Peter M. Schwarz, professor of economics and senior faculty fellow in the UNC Charlotte Global Institute of Energy and Environmental Systems (GIEES) was awarded the 2006 Contemporary Economics Policy Editor's Choice Award for his paper, "Multipollutant Efficiency Standards for Electricity Production” (Contemporary Economic Policy, July 2005).
Schwarz’s study contains a simulation of a coal-fired electric plant subject to multiple pollutant standards for sulfur dioxide and nitrous oxide. It shows that firms may not choose the lowest cost technology. The firm's cost-minimizing choice is compared for three increasingly stringent standards: the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, the 1997 New Source Performance Standards, and the 2002 North Carolina Clean Smokestacks Act. The study finds support on cost-benefit grounds for the 2002 North Carolina standard, which is the most stringent standard, but not for the 1997 NSPS.
Schwarz received funding for the study from the Global Institute of Energy and Environmental Systems (GIEES) and Duke Energy, as well as a UNC Charlotte research grant. He received the award at the recent meeting of the Western Economic Association.