Energy Governance Research Articles

Chinese-Russian Energy Governance in the Context of Carbon Neutrality: Current Situation, Problems and Promotion Paths

2021 is a critical year for the transformation of China's energy industry. The path of clean and low-carbon energy has been determined, and the transformation of the energy industry is accelerated. China and Russia are both major energy countries and seek common interests in addressing climate change and energy cooperation. The relevance of this article is to analyze the current situation of energy cooperation between the two countries in terms of cooperation areas and other aspects by analyzing the research result from domestic and foreign researchers, and to identify the advantages and problems of energy cooperation by using SWOT analysis. The author proposes to explore and develop sustainable energy projects in Sino-Russian cooperation with the goal of “double carbon”, which is the countermeasure and promotion path of future long-term sustainable energy cooperation between China and Russia.

Argentina’s Energy Governance in the 21st Century: Unraveling its Central Issues

For the Social Sciences in general, the notion of governance represents a polysemic and controversial category whose content depends on the used conceptual approach. However, in the field of natural resources, specifically energy, governance is understood as an analytical tool that, by focusing on the decision-making process, makes it possible to examine, through cases, the exercise of State authority, the rules of the game and public-private interactions in the energy sector. This paper analyzes the energy governance process of Argentina during Cristina Fernández (2007-2015) and Mauricio Macri (2015-2019) administrations. Due to their political-ideological differences, ruptures and continuities are traced with a view to addressing the political-economic dimension of energy management as a topic of the public agenda, whose implications are presented both domestically and in foreign policy decisions.

A review of existing policy for reducing embodied energy and greenhouse gas emissions of buildings

The building sector is a significant contributor to global energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions and thus has a major role in combating climate change. To date, efforts to address this issue have focussed on reducing energy demand during building operation, resulting in significant reductions in this area. However, recent studies have shown that substantial improvements to operational energy efficiency have increased the relative significance of indirect or embodied energy demands and associated greenhouse gas emissions. Subsequently, policies addressing this next frontier of energy and emissions reductions are emerging. To understand different approaches and inform future development, this study reviews existing policy mechanisms targeting embodied energy and greenhouse gas emissions in the building sector for four countries – Australia, Canada, USA and United Kingdom. The study found that voluntary instruments dominate the policy landscape, with regulatory measures largely absent at national levels and confined to inconsistent application across lower levels of governance. Signals of change emerging from the analysis include growing private sector investment and increasing quantitative targets for reduction. The study concludes with the challenges facing this sector of energy governance, alongside recommendations for regulated caps, mandatory LCA reporting, prerequisite requirements in voluntary instruments, data accessibility and resolving methodological inconsistencies.

The optimal behavior of renewable energy resources and government's energy consumption subsidy design from the perspective of green technology implementation

Carbon emissions are a major problem in the industrial sector due to energy consumption. As a solution, this research first investigates the impact of energy consumption and shortfall on green technology implementation from 1000 textile firms in Punjab, Pakistan and for energy shortfall incorporates subsidy variables to make green technology implementation possible via a binary logistic regression model. Second, we develop a simulation-based optimization model to measure the optimal behavior of energy consumption parameters to clean the environment under green technology implementation. The results depict that renewable energy resources (coal, corn cobs, and wood) positively affect green technology implementation. Interestingly, energy shortfall (electricity and gas) is also impacted positively due to the move of industries towards renewable resources during this shortage period. We find a higher quantity of wood in optimal behavior analysis instead of coal and cobs due to its ease of availability. An optimal subsidy on electricity shortfall is found to be greater than the natural gas shortfall subsidy due to its higher shortfall. This study helps the government to decide the optimal energy shortfall for saving energy usage and to manage the optimal level of subsidies in order to overcome energy usage problems. It also benefits the textile industry in deciding over the optimal energy consumption level to make the environment clean in terms of green technology implementation.

The regulatory framework of the hydrogen market in Mexico: A look at energy governance

The global context suggests need to move towards decarbonization as part of international climate change commitments promoting clean energy and social welfare actions. The hydrogen market is a global trend because it responds to energy needs and to be feasible requires effective regulatory and policy frameworks. Mexico has a presence in the hydrogen market, but it is still limited and presents challenges in energy governance. The objective of this study was to analyze the importance of the legality and legitimacy of the current conditions of the hydrogen market in Mexico. A systematic search of the literature was conducted through scientific platforms and various federal laws and policies associated with the hydrogen market were reviewed. The main findings suggest that Mexican regulations present commercial, ecological, human, economic, and technological challenges, that may run counter to international agreements and challenge energy governance by discouraging the hydrogen market and curbing expected decarbonization.

Energy democratization policy without democratization of policy governance in South Korea: A participatory democracy perspective

Policy governance with citizen participation has gained much attention in the application of participatory democracy. Accordingly, what conditions are needed to conform to the idea of policy governance and contribute to policy effectiveness? This article answers this question by examining the energy policy of the South Korean Moon Jae-in government. It argues that—in addition to the formation of policy governance—democratizing its operation based on the democratic principles of legitimacy and responsibility is required, and theoretically presents conditions to this end. It then examines the Moon government's energy policy process, featuring nuclear phase-out and fostering renewable energy. The government-formed energy policy governance was represented by public debate committees and policy projects that accompany citizen participation under the banner of participatory democracy. However, it does not consider the democratic principles that led to people questioning its authenticity and brought about serious policy problems that hindered the accomplishment of policy objectives. Ayhan, Kadir Jun, and Nancy Snow. 2021. “Introduction to the Special Issue: Global Korea Scholarship: Empirical Evaluation of a Non-Western Scholarship Program from a Public Diplomacy Perspective.” Politics & Policy 49(6): 1282–91. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12440. Heo, Inhye. 2013. “The Political Economy of Policy Gridlock in South Korea: The Case of the Lee Myung-bak Government's Green Growth Policy.” Politics & Policy 41(4): 509–35. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12029. Kane, John, Hui-Chieh Loy, and Haig Patapan. 2010. “Introduction to the Special Issue: The Search for Legitimacy in Asia.” Politics & Policy 38(3): 381–94. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-1346.2010.00240.x. La gobernanza política con participación ciudadana ha ganado mucha atención en la aplicación de la democracia participativa. En consecuencia, ¿qué condiciones se necesitan para ajustarse a la idea de gobernanza de políticas y contribuir a la eficacia de las políticas? Este documento responde a esta pregunta examinando la política energética del gobierno surcoreano de Moon Jae-in. Argumenta que, además de la formación de la gobernanza política, se requiere democratizar su funcionamiento con base en los principios democráticos de legitimidad y responsabilidad, y teóricamente presenta condiciones para ello. Luego examina el proceso de política energética del gobierno de Moon, que incluye la eliminación gradual de la energía nuclear y el fomento de la energía renovable. El gobierno formó una gobernanza de la política energética representada por comités de debate público y proyectos de política que acompañan la participación ciudadana bajo la bandera de la democracia participativa. Sin embargo, no considera los principios democráticos, lo que llevó a la gente a cuestionar su autenticidad y generó serios problemas de política que obstaculizaron el logro de los objetivos de política. 包含公民参与的政策治理在参与式民主应用中获得了许多关注。相应地，需要哪些条件来遵循政策治理概念并对政策有效性作贡献？本文通过分析韩国文在寅政府的能源政策，对该问题进行了解答。本文论证认为，除了形成政策治理，还需要基于民主合法性和责任原则对政策治理的操作进行民主化。本文从理论上提出了实现此举所需的条件。本文随后分析了文在寅政府的能源政策过程，聚焦于逐步弃核与创造可再生能源。政府形成了以公共辩论委员会和政策项目（以参与式民主的名义包含公民参与）为代表的能源政策治理。不过，这种政策治理并未考量民主原则，导致民众质疑其真实性，并带来严重的政策问题，后者阻碍了政策目标的实现。

The collapse of Venezuela's electricity sector from an energy governance perspective

This paper analyzes the historical evolution of the Venezuelan Electricity Sector (VES) from the 1940s to the present. The objective is to identify the causes that have led to the current chaotic situation in power supply and propose corrective measures. This analysis is conducted within the framework of the literature on energy governance and extractivism in Latin America (LA). The VES has been conditioned upon the general objectives of energy policy in Venezuela. What has been called extractivism in the 20th century has been prolonged with the neo-extractivism of the 21st century. The country's oil revenues allowed for a highly interventionist energy governance policy, which was implemented hierarchically without the participation of VES stakeholders. On the other hand, the lack of market mechanisms and company financing schemes have led to inefficiencies in the operations of the sector. Finally, the lack of stable regulation, political uncertainty, and the absence of control mechanisms have contributed to the collapse. Due to the importance of electricity for the stability of Venezuela, it is necessary to propose a new and more participative energy governance strategy which also entails to rethink the VES structure and regulation.

Delivering an off-grid transition to sustainable energy in Ethiopia and Mozambique

BackgroundOff-grid and decentralized energy systems have emerged as an alternative to facilitate energy access and resilience in a flexible, adaptable way, particularly for communities that do not have reliable access to centralized energy networks both in rural and urban areas. Much research to date on community energy systems has focused on their deployment in Europe and North America. This paper advances these debates by looking at how community energy systems can support energy transitions in Africa. Specifically, it asks: what role can community energy systems play in the energy transition in East and Southern Africa?ResultsThis article investigates the potential for community energy to foster sustainable and just energy transitions in two countries in East and Southern Africa, namely Ethiopia and Mozambique. To do so, it explores transformations in Ethiopia and Mozambique’s energy systems through the lens of energy landscapes. This concept enables us to situate energy transitions within recent developments in energy governance and to understand current and future possibilities for change through the involvement of communities that currently lack access to reliable and clean energy. Our results show that when countries face the prospects of lucrative energy investments in natural gas or large hydropower, renewables are often deprioritized. Their suitability to address energy challenges and access gaps is de-emphasized, even though there is little evidence that investment in large-scale generation can handle the energy needs of the most disadvantaged groups. Initiatives and policies supporting community-focused renewable energy have remained limited in both countries. They tend to be designed from the top-down and focused on rural areas when they exist.ConclusionsEnergy transitions in Ethiopia and Mozambique, and many other countries with significant gaps in access to centralized energy systems, require putting inclusivity at the forefront to ensure that energy policies and infrastructure support the well-being of society as a whole. As long as investments in off-grid energy continue to depend on international organizations’ goodwill or development aid programs outside the ambit of national energy plans, energy access gaps will remain unaddressed, and there will not be a genuine and just transition to sustainable energy.

Time for transition – Temporal structures in energy governance in contemporary Poland

The institutions of the European Union place a clear emphasis on the importance of energy transition. However, the speed and scope of actions aiming at achieving climate neutrality of economies varies in the different member states. Poland, with an economy based on coal and a particular emphasis on the demands of energy security, appears to be especially sluggish in this respect, despite external and internal pressure from diverse stakeholders expecting particular decisions. The subject literature to date has analysed the structural – economic, political and historical-cultural – difficulties of phasing out coal. This article gives further attention to the causes by analysing the temporality of energy policy, a rarely analysed subject in the literature. It examines various temporal structures in functional systems, questioning how politics, science, economics and social movements designate the future horizons, which concepts of time influence their observations of the environments and how they affect the relationships of expectations and decisions. The discordance of temporal structures generates sources of uncertainty and induces an autoimmunological reaction of the system.

Research on the Characteristics of China's Foreign Energy Discourse

This article focuses on the research of the characteristics of foreign energy discourse from the perspective of "One Belt One Road". Combined with the current international economic background, the international energy cooperation language discourse and activities relevant documents reading are carried out through a horizontal and vertical comparative analysis. It is mainly about the language itself to analyze energy discourse development, existing problems and improvement measures. From the case analysis of scientific knowledge competition and discourse construction in the international energy field, it can be seen that adding the scientific and technological discourse perspective to study energy transition is conducive to a deeper understanding of the future energy strategic pattern and direction. It is also advantageous to the huge driving force contained in energy transition to promote China's development and international system change. It requires us to consider the international background work understanding and the language plan itself. We are supposed to analyze the current political hotspots reasonably such as the situation in Russia, Ukraine and related energy development strategies, and conduct in-depth exploration of energy academic discourse studies socially and contemporarily. Besides, it is significant to highlight the times development theme to promote global energy governance.

Public deliberation on nuclear power plant construction: The impact of values, processes, and personal attributes

Public deliberation is a way of integrating the collective decision-making of the public into policy-making processes through the use of a representative sample in a series of debates and discussions of controversial issues, including on nuclear power plant construction. This study examines the driving factors behind participants' decisions, examining their value priorities regarding energy, deliberation processes for decision-making, and their personal attributes. Why did citizens who participated in public deliberation on nuclear power plants decide to resume its construction? In particular, this research investigates how those who were undecided in the first survey decided on the resumption of the nuclear power plant construction in the final (fourth) survey. To answer the research question, statistical analysis suggested that those with a conservative political ideology and those who emphasize a stable energy supply and nuclear power plants’ industrial impacts were likely to support the construction resumption. In contrast, those who had concerns regarding the environmental impacts and who watched televised debates were likely to support the suspension of the construction. This study makes a contribution to the literature on sustainable energy governance and individual behavior by providing (1) theoretical links between a value priority on energy, sources of information in the deliberation process, personal attributes, and individual decision-making, and (2) empirical evidence of the undecided coming to a decision on nuclear energy policies.

Distribution Analysis and Distribution of 3 Kg LPG Gas Sales Allocations (Case Study Of PT. Sintora Putra Gasindo)

LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) is one of the petroleum products produced by PT Pertamina (Persero). The government has implemented a national energy policy by converting kerosene to LPG. In 2007, the government started converting kerosene into 3 kg LPG. In order to overcome the scarcity of 3 kg LPG, Pertamina and the government have begun to improve, one of which is by changing the 3 kg LPG distribution system from an open distribution system to a closed distribution system. This is to reduce oil subsidies, the largest portion of which is 50% of the government's energy subsidies, and each year the subsidies continue to increase. PT Pertamina (Persero) launched its product with a new variant of 3 kg LPG packaging which is fully subsidized by the government so that kerosene consumers can switch to LPG. With the issuance of the conversion policy, all kerosene trading agents became agents of 3 kg LPG. PT. Sintora Putra GasIndo is a company engaged in gas distribution for 3 kg of gas. PT. Sintora Putra GasIndo distributes its products in several areas of Deli Serdang. To market their products, companies need a marketing system, namely distribution channels that must be studied, so that companies can earn big profits in certain areas in the Deli Serdang area. Regarding the objectives to be achieved, namely the efficiency and effectiveness of the company and the use of available resources. Competition in the market is getting tougher and products can be widely available in several areas of Deli Serdang. Regarding the objectives to be achieved, namely the efficiency and effectiveness of the company and the use of available resources. Competition in the market is getting tougher and products can be widely available in several areas in the Deli Serdang area.

An Experimental Case Study on Generation of Bio-Energy as Clean Technology Initiative in a Food Industry

India is a country with huge potential for Biomass Energy (BE) generation numerically estimated as 20GW. The country is making some serious efforts in terms of both scientific interventions and fiscal incentives to economically attract more projects of BE for its renewability properties. Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) Government of India is encouraging clean technologies (CT) to get adopted by revenue generating organizations through provisions of certificates for emission reduction, Carbon-Credits or giving preferential tariffs. These initiatives have been welcomed by industries as they often have large amount of bio-degradable waste to send to treatment facilities. Anaerobic Digestion (AD) process has got much attention in industrial waste treatment ventures in this framework. Bio-chemical breakdown process of waste releases biogas that can be utilized in electricity and steam generation and simultaneously landfill expenses can be avoided. Present study is based on an experiment of converting potato peels of a food industry to generate biogas. Standard AD process is utilized with a suitably selected pre-treatment mechanism to make the process of BE generation more efficient according to the scale of industrial dimensions. This venture is one of the many CT initiatives taken by the industry for achieving sustainability goals of the EHS (Environment-Health-Safety) division. The process is estimated to produce 16 lt methane gas per 1 kg of potato peel waste. This process of generation of BE is capable to off-set of 3000 Kcal amount of energy required for industrial operation. Further a SWOT analysis has been carried out to critically analyze the suitability of the experiment as per industrial scale.

Polycentric energy governance: Under what conditions do energy communities scale?

AbstractAs the polycentric nature of climate governance becomes ever more apparent, understanding the role played by individual initiatives becomes an increasingly urgent research priority. In recent years, community initiatives have blossomed in relation to clean energy, both in their overall number and diversity. Polycentric governance thinking offers a powerful but incomplete account of how and why such initiatives emerge, grow, and replicate in different contexts, that is, how they “scale.” This article investigates the conditions under which different clean energy communities scale. Based on a systematic literature review, it identifies 23 separate conditions, which are subsequently categorized into what happens within, between and in the context of individual initiatives. As well as enriching polycentric governance thinking, this article identifies practical ways to inform and facilitate the emergence of new community initiatives.

A taxonomy of green governance: A qualitative and quantitative analysis towards sustainable development

• This study proposed a taxonomy of green governance for sustainable development. • This study proposed the influencing factors of green governance to achieve sustainable development based on the existing literature. • A case study was conducted to evaluate whether a country needs to adopt a green governance policy to achieve sustainable growth. • This study provides some practical implications based on the findings of the paper. It is undeniable that our environment is constantly evolving and citizens are facing new issues and challenges related to the environment around the world. Green governance is essential to achieve the goals agreed upon by local and global governments. The concept of green governance makes it possible to understand the integration of the actors of each governance form during decision-making. In this article, we identify the research gap and propose a taxonomy of green governance for sustainable development. We used factor analysis to construct the taxonomy of green governance. We also proposed the critical influencing factors of green governance to build sustainable development. To evaluate the importance of green governance for reducing CO 2 emissions and other energy-related consumption, this study conducted two case studies with empirical analysis on the OECD Indian dataset of green growth indicators. The Indian green growth indicators are predicted using a machine learning technique that employs linear digression, support vector machine (SVM), and Gaussian process. The analysis shows that the taxonomy of green governance—global governance, adaptive governance, climate governance, ecological governance, self-governance, energy governance, and information technology (IT) governance—are related to each other and can work on the same objective by pursuing different activities. In addition, the case study analysis shows that the SVM is the superior technique in terms of predicting the time series data in this study. Based on the analysis, this study suggest that green governance is vital for achieving global sustainable goals for future growth, and policy-makers should keep this in mind when making environmental policy decisions.

Use of Solar Energy for Energy Savings in Dairy Processing Industry

Due to increase in population, there is a large demand for electricity in India and it is difficult to supply this required energy from conventional energy resources because of environmental constraints and scarcity of resources. The best alternative is to generate electricity from renewable energy sources such as solar and wind which are environmentally friendly and freely available in nature. Indian government is providing subsidies, in order to encourage the electricity generation from solar. According to the Ministry of new and renewable energy Government of India, Dairy industry is suggested as one of the most suitable industrial areas for the commercialization of solar energy. Major developments in this field will however take a long time to reach a commercially feasible level. Dairies have considerable advantages in that as they are high energy users with a relatively constant demand for electricity throughout the year. The use of solar energy which is more adaptable to the dairy can be effectively and directly utilized as alternative and supplement to the existing energy supply. In this paper study is carried out to find the opportunities for electrical energy generation from solar in dairy processing unit. [1] Keywords: Solar, Rooftop photovoltaic, PV system Design.

Challenging Carbon Lock-In: Insights From U.S. Governmental Energy Research and Development Expenditures With Advocacy Recommendations for the Energy Research Community

The United States relies heavily on fossil and nuclear energy to meet its burgeoning electricity generation demands. The incumbent institutional and industrial power dynamics may support a fossil and nuclear energy status quo and have shown signs of carbon lock-in. Government research and development (R&D) funding can either be a help or hinderance to institutional carbon lock-in. This analysis investigates the link between the Department of Energy's historical funding allocations for energy research programs in the fossil, nuclear, and renewable energy sector, and the federal government's tendency to support entrenched, carbon-based energy systems. While the Department of Energy's renewable energy programs have received more funding in recent years, this investment alone is not enough currently to thwart carbon lock-in. Thus, this article recommends suggestions for researchers to advocate for more renewable energy research and development resources through personal, professional, and institutional strategies to spur decarbonization.

Assessing energy transition costs: Sub-national challenges in Canada

Transitioning from non-renewable sources of energy to renewable ones is an important theme in any national government's energy policy nowadays. However, the investments required for such a transition are often said to be quite costly. In Canada, previous research has shown that a transition is economically feasible at the national level, but is an energy transition equally as feasible for each of Canada's provinces? This paper uses energy use simulation data and a costing model to assess the infrastructure expenditures for a carbon-neutral transition for each of the country's ten provinces from now until 2060. By calculating the costs for five different scenarios and taking into account the savings incurred by lower fossil fuel consumption post-transition, we find that most of Canada's provinces stands to gain from a pan-Canadian energy transition by each capturing fossil fuel savings. We also find that generally, provinces that produce electricity using fossil fuels are set to benefit from more savings following a transition than provinces that currently produce electricity using renewable sources.

Mix-method modelling of actors' capacity for environmental sustainability and climate compatible development in energy sector.

The development of the energy sector has played a major role in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and pollution. The situation thus necessitates rigorous actions for climate compatible development (CCD). The energy sector is context-dependent, due to which response strategies for CCD are quite challenging particularly in the context of energy crises and the actors' capacity issue in developing countries. This study was aimed at exploring the role of government actors involved in governing the energy sector, with the objective to assess their capacity using a set of principles, criteria, and indicators (PCIs). The study attempted to answer the question: is the capacity of the line departments involved in energy governance adequate to achieve the targets set under SDG-7 and SDG-13? For this purpose, the study employed a combination of "Rules-based" and "Rights-based" governance approaches at all tiers of governance, i.e., federal, provincial, and district levels. Actors' capacity was assessed by developing a governance index based on the scoring of PCIs. Three hundred forty key informant interviews (KIIs) and 17 focus group discussions (FGD) were conducted at federal, provincial, and district levels where respondents were asked to score each of the indicators. Responses were then statistically analyzed and validated. The findings revealed that departments at the federal level are playing an effective role and are adequately equipped to align SDG-7 and SDG-13 with energy sector development. However, departments at the provincial and district levels are still lagging behind to achieve the desired objectives, which demonstrate the need to enhance the capacities of provincial and district line departments.

Domestic Dynamics and China’s Engagement in Global Renewable Energy Governance

Abstract China’s transformation into the world’s largest energy consumer constitutes one of the most profound changes to the global energy system in recent years. In providing the low-carbon technology sector with financial assistance and technical solutions aimed at developing clean energy across the world, China has proactively contributed to global energy governance. China’s emergence as a global leader in renewable energy development and emissions reduction, therefore, carries positive implications for its future role in global renewable energy governance. In seeking to understand the structure and trends of China’s domestic renewable energy governance, this study analyses what role China can and will play in the global sphere. Specifically, by examining how its domestic renewable energy context shapes its global approach in this regard, the study analyses two aspects of China’s engagement in global renewable energy governance: the institutional aspect and the market aspect. The study concludes by making recommendations as to how China may play a more positive and active role in global renewable energy governance.