Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 6. Comparison of TEI Promoting Regulatory Characteristics in California and Hong Kong
Hong Kong's
Air Pollution Control Regulations in
Relation to Diesel-to-LPG Scheme
California's
Zero-emission Bus Regulation
Regulatory Characteristics
Goal-setting
●●●
●●○
Outcome-oriented
●●●
●●○
Stringency
●●●
●●●
Flexibility
●●○
●○○
Certainty
●●○
●●○
Consistency
●●○
●○○
Incentive-based
●●●
●●●
Voluntary-based
●○○
○○○
Information-driven
●●●
●●●
Participatory
●●●
●●●
Process-based
●●●
●○○
Capability-enhanced
●●●
●●●
had thorough public consultation, such consulta-
tion is far from being the norm and has not been
translated to other environmental regulations. No
formal procedures have been established. Regula-
tions enacted under a non-process-based situation
will provide little room for regulatory update,
which is critical to avoid unintended technologi-
cal, financial or other barriers. The absence of a
process-based approach explains why additional
transport TEIs cannot be seen in Hong Kong after
the adoption of LPG taxis.
to examine how these characteristics promote
transport TEIs under two sets of regulations in
California and Hong Kong. The California ZEBus
Regulation has successfully pushed forward fuel
cell bus demonstration and development among
transit agencies. The second case study is the
diesel-to-LPG taxi replacement scheme in Hong
Kong. The entire taxi fleet in Hong Kong was
converted from diesel to LPG technology just a
few years between 2000 - 2006.
Both studies demonstrate that regulatory
pressure induced by stringent requirements and
early announcement of progressive tightening,
and a clear time frame for implementation, can
reduce uncertainty and risk and actively mobilize
stakeholders to continuously innovate to enhance
their environmental performance. In such cases
regulations are able to send a strong signal and
create a level-playing field for industries to com-
pete by means of TEIs. Further, in both cases,
TEI promoting environmental regulations do
not consist solely of direct regulatory standards,
but are strongly supported by incentive-based
and capability-enhancing measures to equip the
industry with the capability to embrace TEIs.
CONCLUSION
This study reviews and discusses the debate over
the effectiveness of environmental regulation in
promoting industrial TEIs. As various theoretical
and empirical studies have illustrated, environ-
mental regulations, if properly designed, can
promote more cost-effective TEIs. This paper
has explored
how environmental regulations can
be designed and implemented in a way that pro-
motes TEIs?
First, based on previous innovation
research, 12 characteristics of innovation oriented
