Tradable Standards for Clean Air Act Carbon Policy

EPA is in the process of regulating U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions using its powers under the Clean Air Act. The likely next phase of this regulatory program is performance standards under Section 111 of the act for coal plants and petroleum refineries, which the agency has committed to finalize by the end of 2012. Section 111 appears to allow use of flexible, market-based regulatory tools. In this paper, we discuss one such tool, tradable standards. Tradable standards appear to be a legally and politically viable choice for the agency, and evidence suggests they are substantially more cost-effective than traditional performance standards. The paper discusses implementation issues with tradable standards, including categorization, banking, and phased implementation, as well as broader issues with the Section 111 rulemaking process as it relates to state-level GHG regulatory efforts.averaging, flexibility, regulatory design, market-based regulation

Greenhouse Gas Regulation under the Clean Air Act: A Guide for Economists

Until recently, most attention to U.S. climate policy has focused on legislative efforts to introduce a price on carbon through cap and trade. In the absence of such legislation, the Clean Air Act is a potentially potent alternative. Decisions regarding existing stationary sources will have the greatest effect on emissions reductions. The magnitude is uncertain, but plausibly 10 percent reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from 2005 levels could be achieved at moderate costs by 2020. This is comparable to the reductions that would have been achieved under the Waxman-Markey legislation in the domestic economy. These measures do not include the switching of fuels, which could yield further reductions. The ultimate cost of regulation under the act hinges on the stringency of standards and the flexibility allowed. A broad-based tradable performance standard is legally plausible and would provide incentives comparable to the proposed legislation, at least in the near term.climate policy, efficiency, EPA, Clean Air Act, NAAQS, coal

Beam Polarization and Spin Correlation Effects in Chargino Production and Decay

We study chargino production e^+ e^- -> chi^+_1 chi^-_1 and the subsequent leptonic decay chi^-_1\to chi^0_1 e^- nu_e including the complete spin correlations between production and decay. We work out the advantages of polarizing the e^+ and e^- beams. We study in detail the polarized cross sections, the angular distribution and the forward--backward asymmetry of the decay electron. They can be used to determine the sneutrino mass m_{\tilde{\nu}_e}.Comment: 14 pages, 17 postscript figures, latex using epsfi

Determination of the Gaugino Mass Parameter M_1 in Different Linear Collider Modes

We study the different linear collider modes with regard to the determination of the gaugino mass parameter M_1. In a specific mSUGRA inspired scenario we compare four processes with polarized beams: (a) e+ e- --> neutralino_1 neutralino_2 --> neutralino_1 neutralino_1 e+ e-, (b) e- gamma --> neutralino_1 selectron_{L/R} --> neutralino_1 neutralino_1 e-, (c) gamma gamma --> chargino_1^+ chargino_1^- --> neutralino_1 neutralino_1 e+ e- neutrino_e anti-neutrino_e, (d) e- e- --> selectron_{L/R} selectron_{L/R} --> neutralino_1 neutralino_1 e- e-.Comment: 5 pages, 8 figures, LaTex, Talk given at the 5th International Linear Collider Workshop (LCWS 2000), Fermilab, Batavia, Illinois, Oct. 24-28, 200

Identifying the NMSSM by the interplay of LHC and ILC

The interplay between the LHC and the $e^+ e^-$ International Linear Collider (ILC) with $\sqrt{s}=500$ GeV might be crucial for the discrimination between the minimal and next-to-minimal supersymmetric standard model. We present an NMSSM scenario, where the light neutralinos have a significant singlino component, that cannot be distinguished from the MSSM by cross sections and mass measurements. Mass and mixing state predictions for the heavier neutralinos from the ILC analysis at different energy stages and comparison with observation at the LHC, lead to clear identification of the particle character and identify the underlying supersymmetric model.Comment: 8 pages, 2 eps figures, revtex4 style Contribution to the `2005 International Linear Collider Workshop - Stanford, U.S.A.

Impact of e^+ and e^- Beam Polarization on Chargino and Neutralino Production at a Linear Collider

We study the production processes e^+ e^- -> chi^+_i chi^-_j, i,j=1,2, and e^+ e^- -> chi^0_m chi^0_n, m,n=1,...,4, working out the advantages of polarizing both beams. For e^+ e^- -> chi^+_1 chi^-_1 with chi^-_1 -> chi^0_1 e^- nu and e^+ e^- -> chi^0_1 chi^0_2 with chi^0_2 -> chi^0_1 e^+ e^- we perform a detailed analysis, including the complete spin correlations between production and decay. We analyze the forward--backward asymmetry of the decay electron for various beam polarizations. We also study polarization asymmetries in e^+ e^- -> chi^0_1 chi^0_2. These asymmetries strongly constrain the gaugino parameter M_1 and the masses m_{\tilde{e}_L}, m_{\tilde{e}_R}, m_{\tilde{nu}} also if m_{\tilde{e}_{L,R}}, m_{\tilde{nu}} > sqrt{s}/2. We give numerical predictions for three scenarios for a linear collider with sqrt{s}=500-1000 GeV.Comment: 26 pages, 26 postscript figures, latex using epsfi