Subsidy for households to promote the adoption of more efficient and less polluting wood burning technologies: a numerical simulation for the case of Temuco and Padre Las Casas

Estudiamos el efecto de un subsidio a hogares que incentive el cambio a equipos de combustión de leña más eficientes y menos contaminantes. Se comparan, mediante simulaciones numéricas, diversos diseños de subsidio respecto del impacto sobre emisiones, costo y los indicadores de costo-efectividad. Dos variables importantes para el éxito de un programa de subsidio son el tiempo de uso restante asignado a equipos antiguos, y el acceso de los hogares a financiar el copago. Se observa que para escenarios regulatorios y/o análisis de costos diferentes, los diseños con mejores índices de costo-efectividad también difieren.
We study the effect of a household subsidy to induce the adoption of more efficient and less polluting wood combustion technologies. We compare, through numerical simulations, several subsidy designs with respect to the impact on aggregate emissions, costs, and cost-effectiveness indicators. Two variables that turn out to be important for the performance of a subsidy program are the remaining time that an existing equipment can be used and the access of the households to credit to fund the co-payment of the equipment. We observe that for different regulatory designs and/or different cost analysis, the performance of a subsidy program based on the cost-effectiveness analysis differs.