Rocío Román

Effects of fine particles on children's hospital admissions for respiratory health in Seville, Spain.

This study analyzes the influence of fine particles PM2.5 on nonprogrammed children’s hospital admissions that occurred in the city of Seville between 2007 and 2011, and makes an economic assessment of the cost of the children’s hospital admissions for respiratory causes due to particle pollution. The PM2.5 dose-response functions for each type of hospital admission were used to quantify the cost of the hospital admissions. It can be concluded that the PM2.5 concentrations have negative effects on bronchiolitis, pneumonia, asthma, and bronchitis and other causes. A reduction of the daily average annual PM2.5 concentration from the existing levels to 10 µg/m3 would show an annual average reduction of children’s hospital admissions due to respiratory diseases of 0.09 cases. This paper shows that the daily average cost for children hospital admissions due to respiratory reasons in the city of Seville, associated with daily average annual levels of PM2.5 above 10 µg/m3, was almost 200€. Implications: Elevated PM2.5 concentrations in Seville have negative effects on children’s bronchiolitis, pneumonia, asthma, and bronchitis and other causes. A reduction of the daily average annual PM2.5 concentration from the existing levels to 10 μg/m3 would suppose an annual mean reduction of children’s hospital admissions due to respiratory diseases of 0.09 cases.

Regional evaluation of a tax on the retail sales of certain fuels through a social accounting matrix

The goal of this article is to calculate the cumulative impact of the tax on the retail sales of certain fuels (IVMH, in Spanish initials) and its effects on some fundamental economic variables, on the price indices and on remaining tax collections. The novel aspect of this work is to use as methodology a very simple price model applied to a regional Social Accounting Matrix (SAM)–instead of a input-output table–done for Andalusia where we introduce a new tax. The main results of this article show that the introduction of the IVMH in the regional economy may be provoke marginal variations on economy prices. There is also a global increase of tax collections of 0.057%.

Taxing electricity consumption in Spain: evidence to design the post-Kyoto world

ABSTRACTDue to the relevance of fossil fuels in the electricity matrix in Spain, the electrical sector plays a crucial role in mitigation policies such as carbon taxes. Increased prices of electricity can act as an incentive to enhance energy efficiency contributing to CO2 abatement. This paper evaluates a tax on electricity consumption (ECT). Focusing on energy efficiency commitments for Spain as established by EU Authorities for Horizon 2020 (H2020), a pricing model was created to assess economic impacts and its effectiveness in meeting this commitment. The analysis was performed by considering two scenarios, without (Scenario 1) and with (Scenario 2) tax recycling between the new tax and employer-paid social security benefits or contributing to price stability. In Scenario 2, the tax reform is achieved with tax recycling, offsetting the introduction of the ECT by reducing employer-paid social security payments. Two alternative restrictions on the tax reform were considered for the simulation of Scenari...ABSTRACT Due to the relevance of fossil fuels in the electricity matrix in Spain, the electrical sector plays a crucial role in mitigation policies such as carbon taxes. Increased prices of electricity can act as an incentive to enhance energy efficiency contributing to CO2 abatement. This paper evaluates a tax on electricity consumption (ECT). Focusing on energy efficiency commitments for Spain as established by EU Authorities for Horizon 2020 (H2020), a pricing model was created to assess economic impacts and its effectiveness in meeting this commitment. The analysis was performed by considering two scenarios, without (Scenario 1) and with (Scenario 2) tax recycling between the new tax and employer-paid social security benefits or contributing to price stability. In Scenario 2, the tax reform is achieved with tax recycling, offsetting the introduction of the ECT by reducing employer-paid social security payments. Two alternative restrictions on the tax reform were considered for the simulation of Scenario 2. In the first case, a restriction was imposed to ensure revenue neutrality (2-I). In the second case, the restriction ought to maintain price stability (2-II). Results from different scenarios offer an important range of possibilities for policy decisions. The results show that with a tax rate equal to 1%, there is a remarkable reduction of CO2 emissions from the electricity sector, and the same happens with other sectors that the literature identifies as drivers of such emissions.

Taxes Incentives to Promote Res Deployment: The Eu-27 Case

The share of renewable energy source (RES) in gross final energy consumption was 10.3% in the European Union (EU-27) in 2008; the remaining 89.7% was covered through the use of conventional fuels such as natural gas or oil products (Eurostat, 2010). The renewable energy share in gross final energy consumption was used for the production of heat (5.5%), electricity (4%) and transport fuels (0.8%). Deployment of RES contributes to two of the four targets of the EU-27 energy strategy: the need to reduce primary energy dependency and the stress of demand on primary energy resources. In addition, the Green House Gas (GHG) abatement due to a more intensive use of RES contributes to improve the EU-27’s target related to climate change, this being the fourth target in its energy strategy. From a legal point of view, The Green Paper (EC 1996), which was the first attempt of establishing a common policy on renewable energies in the European Union, settled down the goal of duplicating the contribution of RES in the gross domestic consumption in 15 years. From the year 1996 until the present, the European Union has developed an intense ruling activity around the promotion of RES. An important step forward the construction of the Community framework about harmonized fiscal treatment was the passing of the Directive (EC, 2003/96), that restructures the community regime about taxation over energy products and electricity. In order to improve on energy efficiency, the most important EU policies for the households sector are the EPBD (EPC 2. Gross final consumption of energy from renewable sources for heating and cooling (H & C); and 3. Final consumption of energy from renewable sources in transport. IEA (2009) has recently pointed out that part of renewable energies growth is due to strong policy support. Therefore, policy measures to promote RES are becoming an interesting issue in its deployment.

How Strong Might Be a Carbon Tax on Electricity Consumption to Reach Spanish H2020 Targets

This chapter evaluates the cumulative impact (2014–2020) that a tax on electricity consumption would have on it consumption in Spain. Changes in electricity consumption are caused by increasing purchasing prices due to tax. Impact on revenues and CO2 emissions are also assessed through a model price. Tax reform is inspired on final report presented by a Group of Experts commissioned by the Government of Spain in 2014. The evaluation has been performed by considering two scenarios, without (Scenario 1) and with tax recycling between the new tax and employer-paid Social Security benefits or with tax using a price stability tool (Scenario 2). Data comes from the Social Accounting Matrix at purchase prices for Spain in 2006 (SAMESP06). Right rates of a carbon tax designed on electricity consumption would range between 6.24% and 5.52% to reach the total target.