Pollution Abatement Costs in the Electricity Supply Industry in England and Wales
研究了英格兰和威尔士中央发电局燃煤电厂减少二氧化硫排放的最低成本方法，为决策者提供减排成本估算。
Electricity generation from fossil fuels leads to the emission of a number of pollutants to the atmosphere. These include sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide and particulates. In the U.K. a 2000MW power station burning coal with an average sulphur content of approximately 1.5 per cent would emit 130,000 tonnes of sulphur dioxide (SO2) per annum and 10 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. ' In recent years in the U.K., Western Europe and the U.S.A. considerable attention has been given to problems arising from the emission of sulphur oxides. A principal reason for this is that, whilst the use of tall stacks is effective in alleviating local effects, sulphur oxides may be transported over long distances and may have an impact on distant environments possibly outside national boundaries. The concern is therefore with the aggregate volume of SO 2 emitted. Examples of transboundary pollution include deposition of sulphur compounds in Scandinavia which are partly the result of emissions from France, Germany and the U. K. and depositions in New England resuiting from emissions in States to the West. Although there is substantial evidence that sulphur dioxide and sulphate levels in the atmosphere have increased in recent years and that these compounds can travel hundreds of miles, 2 there is less firm agreement about their effects on the environment. For a number of reasons, the identification and measurement of any benefit from SO 2 abatement pose formidable problems. 3 In such circumstances estimates of the cost of abatement are an important input to decision making. This paper is concerned with the costs of abating SO 2 emissions from Central Electricity Generating Board (C. E. G. B.) power stations in England and Wales. The approach taken is to estimate the least cost methods, given various possible abatement technologies, for reducing aggregate C.E.G.B. emissions of SO2 to * Acknowledgement is made to the Social Science Research Council for the provision of a research grant to study the effects on electricity prices of the imposition of notional standards for the control of sulphur dioxide emissions from power stations in England and Wales. Only the authors are responsible for the views expressed in this paper. ' These figures assume that the power station operates at 60 per cent load factor. This would imply a rate of coal consumption of about 4.4 million tonnes per annum. 2 The OECD Programme on Long Range Transport of Air Pollutants, Measurements and Find ings, [8]. See Pickles and Proctor, [101.