Abstract
Renewable energy sources (RES) are gradually becoming one of the key elements in the process of achieving energy efficiency worldwide. This trend can be observed in many developed Western economies—for example, in the United States, as well as in the United Kingdom. Hence, the role of innovative policies for promoting energy efficiency is becoming crucial in transition to the post-carbon economy. The shift to the carbon-free future make all actors to face forgoing commitments Nevertheless, customers and residential households are the first and the most important players in the pursuit of the energy-efficient future. Without them, carbon-free economy based on RES would never take the shape as envisaged. Our paper focuses on the innovative strategies and policies studying the effect and the scope of RES penetration into the households. We employ and empirical analysis of the effects from using RES in households using an example of the residential households in the northwest region of the United Kingdom (UK) with and without solar photovoltaic (PV) panels and electric vehicles (EV). We analyse the four scenarios that are aimed at analysing the system dynamics and providing differentiation between systems in terms of the varying values of the gross demand, tariffs, metered import, and the total revenue. Our results demonstrate that the solar PV leads to the transfer of costs and wealth regardless of the ownership of PV and EVs. Solar energy generation reduces the share of UK solar PV households per kWh costs of the distribution system which causes the augmenting of the per unit charges as well as to the changes in payments for the electricity that impoverishes less wealthy customer groups. It also becomes clear that with the increase of EV penetration, the existing energy efficiency schemes would have to be revised.
Highlights
In today’s globalized and industrialized world, energy efficiency appears to only be achievable though the gradual but steady transition to a low-carbon economy
Electricity distributors or wholesale sellers should be motivated to use Renewable energy sources (RES) for supplying a certain share of their electricity. When it comes to the status of the energy consumption in the United Kingdom (UK), a country that is in focus of our empirical model outlined in this paper, one needs to realize that UK households are currently enjoying one of the lowest retail electricity prices in the European Union
Where: x—an additional component that needs to be added to the existing optimal tariffs and charges in a situation when the total number of customers remains the same but the share of solar PV increases altering the total recovered revenue; F—payment for the unit of power per day by one household (k) connected to the electricity network; v—payment for the unit of energy by one household (k) connected to the electricity network; Total Revenue (TR)—total revenue of the electricity provider for N customers; let us assume that each type of household has an electric vehicles (EV)
Summary
In today’s globalized and industrialized world, energy efficiency appears to only be achievable though the gradual but steady transition to a low-carbon economy. Reshaping the world economies for the higher deployment of RES would require approval from the ordinary citizens (who represent voters in any given democracy and thence can, albeit indirectly, influence many economic and political decisions related to energy policy). In a way, these citizens have their own responsibility for the energy-efficient future.
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