IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/jpamgt/v11y1992i3p373-396.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The cost-effectiveness of methanol for reducing motor vehicle emissions and urban ozone

Author

Listed:
  • Alan J. Krupnick
  • Margaret A. Walls

Abstract

This article analyzes the costs and emissions characteristics of methanol vehicles. The cost-effectiveness of methanol-the cost per ton of reactive hydrocarbon emissions reduced-is calculated and compared to the cost-effectiveness of other hydrocarbon reduction strategies. Methanol is found to cost from $33,000 to nearly $60,000 per ton, while several other options are available for under $10,000 per ton. The cost per part-per-million reduction in peak ambient ozone levels is also computed for two cities, Houston and Philadelphia. Despite the greater improvement in ozone in Philadelphia than Houston, methanol is found to be more cost-effective in Houston. This result occurs because Houston's distribution and marketing costs are lower than Philadelphia's. The costs in both cities, however, are far higher than estimates of the benefits from acute health improvements. Finally, the reduction in ozone exposure in Los Angeles is estimated and the costs of the reduction compared with an estimate of acute health benefits. Again, the benefits fall far short of the costs.

Suggested Citation

  • Alan J. Krupnick & Margaret A. Walls, 1992. "The cost-effectiveness of methanol for reducing motor vehicle emissions and urban ozone," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 11(3), pages 373-396.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:jpamgt:v:11:y:1992:i:3:p:373-396
    DOI: 10.2307/3325068
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.2307/3325068
    File Function: Link to full text; subscription required
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.2307/3325068?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. ARTHUR FRAAS & ALBERT McGARTLAND, 1990. "Alternative Fuels For Pollution Control: An Empirical Evaluation Of Benefits And Costs," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 8(1), pages 62-74, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Fullerton, Don & West, Sarah E., 2002. "Can Taxes on Cars and on Gasoline Mimic an Unavailable Tax on Emissions?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 135-157, January.
    2. Schleiniger, Reto, 1999. "Comprehensive cost-effectiveness analysis of measures to reduce nitrogen emissions in Switzerland," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 147-159, July.
    3. Wang, Michael Q., 2004. "Examining cost effectiveness of mobile source emission control measures," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 155-169, April.
    4. Ian W. H. Parry & Margaret Walls & Winston Harrington, 2007. "Automobile Externalities and Policies," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 45(2), pages 373-399, June.
    5. Dowlatabadi, Hadi & Lave, Lester B & Russell, Armistead G, 1996. "A free lunch at higher CAFE? A review of economic, environmental and social benefits," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 253-264, March.
    6. Linda Fernandez, 2005. "The Case For Cross‐Media Environmental Policy," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 23(4), pages 555-567, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hyunok Lee & Joseph W. Glauber & Daniel A. Sumner, 1994. "Increased Industrial Uses Of Agricultural Commodities Policy, Trade And Ethanol," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 12(3), pages 22-32, July.
    2. Wang, Quanlu & Sperling, Daniel & Olmstead, Janis, 1993. "Emission Control Cost-Effectiveness of Alternative-Fuel Vehicles," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt3bw4t5pw, University of California Transportation Center.
    3. Rask, Kevin, 2004. "Clean air policy and oxygenated fuels: do we get what we pay for?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 161-177, January.
    4. Thomas J. Lareau, 1990. "The Economics Of Alternative Fuel Use: Substituting Methanol For Gasoline," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 8(4), pages 138-152, October.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:jpamgt:v:11:y:1992:i:3:p:373-396. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/34787/home .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.