy intensity indicators before such indicators serve as a basis for policy decisions.

Simulating the dynamic coupling of market and physical system operations

As energy trading products cover shorter time periods and demand response programs move toward real-time pricing, financial market-based activity impacts ever more directly the physical operation of the system. To begin to understand the complex interactions between the market-driven operation signals, the engineered controlled schemes, and the laws of physics, new system modeling and simulation techniques must be explored. This discussion describes requirements for interactions and an approach to capture the dynamic coupling between energy markets and the physical operation of the power system appropriate for dispatcher reaction time frames.

Electric Power Interruption Cost Estimates for Individual Industries, Sectors and the U.S. Economy

Distributed energy resources (DER) have been promoted as the least-cost approach to meeting steadily increasing energy demand. However, it is unclear whether DER deployment can maintain or improve the electric power supply reliability and quality currently available to consumers. This report addresses two key factors relating to this question: 1) characteristics of existing power supply reliability, and 2) costs resulting from supply interruptions characteristic of the existing power grid. Interruption cost data collected by the University of Saskatchewan was used in conjunction with data generated by the United States Department of Energy’s Annual Survey of Manufacturers, along with industry shares of gross domestic product (GDP) and gross output to derive interruption cost estimates for U.S. industries at the 2-digit Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) level. Interruption cost estimates are presented as a function of outage duration (e.g., 20 minutes, 1-hour, 3-hour), and are normalized in terms of dollars per peak kW.

International Emission Trading and the Cost of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Mitigation and Sequestration

The deployment of carbon capture and sequestration (CC&S) technologies is greatly affected by the marginal cost of controlling carbon emissions (also the value of carbon, when emissions permits are traded). Both the severity and timing of emissions limitations and the degree to which emissions limitation obligations can be traded will affect the value of carbon and thereby the timing and magnitude of CC&S technology deployment. Emissions limits that are more stringent in the near term imply higher near-term carbon values and therefore encourage the local development and deployment of CC&S technologies.Trade in emissions obligations lowers the cost of meeting any regional or global emissions limit and so affects the rate of penetration of CC&S technologies. Trade lowers the marginal value of carbon and CC&S penetration in high cost regions and raises the marginal value of carbon and CC&S penetration in low cost regions. The net impact on the world CC&Stechnologies depends on whether their increased use in low-cost regions exceeds the reduced use in high-cost regions.In the long term, CC&S technologies must not only remove carbon but permanently sequester it. If reservoirs are not permanent, then the emissions and costs of control are merely displaced into the future. The paper presents quantitative estimates for the impacts of trade in emissions limitation obligations on the timing, magnitude, and geographic distribution of CC&S technologies and the marginal and total costs of carbon control.

Dark after Chernobyl?: Closing former Soviet power reactors

International pressure to close some of the old nuclear reactors built by the former Soviet Union (FSU) has accelerated in the period since that countrys dissolution. This pressure has been countered, however, by the argument that resulting electricity shortfalls would hasten ongoing social and economic dislocations. Under feasible economic scenarios, this paper identifies which regions would likely experience electricity supply shortfalls, outlines what adjustments in electricity transfers between regions could offset the shortfalls, and estimates the implied costs and schedules of related power plant and transmission construction projects. Costs of closure range from less than US

A Note on the Fisher Ideal Index Decomposition for Structural Change in Energy Intensity

1 billion to as much as US

Modeling of industrial energy consumption: An introduction and context

16 billion.