Article Analysis

Description

Read the article, and then answer the following questions.

1. Why might driving a Ford Focus electric utility vehicle have the same CO2 footprint as driving a Ford Explorer that gets 25 miles per gallon?
2. What is the social cost of 1 metric ton of carbon emissions in 2017 dollars? What is the social cost of burning 1 gallon of gasoline (given as a cost per gallon of gasoline)?
3. In terms of static costs, what projects tend to be the least costly ones that generate electricity with a cleaner alternative? Which ones tend to be the more expensive ones? How do all these costs compare to the social cost of emitting a metric ton of carbon emissions? What is the significance of making the latter comparison?
4. What are some of the lessons that we learn when we look at the static costs of policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions? (There are 7 of these, you need only to list and describe 4.)
5. What are some of the problems of looking at only the static costs of reducing greenhouse gas emissions? Why should we also consider dynamic costs and make dynamic cost comparisons?
6. What are the four reasons to look at how present reductions in the present affect emissions in the future? How do these reasons relate to static costs and dynamic costs?
7. Briefly summarize one of the two dynamic case studies given by the authors.
8. List and briefly describe the four challenges that the authors mention when determining what is the best method or policy for reducing carbon emissions?