Moving towards sustainable development: environmental valuation and policies in Chile

智利正在执行有关能源和环境的新政策。2050年的主要目标之一是至少70%的能源是可再生能源（Ministerio de energy, 2015）。为了实现这一目标，一项新的法律规定，客户可以将他们的可再生能源发电机连接到电网，并以规定的价格将剩余的电力出售给能源分销公司。为节能加热器提供补贴等减少空气污染的措施收效甚微。环境适宜性的评价有助于决策者的决策过程。最近在环境经济学文献中出现了一种新的评估环境便利的方法：生活满意度法（LSA）。LSA使用个人对生活满意度的数据作为主观幸福感水平的衡量标准，以评估环境设施的价值。有限数量的论文将LSA应用于减少空气污染水平的价值。这些研究都没有专门针对发展中国家，也没有对LSA产生的结果进行广泛的理论分析，也没有对所作的假设以及它们如何影响所获得的结果进行广泛的理论分析。儿童的幸福感和空气污染研究问题：在发展中国家，人们愿意为较低水平的空气污染买单吗？方法：采用主观幸福感、空气污染、气候数据和个人调查数据，利用LSA估算支付意愿，并将空间成分纳入计量经济学分析。该项目将对以往文献中所载的以发达国家为重点的估计进行比较分析。预期结果：智利不同地区和气候带之间的支付意愿可能存在异质性，与发达国家相比较小。环境评价方法的比较：以智利北部洪涝灾害为例问：在理论和实证层面上，LSA的结果与传统环境评价方法的结果有何不同？M：这个项目将细致地描述和比较LSA以及揭示偏好和陈述偏好模型所依据的理论基础，重点是为得到每种方法的支付意愿表达所做的假设。实证研究将评估最近的洪水对智利北部一个城市的影响。该项目将在一个可比较的样本中使用每种方法估计为减少洪水风险而支付的平均意愿。ER：在理论和经验层面上，与陈述偏好和显示偏好的模型相比，LSA产生了不同的支付意愿估计，因为它基于与传统环境评估方法不同的一组假设。q：家庭采用并网可再生能源系统的短期和中期经济效益是什么？M：分析智利净计费的经济效益，从Pillai et al.（2014）提出的方法开始，该方法使用温度和太阳辐射数据来获得发电潜力，以估计光伏板的经济效益。该项目将扩大这一范围，包括风力、大气压力、涡轮机所在位置的海拔高度和其他因素对风力涡轮机潜在发电量的影响。这将迫使人们采用一种新的方法，利用高度详细的地理参考数据来分析国内风力涡轮机的潜在经济效益。ER：由于初始成本的原因，拥有并网的可再生能源系统在短期内的经济效益很小，甚至为零，但从长远来看，这些成本会被超过，并且对家庭有积极的经济效益。

New policies are being implemented in Chile regarding energy and environment. One of the main goals for year 2050 is that at least 70% of energy is renewable (Ministerio de Energia, 2015). To reach this, a new law states that customers can connect their renewable energy generators to the grid and sell surplus to the energy distribution company at a regulated price.Efforts to reduce air pollution, such as subsidies for energy-efficient heaters, have made little headway. The valuation of environmental amenities can contribute to the decision-making process of policymaker. A new method for the valuation of environmental amenities has recently appeared in the environmental economics literature: the Life Satisfaction Approach (LSA). LSA uses data on an individual's satisfaction with life in general as a measure of subjective wellbeing levels to value environmental amenities. A limited number of papers have applied LSA to value reductions in air pollution levels. None of these solely focused on developing countries, and there has not been an extensive theoretical analysis of the results LSA yields nor of the assumptions made and how they shape the results obtained.1. Happiness and air pollution in ChileResearch question: What is the willingness to pay for lower levels of air pollution in a developing country?Methodology: Data of subjective wellbeing, air pollution, climate, and individual-level survey data will be used to estimate the willingness to pay using LSA and incorporating spatial components into the econometric analysis. The project will perform a comparative analysis with respect to previous estimations available in the literature, which focus on developed countries.Expected results: The willingness to pay likely to be heterogeneous between different regions and climate zones of Chile, and smaller in comparison to developed countries.2. Comparing methods of environmental valuation: the case of floods in northern ChileRQ: How do the results yielded by LSA compare to those of traditional environmental valuation methods at a theoretical and empirical level?M: This project will meticulously describe and compare the theoretical basis on which LSA and models of revealed and stated preferences are based, with an emphasis on the assumptions made to get a willingness-to-pay expression on each approach. Empirical research will evaluate the effects that recent floods have had in a city in northern Chile. The project will estimate the average willingness to pay for a reduction on the risk of floods using each method in a comparable sample3.ER: LSA yields different estimations of willingness to pay in comparison to models of stated preferences and revealed preferences both at a theoretical and empirical level, because it is based on a different set of assumptions than the traditional environmental valuation methods.3. Connected to the grid: the economic benefits of net billing in ChileRQ: What are the short-term and middle-term economic benefits of adopting a grid-connected renewable energy system for a household?M: Analysis of the economic benefits of net billing in Chile, starting from the methodology proposed by Pillai et al. (2014), which uses temperature and solar radiation data to get the potential of energy generation, in order to estimate the economic benefits of photovoltaic panels. The project will expand this by including the effect that wind, atmospheric pressure, elevation of the location of the turbine and other factors have on potential energy generation of wind turbines.This will compel a new methodology for the analysis of the potential economic benefits of domestic wind turbines with the use of highly-detailed geo-referenced data.ER: Having grid-connected renewable energy systems have a small or null economic benefit on the short term, due to the initial costs, but on a longer term these costs are surpassed and there are positive economic benefits for the household.