Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards and the Market for New Vehicles

This paper presents an overview of the economics literature on the effect of Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards on the new vehicle market. Since 1978, CAFE has imposed fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks sold in the U.S. market. This paper reviews the history of the standards, followed by a discussion of the major upcoming changes in implementation and stringency. It describes strategies that firms can use to meet the standards and reviews the CAFE literature as it applies to the new vehicle market. The paper concludes by highlighting areas for future research in light of the upcoming changes to CAFE.CAFE, costs, structural estimation

New vehicle characteristics and the cost of the corporate average fuel economy standard

Recent legislation has increased the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFÉ) standard by 40 percent, which represents the first major increase in the standard since its creation in 1975. Previous analysis of the CAFÉ standard has focused on the short run effects, in which vehicle characteristics are held fixed, or the long run, when firms can adopt new powertrain technology. This paper focuses on the medium run, when firms can choose characteristics such as weight and power, and have a limited ability to adopt engine technology. We first document the historical importance of the medium run and then estimate consumers’ willingness-to-pay for fuel efficiency, power and weight. We employ a unique empirical strategy that accounts for the characteristics’ endogeneity, which has not been addressed in the literature, by using variation in the set of engine models used in vehicle models. The results imply that an increase in power has an equal effect on vehicle sales as a proportional increase in fuel efficiency. We then simulate the medium run effects of an increase in the CAFÉ standard. The policy reduces producer and consumer welfare and causes substantial transfers across firms, but the effects are significantly smaller than in previous studies.Fuel

The price of gasoline and the demand for fuel economy: evidence from monthly new vehicles sales data

This paper uses a unique data set of monthly new vehicle sales by detailed model from 1978- 2007, and implements a new identification strategy to estimate the effect of the price of gasoline on consumer demand for fuel economy. We control for unobserved vehicle and consumer characteristics by using within model-year changes in the price of gasoline and vehicle sales. We find a significant demand response, as nearly half of the decline in market share of U.S. manufacturers from 2002-2007 was due to the increase in the price of gasoline. On the other hand, an increase in the gasoline tax would only modestly affect average fuel economy.Gasoline ; Automobiles - Prices

The Electrowinning of Copper from Roasted Sulphides

A hydrometallurgical process for the recovery of copper from flotation concentrates has long been con­sidered an attractive possibility. The object of such a method is to produce electrolytic copper without resorting to expensive matte smelting and converting

A photovoltaic assisted residence with supplemental battery storage : searching for a complementarity

A significant mismatch may exist between residential load characteristics and array output from photovoltaic energy conversion systems. This has warranted a closer look at incorporating energy storage as a supplement device. Storage enhances total system energy capture although its weighted benefit is highly sensitive to the particular operating scheme. For utility interfaced systems which include a schedule for utility purchase of excess PV output, the advantage of the additional capture becomes a fairly complex function of the rated price structure, utility buy-back, and the system control logic. The problem arises since photovoltaics and storage each stand as independent investment opportunities for grid interconnected users, thus offering the potential for competition between them. This competition is characterized by a total system value somewhere below their additive stand-alone values. This study includes a search for a system control logic, along with the economic and location-specific conditions, which maximize total system (PV and storage) value. The latter is defined in terms of the breakeven capital costs at which a user-owner would be economically indifferent toward purchase, given the utility as the sole competitor. Numerous customer-utility relationships are possible in addition to a variety of system configurations. Here, a utility interfaced storage operation without photovoltaics is examined against a tandem (PV-battery) arrangement with a range of utility buy-back policies. No studies were made to assess the value of only photovoltaics or only storage to the utility, though analysis on photovoltaics can be found in both Tatum (8) and Carpenter and Taylor (3). The residence hardware and behavioral simulation were accomplished with the use of models previously developed by members of the MIT Energy Laboratory

Fuel Prices and New Vehicle Fuel Economy in Europe

This paper evaluates the effect of fuel prices on new vehicle fuel economy in the eight largest European markets. The analysis spans the years 2002–2007 and uses detailed vehicle registration and specification data to control for policies, consumer preferences, and other potentially confounding factors. Fuel prices have a statistically significant effect on new vehicle fuel economy in Europe, but this estimated effect is much smaller than that for the United States. Within Europe, fuel economy responds more in the United Kingdom and France than in the other large markets. Overall, substantial changes in fuel prices would have relatively small effects on the average fuel economy of new vehicles sold in Europe. We find no evidence that diesel fuel prices have a large effect on the market share of diesel vehicles.Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research and the Center for Climate and Electricity Policy at Resources for the Futur

Identification of Fruit Volatiles from Green Hawthorn ( Crataegus Viridis ) and Blueberry Hawthorn ( Crataegus Brachyacantha ) Host Plants Attractive to Different Phenotypes of Rhagoletis Pomonella Flies in the Southern United States

The apple maggot fly, Rhagoletis pomonella, infests several hawthorn species in the southern USA. In a companion paper, we showed that R. pomonella flies infesting two different mayhaw species (Crataegus opaca and C. aestivalis) can discriminate between volatile blends developed for each host fruit, and that these blends are different from previously constructed blends for northern fly populations that infest domestic apple (Malus domestica), downy hawthorn (Crataegus mollis), and flowering dogwood (Cornus florida). Here, we show by using coupled gas chromatography and electroantennographic detection (GC-EAD), gas chromatography with mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and flight tunnel bioassays, that two additional southern hawthorn fly populations infesting C. viridis (green hawthorn) and C. brachyacantha (blueberry hawthorn) also can discriminate between volatile blends for each host fruit type. A 9-component blend was developed for C. viridis (3-methylbutan-1-ol [5%], butyl butanoate [19.5%], propyl hexanoate [1.5%], butyl hexanoate [24%], hexyl butanoate [24%], pentyl hexanoate [2.5%], 1-octen-3-ol [0.5%], pentyl butanoate [2.5%], and (3E)-4,8-dimethyl-1,3,7-nonatriene (DMNT) [20.5%]) and an 8-component blend for C. brachyacantha (3-methylbutan-1-ol [0.6%], butyl acetate [50%], pentyl acetate [3.5%], butyl butanoate [9%], butyl hexanoate [16.8%], hexyl butanoate [16.8%], 1-octen-3-ol [0.3%], and pentyl butanoate [3%]). Crataegus viridis and C. brachyacantha-origin flies showed significantly higher levels of upwind oriented flight to their natal blend in flight tunnel assays compared to the alternate, non-natal blend and previously developed northern host plant blends. The presence of DMNT in C. viridis and butyl acetate in C. brachyacantha appeared to be largely responsible for driving the differential response. This sharp behavioral distinction underscores the diversity of odor response phenotypes in the southern USA, points to possible host race formation in these populations, and despite the presence of several apple volatiles in both blends, argues against a functional apple race existing on southern host plants prior to the introduction of apple to North Americ

Ernährungsprobleme bei Kindern und Erwachsenen : Zur Bedeutung von Lebensmitteln für den allgemeinen Gesundheitszustand

Die Zunahme von Krankheiten, die durch frühzeitige präventive Ernährungsmaßnahmen beeinflusst werden können, ist von besonderer gesundheitspolitischer Bedeutung. Hierzu gehören Krankheiten wie Diabetes mellitus, Adipositas, Fettstoffwechselstörungen, Bluthochdruck, gastrointestinale Erkrankungen u.a., die bereits heute erhebliche sozioökonomische Auswirkungen haben. Wichtig wäre es, solche Krankheiten nicht erst unmittelbar vor der zu erwartenden Manifestation zu beeinflussen, sondern bereits zu einem wesentlich früheren Zeitpunkt. Von besonderer Bedeutung sind daher Überlegungen, wie über die prä- und postnatale Ernährung die in diesem Stadium ablaufende fetale Programmierung beeinflusst werden kann, um Krankheiten im Erwachsenenalter zu reduzieren oder gar zu verhindern (Abb. 1). Im Rahmen der Jubiläumsveranstaltungen aus Anlass des 200. Geburtstags von Justus Liebig an der Universität Gießen fand im Mai 2003 eine Vortragsreihe zum Thema „Justus von Liebig und moderne Aspekte der Ernährungsforschung“ statt, bei der auch die Themen Ernährungsprobleme bei Erwachsenen und Kindern ausführlich behandelt wurden. Im Folgenden werden einige Aspekte zusammengefasst, die bei der Zusammenarbeit des Instituts für Ernährungswissenschaft, der Medizinischen Klinik III und Poliklinik und des Zentrums für Kinderheilkunde und Jugendmedizin eine wichtige Rolle spielen

Identification of Host Fruit Volatiles from Three Mayhaw Species ( Crataegus Series Aestivales ) Attractive to Mayhaw-Origin Rhagoletis pomonella Flies in the Southern United States

The apple maggot fly, Rhagoletis pomonella, infests several hawthorn species in the southern USA. Here, we tested the hypothesis that these populations could serve as reservoirs for fruit odor discrimination behaviors facilitating sympatric host race formation and speciation, specifically the recent shift from downy hawthorn (Crataegus mollis) to domestic apple (Malus domestica) in the northern USA. Coupled gas chromatography and electroantennographic detection (GC-EAD), gas chromatography with mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and flight tunnel bioassays were used to identify the behaviorally active natal fruit volatile blends for three of the five major southern hawthorns: C. opaca (western mayhaw), C. aestivalis (eastern mayhaw), and C. rufula (a possible hybrid between C. opaca and C. aestivalis). A 6-component blend was developed for C. opaca (3-methylbutan-1-ol [44%], pentyl acetate [6%], butyl butanoate [6%], propyl hexanoate [6%], butyl hexanoate [26%], and hexyl butanoate [12%]); an 8-component blend for C. aestivalis (3-methylbutan-1-ol [2%], butyl acetate [47%], pentyl acetate [2%], butyl butanoate [12%], propyl hexanoate [1%], butyl hexanoate [25%], hexyl butanoate [9%], and pentyl hexanoate [2%]); and a 9-component blend for C. rufula (3-methylbutan-1-ol [1%], butyl acetate [57%], 3-methylbutyl acetate [3%], butyl butanoate [5%], propyl hexanoate [1%], hexyl propionate [1%], butyl hexanoate [23%], hexyl butanoate [6%], and pentyl hexanoate [3%]). Crataegus aestivalis and C. opaca-origin flies showed significantly higher levels of upwind directed flight to their natal blend in flight tunnel assays compared to the non-natal blend and previously developed apple, northern downy hawthorn, and flowering dogwood blends. Eastern and western mayhaw flies also were tested to the C. rufula blend, with eastern flies displaying higher levels of upwind flight compared with the western flies, likely due to the presence of butyl acetate in the C. aestivalis and C. rufula blends, an agonist compound for eastern mayhaw-origin flies, but a behavioral antagonist for western flies. The results discount the possibility that the apple fly was "pre-assembled” and originated via a recent introduction of southern mayhaw flies predisposed to accepting apple. Instead, the findings are consistent with the possibility of southern mayhaw-infesting fly host races. However, mayhaw fruits do emit several volatiles found in apple. It is, therefore, possible that the ability of the fly to evolve a preference for apple volatiles, although not the entire blend, stemmed, in part, from standing variation related to the presence of these compounds in southern mayhaw frui

Excellence in Supervision: Training Site Supervisors/Mentors

This essay reports on a survey of AFTE supervisors and summarizes their wisdom, challenges and joys.