| Author: | Huang, Zhenhua |
| Title: | Subsidy policies for reducing diesel emissions from in-use construction equipment in Hong Kong |
| Advisors: | Fan, Hongqin (BRE) |
| Degree: | Ph.D. |
| Year: | 2022 |
| Subject: | Construction equipment -- Environmental aspects -- China -- Hong Kong Construction industry -- Subsidies -- China -- Hong Kong Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations |
| Department: | Department of Building and Real Estate |
| Pages: | 175 pages : color illustrations |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | Construction equipment is responsible for a significant amount of emissions, which have been a major source of environmental degradation and considerable damage to human health. The challenges posed by extensive emissions from construction equipment have been motivating governments around the world to adopt measures. However, in Hong Kong, the policy instruments for reducing construction equipment emission (CEE) are insufficient, with only new construction equipment being bound by tighter emission standards while in-use ones being remarkably unregulated. After years of use, in-use construction equipment becomes inefficient through deterioration and consequently produces higher levels of pollutants, which are extremely dangerous to public health. Making in-use construction equipment cleaner and more fuel-efficient is an increasingly urgent task for governments. Replacing or retrofitting in-use construction equipment can dramatically reduce emissions, improve the air quality and deliver significant health benefits to those who live or work in or adjacent to construction sites. However, purchasing new equipment or emission reduction technologies will incur costs and brings financial burdens on contractors, which is one of the foremost barriers of governments promoting replacement and retrofit of in-use construction equipment. To accelerate the replacement and retrofit of in-use construction equipment, subsidy incentives have been widely recognized as a flexible and market-based policy instrument by many businesses and entities. Through paying money, subsidy policies motivate contractors to reduce the health and environmental risks posed by emissions from their construction equipment. The adoption of subsidy policies by governments is crucial for encouraging the transition to green construction equipment through promoting replacing and retrofitting in-use construction equipment. However, there is a lack of subsidy policies in Hong Kong for reducing CEE, and current models for determining subsidy levels are limited to formulating effective subsidy policies. Thus, the primary aim of this research is to reduce CEE in Hong Kong through formulating proper subsidy policies. The specific objectives of this research are as follows: (1) To conduct a review on policy instruments for addressing CEE from a global perspective, and identify evolving trends, lessons, and accumulated experiences in developing policy instruments; (2) To conduct a review on the technologies for reducing CEE and examine their effectiveness; (3) To propose a quantitative model to determine appropriate subsidy levels for accelerating the replacement of exempted construction equipment in Hong Kong; (4) To propose a responsibility-sharing model to determine appropriate subsidy levels for promoting the replacement and retrofit of construction equipment fleet. This research first conducts a holistic review and analysis on the development of CEE reduction policy instruments from a global perspective. Three groups of policy instruments are identified, including mandatory administration policy instrument (PI-A), economic incentive policy instrument (PI-B), and voluntary participation policy instrument (PI-C). Comparative analysis of CEE reduction policy instruments is conducted between advanced and developing-economy promoters. Then, the evolving trends, lessons, and accumulated experiences in developing policy instruments are identified. Secondly, this research examines academic journals, doctoral theses, conference papers, government reports, and other technical guidelines to summary technologies available for reducing CEE and identify emission reduction levels achievable by these technologies. Additionally, this research develops an effective quantitative model for determining the optimal subsidy levels to examine the relationship between emission reduction targets, early replacement of construction equipment, and subsidy levels to the equipment owners. The subsidy levels determined by the proposed model can effectively enable the early replacement of construction equipment and achieve the government's goal of reducing emissions from construction equipment. The subsidy levels determined by the proposed model can also avoid creating a financial burden on contractors to replace their equipment early for emissions reduction. Finally, a responsibility-sharing model is proposed, in which the subsidy level and the responsibility of the contractor and government assigned in proportion for emission reduction are determined with the attaining of minimum overall costs per ton of emissions reduced. Key findings concluded from this research are from five perspectives. Firstly, advanced and developing-economy promoters have similarities and differences in developing CEE reduction policy instruments. For example, both advanced and developing-economy promoters overwhelmingly prefer to adopt PI-As. Developing-economy promoters may not have sufficient resources for implementing PI-Bs and PI-Cs. Advanced-economy promoters have devoted more efforts to developing PI-Bs and PI-Cs. Secondly, a mixture of PI-As, PI-Bs and PI-Cs can work better for reducing CEE, and policy instrument making should consider the contexts of promoters. Thirdly, the subsidy levels determined by the proposed model in Chapter 6 can effectively enable the early replacement of construction equipment and achieve the government's goal of reducing emissions from construction equipment. The subsidy levels determined by the proposed model can also avoid creating a financial burden on contractors when they replace their equipment early for emissions reduction. Setting emission reduction targets is closely related to the subsidy levels. Fourthly, subsidy levels set by governments have an impact on the decision-making of contractors in regards to the number of new purchased, replaced, retrofitted, salvaged and in-service construction equipment in each planning period. When governments change subsidy levels, contractors will adjust their equipment management strategies to minimize their costs. Therefore, through setting proper subsidy levels, governments can lead contractors to adopt optimal strategies of replacing and retrofitting construction equipment to reduce emissions with a minimum overall social cost. Finally, this study finds that one value of overall cost per ton of emissions reduced corresponds to many different apportionments of responsibility for emission reduction between the government and the contractor. Within the same overall cost per ton of emissions reduced, assigning less emission reduction responsibility to contractors can increase their motivation to participate in the subsidy incentive. The review on global policy instruments for reducing CEE can promote the experience-sharing between developed and developing-economy promoters, which can help improve CEE reduction by formulating more effective policy instruments. On the other hand, this research provides valuable references for those countries and cities which have not yet introduced CEE reduction policy instruments to design effective policy instruments with the understanding of the development trends, lessons and experiences of the policy instruments adopted globally. Additionally, the quantitative model proposed in Chapter 6 targeted at exempted construction equipment is novel in its ability to ensure the achievement of emission reduction targets with subsidies, without exerting a financial burden on contractors. The responsibility-sharing model proposed in Chapter 7 innovatively incorporates the contractor and the government's emission reduction responsibility, determines the subsidy level to minimize the overall cost per ton of emissions reduced, and ensures emission levels of construction equipment fleet under limited levels. The proposed two models can also be used as an effective support tool by governments to determine optimal subsidy levels to accelerate and retrofit construction equipment replacement for emissions reduction. The development of these two models has significance in enriching the theoretical development of policy instruments for reducing extensive CEE, especially in the context of existing research mainly focusing on on-road vehicles. |
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| Access: | open access |
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