Title: Evaluation of the 'Clean Air Works' program on actual ozone concentrations: a case study in North Carolina

Authors: Eleftherios Giovanis

Addresses: Department of Economics, University of Verona, Via dell'Artigliere, 8, 37129, Italy; Department of Economics, Royal Holloway University of London, TW20 0EX, Egham, Surrey, England, UK

Abstract: This study examines the effectiveness of the 'Clean Air Works' program in the state of North Carolina on ozone concentration levels. 'Clean Air Works' is a voluntary program which educates people about the negative effects of air pollution on health. The contribution of this study is that it examines three effects: The effectiveness of the 'Clean Air Works' program in the Charlotte Area of North Carolina State and whether ozone smog alerts are more effective under this program. Finally, the effects on ozone levels coming from the change in the warning threshold from 80 particles per billion (ppb) to 75 ppb, which took place in 2008, are established. In all cases, we find reduction in ground-level ozone levels and improvement of the air quality in the treatment group where the 'Clean Air Works' program is implemented.

Keywords: air quality; Clean Air Works; air pollution; quadruple differences-in-differences; ozone concentrations; smog alerts; voluntary programmes; USA; United States; case study; North Carolina; health education; ozone levels.

DOI: 10.1504/IJETM.2015.073076

International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management, 2015 Vol.18 No.5/6, pp.465 - 477

Received: 15 Aug 2014
Accepted: 14 May 2015
Published online: 16 Nov 2015 *

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