Area Of Energy Policy Research Articles

Energiesicherheit-Nachhaltigkeit-Nexus in Zeiten des Krieges: Krisengesteuerte Notfallmaßnahmen für den Green Deal?

In response to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, the European Union (EU) has taken short-, medium- and long-term measures in the area of energy policy. They address both the goal of security of supply and sustainability. In doing so, the EU makes partial use of the possibilities of the emergency measures of Article 122 Treaty on the Functioning of the EU for such crisis situations. This has two consequences. On the one hand, the EU is thus creating a legitimacy deficit for itself. On the other hand, it can use this approach to overcome limitations in energy policy due to a lack of competences and to further advance the Green Deal despite the war-related focus on energy security.

Particularities of the energy management and labor market in Russia

Energy saving problems are one of the most important problems of all countries, including Russia, since energy resources are used extremely inefficiently. As the vast and still small Russian experience shows, energy saving is a highly efficient and quickly implemented method of energy consumption in energy. Therefore, energy conservation is the most important area of energy policy in the new economic conditions. The basis of energy saving at the enterprise is the creation of an energy management system - an energy resource management system. Without energy management, it is impossible to talk about a systemic reduction in energy costs and the introduction of any energy-saving technologies at the enterprise. The introduction of an energy management system at an enterprise makes it possible to find and maintain a balance of optimal consumption of energy resources for a given production schedule. In the next 6 years, the domestic electric power industry will face large-scale transformations associated with the renewal of fixed assets and the transition to a digital basis. The fulfillment of these tasks requires not only financial investments and technical support, but also the availability of professional personnel who can manage these transformations and implement them. The differentiated approach is needed to regulate the labor of energy workers.

The Political Economy of EU Climate and Energy Policies in Central and Eastern Europe Revisited: Shifting Coalitions and Prospects for Clean Energy Transitions

The countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) have commonly been regarded as climate and energy policy laggards blocking more ambitious EU decarbonization targets. Although recent literature has increasingly acknowledged the differences in national positions on energy and climate issues among these states, there has been little comprehensive evidence about their positioning on EU climate and energy policies and the domestic interests which shape government preferences. The article addresses this gap by tracing the voting behavior of six CEE countries (Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Romania) on EU energy-related legislation in the Council of Ministers between 2007–2018. The article shows that the contestation of energy policies, particularly of climate-related legislation, in the Council of Ministers has increased over time and that these six CEE countries have indeed most often objected to the adoption of EU legislation. The CEE states do not, however, have a common regional positioning on all EU energy policies. Voting coalitions among the six CEE countries differ substantially across energy policy areas. The lack of a common regional position and changing national preferences have enabled the adoption of a relatively ambitious EU Energy and Climate Package for 2030. The differences in national voting patterns are explained by the evolving interests and the ability of key domestic political and economic actors to adapt to and explore benefits from the ever-expanding EU energy and climate policies.

Information Exchange and Policy Adoption Decisions in the Context of U.S. State Energy Policy

AbstractA persistent question in the literature on policy adoption and diffusion focuses on the ways in which jurisdictions gather policy information. Decades of research have offered numerous conclusions regarding knowledge transfer mechanisms assumed to drive diffusion. While important, we suggest that the characteristics of existing work may have limited what we know about the exchange of policy information among peers. Most studies infer learning indirectly, and as a result, the literature has tended to focus on exchange between geographic and ideological peers, to the exclusion of other channels. As an alternative, this study takes a more direct approach and draws on a survey of 112 U.S. expert informants in the area of energy policy. We use the information exchange channels revealed by these informants to predict the diffusion of state renewable portfolio standards and electricity deregulation among the American states to determine whether they offer explanatory leverage beyond the “traditional” channels.

Avenues to sustainable road transport energy in New Zealand

ABSTRACTReduction of the energy use and emissions associated with the provision of transport services is one of the most challenging areas of energy policy. This arises both from the pervasive nature of transport use in modern society and its dependence on the most limited of fossil fuels. Advances in renewable energy utilization offer an avenue by which this may be addressed, including the possibility of achieving fully sustainable transport energy supply. The article considers what potential exists for sustainable road transport energy in New Zealand. That country already has high renewable energy utilization, but also a high per-capita transport demand and limited domestic hydrocarbon resources. Three main routes for renewable fuel supplies are examined, with the conclusion that two (the production of biofuels from forest products, and the amplification of electricity supply from renewable energy sources for use in electric vehicles) offer technically feasible pathways toward a fully sustainable transport energy system. Cost and confidence in investment remain the principal barriers to this development.

Conceptual and Institutional Aspects of EU Energy Policy (1990-2014)

Ideological and institutional framework of the European energy policy, which is still work in progress, is crucial to the EU as it faces new political and economic challenges related to the recent Ukrainian crisis. Even if key energy policy issues are still decided by member states as the EU only seeks to speak with one voice in energy matters externally, much progress has been made over the last two decades in terms of the EU's energy policy formulation and institutional development. The Lisbon Treaty made the energy policy a sphere of "shared competence" of EU institutions and member states. The European Commission's numerous policy documents ("White" and "Green books" 1995, 2000 and 2006) provided a basis for the development of an integrated energy market. Substantial progress has been achieved in the area of energy policy harmonization between the EU and neighboring countries (Energy Charter Treaty, European Energy Community). The Union's key energy policy areas also included supply diversification (trans-European energy networks), development of unconventional energy production, climate change and energy efficiency. Over the last decade climate changes has become a cornerstone of EU energy policy and is regarded by the EU as key to moderating energy demand and reducing import dependency.

AR LISABONOS SUTARTIS TURI ĮTAKOS EUROPOS BENDROS ENERGETIKOS POLITIKOS PLĖTRAI?

Straipsnyje nagrinėjama Lisabonos sutarties reikšmė, daranti įtaką Europos Sąjungos bendros energetikos politikos kūrimui. Remiantis liberaliojo institucionalizmo politinės teorijos samprotavimais, nagrinėjami trys pagrindiniai klausimai, pateikiant išsamų požiūrį į Europos energetikos problemas ir jų sprendimo būdus: Kas skatina valstybes ieškoti vienodo požiūrio į energetikos iššūkius? Kokia yra tikroji Lisabonos sutarties reikšmė, kuriant bendrą Europos energetikos politiką? Ar Lisabonos sutartis nurodo realias priemones įgyvendinti bendrą Europos energetikos politiką visos bendrijos lygmeniu? Be minėtų klausimų, straipsnyje, analizuojamos pagrindinės Europos Sąjungos sutartys, parodančios, kaip kito bendros energetikos politikos reikšmė Europos Sąjungos integraciniame procese. Straipsnyje taip pat pateikiama pokyčių, patvirtintų Lisabonos sutartyje, kritika, ir analizuojami veiksmai, kuriais būtų galima paskatinti dar glaudesnį valstybių bendradarbiavimą ir užtikrinti bendros energetikos politikos įgyvendinimą.

Acting in time on energy policy

Energy policy is on everyone’s mind these days. But there is a serious problem endemic to America’s energy challenges: the resulting policies are overly reactive, enacted once damage is already done, and are too often incomplete, incoherent, and ineffectual. This important volume details this problem, making clear the unfortunate results of such short-sighted thinking, and it proposes measures to overcome this counterproductive tendency. All of the contributors to Acting in Time on Energy Policy are affiliated with Harvard University and rank among America’s pre-eminent energy policy analysts. They tackle important questions as they pertain to specific areas of energy policy: Why are these components of energy policy so important? How would “acting in time”—i.e. not waiting until politics demands action—make a difference? What should our policy actually be?

Identifying Free-Riding in Energy-Conservation Programs Using Revealed Preference Data

Identifying the incidence of free-ridership is significant to a range of issues relevant to program evaluation, including the calculation of net program benefits and more general assessments of political acceptability. Estimates of free-ridership in the area of energy policy frequently rely on ex-post surveys that ask program participants whether they would have behaved differently in the absence of program support. The present paper proposes an ex-ante approach to the calculation of the free-rider share using revealed preference data on home renovations from Germany's residential sector. We employ a discrete-choice model to simulate the effect of grants on renovation choices, the output from which is used to assess the extent of free-ridership under a contemporary subsidy program. Aside from its simplicity, a key advantage of the approach is that it bestows policymakers with an estimate of free-ridership prior to program implementation.

Development of sustainable energy systems in Swedish municipalities: A matter of path dependency and power relations

Case studies of two Swedish municipalities indicate that the general energy area was divided into three independent policy areas: one dealing with supply, one with conservation and one with environmental questions related to the Agenda 21 vision of an ecologically sustainable energy system. However, the dominant energy policy area in the municipalities was supply policy. This article discusses why supply policy is dominant and the consequences of this for energy system development. Analysis of this pattern reveals that powerful actors, such as local energy companies, were able to mobilize support for supply policies, not least because they owned the energy plants and distribution networks. These actors were also represented in many different decision arenas; in contrast, actors representing the other energy policy areas often lacked power and resources, and were represented in only a few decision arenas.

Improving the evidence base for energy policy: The role of systematic reviews

The concept of evidence-based policy and practice (EBPP) has gained increasing prominence in the UK over the last 10 years and now plays a dominant role in a number of policy areas, including healthcare, education, social work, criminal justice and urban regeneration. But despite this substantial, influential and growing activity, the concept remains largely unknown to policymakers and researchers within the energy field. This paper defines EBPP, identifies its key features and examines the potential role of systematic reviews of evidence in a particular area of policy. It summarises the methods through which systematic reviews are achieved; discusses their advantages and limitations; identifies the particular challenges they face in the energy policy area; and assesses whether and to what extent they can usefully be applied to contemporary energy policy questions. The concept is illustrated with reference to a proposed review of evidence for a ‘rebound effect’ from improved energy efficiency. The paper concludes that systematic reviews may only be appropriate for a subset of energy policy questions and that research-funding priorities may need to change if their use is to become more widespread.

Examining Influences of EU Policy on Instrument Choice: The Selection of a Green Certificate Trading Scheme in Sweden

This paper explores the circumstances of the Swedish selection of an obligatory green certificate trading scheme over other policy instruments. The choice of policy instruments in the energy policy area is bound to the international context and in Europe to the European Union (EU). The aim of this paper is to examine the relative influences of European policies on the selection of certificate trading for stimulation of renewable electricity production. The paper turns to the ideas of Europeanisation to analyse influences from European policy on domestic instrument choice process. The empirical findings confirm the Europeanisation theories which suggest that European policies can affect domestic policy changes despite lack of prescribed measures. The study shows that the EU guidelines on state aid invoked a need to change support scheme, together with domestic factors: a programme coming to an end, a policy commitment to increase the share of new, renewable electricity production and budget restrictions. EU policies strengthened existing preferences for a market-based support scheme and influenced the dominant actors’ expectations about the future, providing additional justification of their instrument preferences. On the whole, this paper illustrates how the notion in economic theory to make use of the market for resource management has proliferated strongly in Swedish energy policy making.

Iran’s energy policy: Current dilemmas and perspective for a sustainable energy policy

Iran is facing large challenges in the area of energy policy. In order to illuminate these challenges and the problems and possibilities, which are present, firstly, the current energy consumption patterns have been analyzed in Iran as well as the energy policy of the Iranian government. Based on this analysis, the alternative concepts have been then formulated for Iran’s future energy. The increase in energy usage in Iran is distinctly out of proportion with the development of economic productivity. Negative structural characteristics of this system are: first, an above average energy intensity; second, an increase in energy consumption in the traffic sector; third, a high growth rate in usage of electric energy; and lastly, an above-average amount of stress to the environment. Traditionally, Iran’s energy policy has focused on satisfying the growing demand for energy by oil and, in the last fifteen years, by successively expanding natural gas. However, the further development of the natural gas supply only makes sense within the context of a holistic energy policy, which takes into account the principles of sustainable development. In the short term, such a policy would take advantage of both considerable energy saving techniques, as well as potential renewable energy sources. In the long term, such a policy would strive for the complete transfer to renewable energy sources and technology.

Japan and the Middle East

Hirokazu Oikawa, a correspondent in Israel for Jiji News for nearly 20 years and former lecturer and fellow at Hebrew University, discusses the history of relations between Japan and the Middle East and shows how Japan's relative ignorance of the region has affected some crucial diplomatic and domestic policy decisions. He explains that potential misperceptions about the Middle East continue among Japanese policymakers, especially in the areas of energy policy and official‐development aid (ODA). Oikawa is currently a professor at Kyorin University in Tokyo.

Vehicle stock modelling of highway energy use: Tunisian and US applications

Road transport is the major petroleum-using sector in many developing countries. Influencing the size and efficiency of the vehicle stock is probably the most important area of energy policy for transport. This paper describes a model of vehicle stock evolution suitable for estimating the effects of policies directed at efficiency improvements, the volume of new registrations and fuel substitution. These are illustrated by a projection of light trucks in Tunisia and an analysis of hypothetical conservation and fuel-switching initiatives. The transferability of the model is demonstrated by an estimation of fuel savings due to automobile fuel economy gains since 1975 in the USA. The present value of savings is put at $92 billion (1984 $).

Regional Dimensions of Energy Scarcity

This paper contains a discussion of some issues concerning spatial aspects of energy problems. Attention is paid to regional impact analysis of energy developments. Also included is a discussion of conflict analysis in the area of energy policy, with a special view of multiobjective policy analysis. Finally, the relationships between energy consumption and transportation and between energy consumption and location patterns are described.

Interfuel Substitution—Upper Bound Estimates

The degree to which alternative energy sources can be substituted for each other is an important consideration in several energy policy areas. This article examines the issue of interfuel substitution within a very limited framework, namely, the capability of the steam electric industry to switch among coal, oil, and natural gas in plants able to bum all three fuels. In this sense, we claim that our substitution possibility estimates will be upper bounds, since the necessary capital is already in place to accommodate each fuel. Section II describes the theoretical model used in describing the behavior of steam electric plants. Section III discusses the justification of the empirical technique presented; Section IV discusses this study's data and presents results; Section V discusses the implications of these results.