A cost-minimizing approach to eliminating the primary sources of greenhouse gas emissions at institutions of higher education
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21721042 |
|---|---|
| Authors | David Timmons (University of Massachusetts Boston), David S Timmons, Benjamin Weil (0000-0003-4795-3389, University of Massachusetts Amherst) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 604-621 |
| Publication date | 2022-02-24 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1467-6370 • E-ISSN: 1758-6739 |
| Publisher | Emerald (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1108/ijshe-02-2021-0048 |
| OpenAlex | W3193919952 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 12 |
Purpose Many institutions of higher education have committed to carbon neutrality. Given this goal, the main economic issue is minimizing cost. As for society as a whole, dominant decarbonization strategies are renewable electricity generation, electrification of end uses and energy efficiency. The purpose of this paper is to describe the optimum combination of strategies. Design/methodology/approach There are four questions for eliminating the primary institutional greenhouse gas emissions: how much renewable electricity to produce on-site; where and at what price to purchase the balance of renewable electricity required; how to heat and cool buildings without fossil fuels; and how much to invest in energy efficiency. A method is presented to minimize decarbonization costs by equating marginal costs of the alternates. Findings The estimated cost of grid-purchased carbon-free energy is the most important benchmark, determining both the optimal level of campus-produced renewable energy and the optimum efficiency investment. In the context of complete decarbonization, greater efficiency investments may be justified than when individual measures are judged only by fossil-fuel savings. Practical implications This paper discusses a theoretically ideal plan and implementation issues such as purchasing carbon-free electricity, calculating marginal costs of conserved energy, nonmarginal cost changes, uncertainty about achieving efficiency targets, and dynamic pricing. The principles described in this study can be used to craft a cost-minimizing decarbonization strategy. Originality/value While previous studies discuss decarbonization strategies, there is little economic guidance on which strategies are optimal, on how to combine strategies to minimize cost or how to identify a preferred path to decarbonization
Carbon neutrality · Cost of electricity by source · Economics · Efficient energy use · Electricity · Electricity generation · Environmental economics · Fossil fuel · Greenhouse gas · Marginal cost · Microeconomics · Natural resource economics · Renewable energy · Waste management · Climate Change Policy and Economics · Energy Efficiency and Management · Engineering · Green IT and Sustainability
| Citations per year | 0.33 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2023 - 2023 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |