Modelling a mixed system of air pollution fee and tradable permits for controlling nitrogen oxide: a case study of Taiwan

A mixed-integer non-linear programming model that minimises the total regulatory costs of controlling nitrogen oxide is used to investigate how a newly proposed permit trading scheme in Taiwan, which incorporates the features of banking and a nonone- to-one trading ratio, may affect firms’ emission reduction strategies and permit trading decisions. Compared to the previous regulation where only an air pollution fee is used, the new regulation that requires a reduction in emissions by 10 per cent from the emission level in the year 2000 for a 5 year period will increase the costs by 77 per cent, which is equivalent to US # 9.87 million. The design of banking and the increasing returns to scale characteristic of pollution control among firms might lead to an uneven reduction in emissions in each year. Setting a lower reservation rate for banking would, however, help maintain a more stable environmental quality without a significant loss to the government in terms of air pollution fee revenue.air pollution fee, banking, mixed-integer non-linear programming, nitrogen oxide, tradable permits, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF THE EMISSION REDUCTION MARKET SYSTEM IN CHICAGO

A mixed-integer programming model is used to investigate economic impacts of the permit trading market in Chicago and determine the equilibrium price. Unlike previous studies, the model determines unit pollution abatement cost endogenously depending on firms' technology adoption decisions. A sequential trading process is used to simulate firms' behavior under incomplete information. The results show that average shadow prices, a counterpart of conventional shadow prices in discrete problems, slightly underestimate the equilibrium prices. Moreover, the model predicts an over-supply of permits for the first two trading seasons.mixed-integer programming, ERMS, average shadow price, pollution permit, Environmental Economics and Policy,

EFFICIENCY LOSS AND TRADABLE PERMITS

This research presents a price endogenous mathematical programming model that incorporates the independent, optimizing behavior of individual participants to estimate the possible efficiency loss of a newly developed permit trading market for nitrogen oxides (NOx) control in southern Taiwan. The result shows that when control equipment decisions are indivisible, an efficiency loss may arise due to over-investment. The efficiency loss found here is not because of a bilateral trading process and/or insufficient information for finding trading partners, but it is due to not having full control ability of the installed equipment.Environmental Economics and Policy,

Incompressible Navier-Stokes-Fourier Limit from The Boltzmann Equation: Classical Solutions

The global classical solution to the incompressible Navier-Stokes-Fourier equation with small initial data in the whole space is constructed through a zero Knudsen number limit from the solutions to the Boltzmann equation with general collision kernels. The key point is the uniform estimate of the Sobolev norm on the global solutions to the Boltzmann equation.Comment: 21 page

Influence of time-dependence on failure of echelon rock joints through a novel DEM model

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis Group in [European Journal of Environmental and Civil Engineering] on [September 2015], available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/19648189.2015.1064624This article investigates the time-dependent influence on the shear failure behaviour of parallel rock joints in the echelon arrangement due to chemical weathering, which can be treated as a generalised time-dependency of the rock material. A time-dependent parameter alpha, identifying the accumulated relative mass removal of bonding material, has been implemented into a novel distinct element method bond contact model. This model is based on a series of mechanical test on bonded aluminium rods with different bond geometries. The numerical direct shear test results of echelon rock joints characterised by different values of alpha show that increasing time-dependent parameter alpha can lead to a lower crack initiation and peak stresses. This is accompanied by a growing ratio of the microscopic compressive-shear-torsional (CST) bond failure number of bond failures to the total number of failures, except for the case without weathering influence. High values of alpha render the material bridge a weaker part to be cut through, generating a large number of CST bond breakages along the central shear axis.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft