Marginal cost pricing for coal fired electricity in coastal cities of China:The case of Mawan Electricity Plant in Shenzhen City, China

By developing a GDMOD model to estimate the environmental externalities associated with electricity generation, this project provides a detailed analysis of the damages and costs caused by different pollutants at varying distances from the Mawan Electricity Plant in Shenzhen, China. The major findings of this study can be summarized that (1) environmental damages caused by electricity production are large and are mainly imposed on regions far away from the electricity plant; (2) air pollution is the most significant contributor to the total damages, and SO_2, NOx, and particulate matter are the three major pollutants with highest damages; (3) the damages caused per unit of particulate, NOx, and SO_2 emissions are much higher than pollution treatment and prevention costs. The research results of this project showed that China needs to have a more effective levy system on SO_2, and a more manageable electricity tariff mechanism to internalize the environmental externalities. The results have also implications for pollution control strategies, compensation schemes as well as emission trading arrangements.

Water pricing towards sustainability of water resources: a case study in Beijing

The role of water pricing for managing water resources is widely recognized in many areas of the world because of the increasing scarcity of water resources, a high competition between water uses and environmental degradation. Based on the analysis of cost of water, this paper explores which types of cost should be reflected in the water pricing enhancing the sustainability of water resources. The principle of full cost pricing in which the cost should include supply cost, opportunity cost and externalities is proposed as a means to achieve the sustainability of water resources. In a case study of Beijing, low water price is analyzed as one reason for unsustainable water consumption. Thus water pricing justified is necessary and pressing. It is proposed to justify water price in phased manner and eventually towards full cost pricing. The assessment of impacts on water resources by raising water price shows water pricing could alleviate the conflict between water supply and demand. This paper concludes that water pricing can play an effective role in enhancing the sustainability of water resources in Beijing.

Reliability-based congestion pricing model under endogenous equilibrated market penetration and compliance rate of ATIS

A reliability-based stochastic system optimum congestion pricing(SSOCP) model with endogenous market penetration and compliance rate in an advanced traveler information systems(ATIS) environment was proposed. All travelers were divided into two classes. The first guided travelers were referred to as the equipped travelers who follow ATIS advice, while the second unguided travelers were referred to as the unequipped travelers and the equipped travelers who do not follow the ATIS advice(also referred to as non-complied travelers). Travelers were assumed to take travel time, congestion pricing, and travel time reliability into account when making travel route choice decisions. In order to arrive at on time, travelers needed to allow for a safety margin to their trip.The market penetration of ATIS was determined by a continuous increasing function of the information benefit, and the ATIS compliance rate of equipped travelers was given as the probability of the actually experienced travel costs of guided travelers less than or equal to those of unguided travelers. The analysis results could enhance our understanding of the effect of travel demand level and travel time reliability confidence level on the ATIS market penetration and compliance rate; and the effect of travel time perception variation of guided and unguided travelers on the mean travel cost savings(MTCS) of the equipped travelers, the ATIS market penetration, compliance rate, and the total network effective travel time(TNETT).

Nutrient Response Functions of Sorghum for Miesso District Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia

This study was executed to offer the basis for optimized profit from fertilizer use for sorghum yield and to determine robust crop nutrient response function and economic rate for the production of sorghum at Miesso Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia. Trails were conducted at six experimental sites, sorghum yield response to N and P fertilizers application and economically optimum rates of nitrogen (EONR) and phosphorus (EOPR) were evaluated on a vertisols within the semi-arid Miesso districts west Hararge zone of Oromia region. The nutrient rates in 2014 cropping season four levels of Nitrogen (N) alone, these levels with 20 kg·ha−1 Phosphorus (P) and without N, 69 kg·ha−1 N with three levels of P treatments including the zero control were evaluated. In 2015, cropping season similar rates of N alone, the same rate N with 20 kg·ha−1 P, 92 kg·ha−1 N with three rates of P including the zero control were evaluated. The treatments were arranged in a randomized complete block with three replications in factorial design. Nutrient responses of sorghum were determined using asymptotic quadratic plateau functions. The significantly highest nitrogen rate was 46 kg·ha−1 alone in 2014 season, which gave grain yield of 2.56 Mg·ha−1 with a maximum yield advantage of 43%. P rates in both seasons and combined (sites + seasons) were not significantly influenced sorghum yield. Nitrogen agronomic and partial factor productivity peaked at 23 kg N ha−1 but declined with increasing N rate. The EONR combined (sites + seasons) were 37, 45, 52 and 60 kg·ha−1 and for the profit to cost ratio (PCR) were 2.43, 3.65, 4.86 and 5.79 at difference cost to grain price ratios (CP) = 3.6, 2.3, 1.6 and 1.2 respectively at Miesso Ethiopia. Nitrogen application had economically profitable than P. The study concluded that the application of N at 37 or 60 kg N ha−1 to sorghum production could be economically profitable for those economically constrained farmers or economically not constrained farmers. Validation should be farther conducted on farmers’ fields for refining the results obtained.

Speeding Up Corporate Cost Cuts

According to recent figures from the National Bureau of Statistics,in October,the consumer price index,which gauges the overall cost of living,grew 2.1 percent in China,which was 0.2 percentage points higher than that in September.Furthermore,the producer price index,

Comparing Competition Equilibrium with Nash Equilibrium in Electric Power Market

The Nash equilibrium and competition equilibrium have been widely studied in the electric power market up to now.In this paper,it is explained that the Nash equilibrium can be achieved by using marginal cost pricing and the com-petition equilibrium can be performed by using accounting cost pricing based on the model of the power market system.The comparison between the Nash equilibrium and competition equilibrium indicates that surplus and unfair allocation of market benefits may be obtained by the Nash equilibrium,and the competition equilibrium realizes the optimization in economics with maximum market efficiency and fairness for market benefit allocations while the optimization in mathematics is achieved by the Nash equilibrium.There is sameness between the Nash equilibrium and competition equilibrium at the point when the power network characteristics are disregarded.The case study is made on a IEEE 30-bus system,and the calculation results indicate that it is the key issue to perform the competition equilibrium by using accounting cost pricing.

On the Effects of Central Japan Expressway’s Commuter Toll Discount Policy in Nagoya Area

Road pricing policies have two equally important objectives that have to be considered： the optimal use of the road network and the fiscal sustainability for the management of the network. The aim of this work is to examine the effects on these two objectives of a recent pricing policy implemented in Japan＇s expressway networks. Recently the Nippon （Japan） Expressway Companies （NEXCO, operators of Japan＇s nation wide expressway network） have implemented several toll discount policies for users equipped with electronic toll collectors （ETCs）. One of the policies is the commuter discount policy that discounts 50% for a journey on the NEXCO expressway no longer than 100 km during the commuting peak hours. This paper examines its effect on congestion reduction in the road network of Nagoya area and its influence on the use of expressways operated by another major local public expressway company in Nagoya. The congestion easing effect of this policy is compared with a potential marginal cost pricing scheme. These observations suggest that policy coordination regarding toll levels is needed for expressway corporations and transportation authorities for improving transportation efficiency of utilization of the whole network.

Superiority:China Mobile in the competition

The market share between China Mobile and China Unicom has stabilized since 2002. It is found that China Mobile has the superiority in the competition, for example, the scissors movement between its revenue and cost indicates that it has a strong profit generating ability and there is enough room for it to reduce the price. The ratio between its price （marginal income） and marginal cost indicates that there is a very distant limit for it to reduce the price. Its demand is obviously flexible with the price, but it does not use the price weapon abundantly. The reason for the stabilization of the market is that China Mobile withdrew from the competition.