Implementation Of Energy Policies Research Articles

Multi-criteria evaluation of the effectiveness of energy policy in Central and Eastern European countries in a long-term perspective

In the 21st century, environmental goals such as reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and increasing the share of renewable energy sources in the energy mix became the main priority in energy policy making. At the same time, the goal of maintaining energy independence has been somewhat marginalized and has only regained importance in the context of the crisis caused by such events as the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. Both circumstances pose a significant problem for the countries of Central and Eastern Europe; therefore, this article presents an assessment of the effectiveness of energy policy (EoEP) implementation in 11 countries of the region. The evaluation process uses multi-criteria analysis using the following conditions: (1) environmental; (2) energy resource; (3) economic and (4) energy security. The research was conducted in a long-term perspective of 21 years. The results show a low level of implementation of environmental objectives in the analyzed countries and an average advancement of energy transformation in most of them. The balance sheets of the CEE countries surveyed are still dominated by non-renewable energy sources (share of 65–97%). This dominance is not conducive to maintaining energy security because many of the countries studied do not have their own sources of coal, gas or oil (resource sufficiency less than 1/3 in 8 of 11 countries studied). The observed trends testify to the low EoEP goals, both in the environmental and energy security areas. The results suggest that the most effective path of energy transformation is the diversification of energy mixes achieved through the abandonment of non-renewable resources and their simultaneous replacement by hydropower and nuclear energy.

Energy security in the external energy policy of the USA

Energy security is a key idea of countries’ energy policy at both domestic and international levels. The aim of the paper is to reveal and describe the role and significance of the concept of energy security within the external energy policy of the USA with particular attention to its regional aspects. In a theoretical section, a number of definitions of energy security were discussed and summarized, presenting a brief theoretical overview of energy security. Besides, the need for a spatially diversified approach towards energy policy planning and implementation was described briefly. Analyzing relevant secondary data sources (Department of Energy and Congressional Research Service publications, energy statistics, etc.), the main priorities of U.S. external energy policy were identified and discussed: international assistance and capacity building, environmentally friendly energy development and ensuring energy security (of both the USA and its international allies and partners). Thus, the general framework of U.S. external energy policy was suggested and generalized. As a regional case overview, the main issues of European energy security and U.S. engagement were discussed in brief: geographical diversification of energy supply, legislative and institutional assistance, etc.

Research Hotspots and Trend Analysis in the Field of Regional Economics and Carbon Emissions since the 21st Century: A Bibliometric Analysis

In recent years, the issue of regional economics and carbon emissions has become a research hotspot in the cross field of economy, environment and ecology. This paper selects the regional economics and carbon emissions related literature collected in the Web of Science (WOS) database as the basis, and uses the bibliometric software Citespace and VOSviewer to visually analyze the time distribution, organization, author and keywords in this research field. This paper provides a more systematic analysis of how different regions of China could achieve carbon emission objectives, from the aspects of regional industrial transformation, energy consumption structure, policy implementation and regional coordinated development. The keywords with high frequency are carbon emissions, economic growth and energy consumption, etc. The research hotspots can be divided into structural decomposition analysis, low-carbon industry transformation path, policy framework and energy efficiency, etc. The results show that future research should strengthen multidisciplinary cross-integration in different universities and institutions. However, based on in-depth analysis, the key factors which affect regional carbon emissions are regional policy implementation, changes in industrial structures, optimization of energy consumption structure and carbon trade market mechanism. Finally, we suggest that institutions and scholars should conduct adequate interdisciplinary and cross-industry cooperation; industrial sector development should consider local endowment; there should greater use of clean energy to optimize the energy consumption structure; and an increase in R&D carbon capture and sequestration technology.

Re-examination of pollution haven hypothesis for Turkey with Fourier approach.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the possible impact of foreign direct investment inflows (FDI) on environmental pollution and to test the validity of the pollution haven hypothesis (PHH) in the case of Turkey over the period 1970-2020. For this purpose, we apply the Fourier approximation to determine stochastic properties of the variables that are FDI, economic growth, energy consumption, and CO2 emissions used in empirical analysis and the relationship between them. The advantage of the Fourier approximation is capable of capturing possible structural breaks in unknown forms and numbers in the series. According to Fourier KPSS and Fourier FADF tests, all series are stationary at order one, I (1). Fourier Shin and Fourier ADL cointegration tests put forth evidence of the existence of a long-term relationship between CO2, GDP, EC, and FDI. FMOLS expanded with Fourier terms suggesting that FDI has relatively little but a positive impact on CO2 emissions, so we conclude that PHH is valid for Turkey. The other finding reveals that there exists an inverted U-shape relationship between economic growth and CO2 emissions. According to this result, the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis for Turkey is also supported. Another remark of this paper is that energy consumption significantly increases environmental degradation in Turkey. These findings also are supported by Fourier Toda and Yamamoto causality test. There is a causality relationship from GDP, EC, and FDI to CO2 emissions. These findings offer useful recommendations for policymakers: the FDI, which uses new and clean technology, should be encouraged and implemented energy policies should be energy intensity reducer and efficiency increaser for reducing environmental pollution in Turkey.

Pathways towards carbon neutrality: A participatory analysis of the Gothenburg’s energy plan

Among International Energy Agency members, Sweden is one of the upfront countries in implementing energy policies to achieve zero net emissions. Despite having the lowest share of fossil sources in its primary energy supply, becoming carbon neutral by 2045 is a challenging target. To meet the national goal, cities’ roadmaps and strategic plans have a leading role in facilitating the implementation of energy efficiency measures and renewable production systems. However, succeeding in city energy transitions requires envisioning and understanding of risk and vulnerability levels of the new socio-technical energy system. This study presents a review of the City of Gothenburg’s Energy Plan 2022-2030 and discusses potential challenges for its implementation. Based on a document study, stakeholder workshop, and interviews the research identifies four key aspects: i) the coordination between energy and urban planning, ii) the future stability of district heating and cooling, iii) the balance in electrification of the buildings and transport, iv) communication and tools in decision-making processes. Finally, the study suggests new measures that should be allocated in the plan to guarantee the development of instruments and analysis for addressing the identified challenges.

Collaborative efforts on energy transition in urban China: Institutional enabling and constraining conditions

Concern about carbon has led to China's energy transition and dedication to large-scale renewable energy projects. Handling energy transition problems and implementing energy policies require integrated and collaborative strategies involving an array of stakeholders. Pursuing a successful collaboration among stakeholders is indeed complicated, particularly within China's strong top-down, regulatory policy framework. This article seeks to understand how current institutional rules and routines affect local energy practices, and identifies key institutional barriers and opportunities for collaborative governance in local energy practices. This article opts for an expansion of the IAD framework. In doing so, it targets the informal patterns of interaction to conduct our institutional analysis through a case study of a decentralised photovoltaic (PV) power generation project in Guangzhou, southern China. A total of 16 semi-structured interviews together with an in-depth analysis of policy documents were conducted. This article identifies several key problems in Guangzhou related to the structure of Chinese energy governance that are also likely to occur in other Chinese cities. Notably this study discovered important power imbalances between stakeholders, and found that the grid operators hold the monopoly position in the development of the decentralised PV projects. The issue of power imbalances has triggered a chain of problems within the decentralised PV project, including financial difficulties, information opacity, and ineffective supervision. As such, these problems are major barriers to situation-specific policies that build on integrated strategies and collaborative approaches.

How “Informing Consumers” Impacts Willingness to Pay for Renewable Energy Electricity in China

This paper finds that informed residents are more willing to support renewable energy development. Respondents with a higher level of participation in renewable energy planning, satisfaction with the implementation of renewable energy policies, as well as recognition of the high cost of renewable energy are more willing to use renewable energy. They are willing to pay more for renewable energy power, which means that respondents with more green information (renewable energy) are willing to pay more for renewable energy electricity. Although respondents are more willing to use voluntary payment mechanisms, they are more likely to pay more for renewable energy power under the mandatory payment mechanism. There is a large gap between the actual green power purchase behavior of Chinese residents and the expected WTP, mainly because there are many problems in the voluntary subscription mechanism for green power certificates. Finally, this paper provides targeted policy recommendations for policymakers.

Decentralizing the Centralized Energy System Using CCAM Model: Key to Greener Energy Mix and Sustainability in Nigeria

Nigeria energy system is strongly centralised and unsustainable, associated with waste of huge amount of primary energy input, full of insecurity and climatic change threat and crises. To averts these energy crises, the entire energy requires an urgent energy revolution and this could be achieved by decentralising the country strongly centralised energy using an appropriate model whose energy mix is more of renewable energy. This paper presents how the Community Choice Aggregation Model (CCAM) can decentralise the entire energy system of Nigeria and ensure sustainability. The sustainability criteria of Gibson and Jaccard were used to evaluate the sustainability capacity of CCAM in line with existing Nigeria energy policies. The criteria include potential risks to the environment and humanity, the scale, adaptive capacity and resilience of an energy system, avoided path dependency, intra and intergenerational equity, participatory and inclusive governance, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness. The results from the evaluations have proven CCAM with partnership/joint ownership structure a veritable energy decentralization tool for ensuring greener energy mix and sustainability in Nigeria and the globe. The essentials of this paper can be employed for future energy planning and policy implementation

Overcoming Regulatory Failure in the Design and Implementation of Gas Flaring Policies: The Potential and Promise of an Energy Justice Approach

Gas flaring is a major source of air pollution and a chief contributor to climate change. Addressing the adverse social, environmental, and economic impacts of gas flaring has therefore been identified as a fundamental objective of energy policy in oil- and gas-producing countries across the world. Despite this recognition however, gas flaring remains a significant threat to energy justice worldwide, especially in resource-rich Middle Eastern and African (MEA) countries. In Nigeria, for example, as far back as 1979, the primary legislation fixed 1 January 1984 as the deadline for all energy operators to stop gas flaring. More than three decades later, Nigeria remains one of the highest gas flaring countries on earth, with significant adverse social, environmental, and human rights impacts on local communities. While a number of existing studies have documented the perennial failure of gas flaring regulation and policies in Nigeria and other MEA countries, a detailed examination of the energy justice gaps that limit the design and implementation of gas flaring reduction policies has remained absent. This article fills a gap in this regard. Drawing lessons from Nigeria, this article analyzes the energy justice dimensions of regulatory failure in the design and implementation of gas flaring policies. Various legal and institutional drivers of regulatory failures in gas flaring reduction policies are examined in order to identify the ways in which an energy justice governance framework can help close these gaps. The study suggests that conceptualizing and elaborating the energy justice dimensions of gas flaring in energy policy design, enacting stringent and coherent gas flaring legislation, promoting the transparent reporting and disclosure of statistical data on gas flaring reduction programs, and reforming regulatory institutions to ensure coherent implementation of gas flaring policies are significant steps towards overcoming regulatory failure in the design and implementation of energy policies on gas flaring reduction.

Prospects of biogas and evaluation of unseen livestock based resource potential as distributed generation in India

The power sector of developing countries is the backbone of the economy, and robust implementation of energy policies can play a significant role in its expansion. India is blessed to have ample natural resources; the only necessity is to identify these unseen resources comprehensively. India is an agricultural country with plenty of livestock generated biomass, which is renewable and easily accessible in rural India. The paper estimated the potential of electrical energy through biogas production from livestock generated dung in all states of India. Estimation of biogas from the gross livestock dung generation from all states and largely populated livestock species of the country is annually 2633 million tons which correspondingly projects the annual biogas potential of 265,542 million m3. This magnificent potential unbolts the proposals and implementation of biogas plants as a distributed generation to strengthen India’s power sector.

Evaluating energy poverty and its effects using multi-dimensional based DEA-like mathematical composite indicator approach: Findings from Asia

The objective of the study is to develop a multidimensional energy poverty index (EPI). The current study examines the impacts of multidimensional energy poverty indicators using mathematical composite index and, econometric models for five Asian countries. Multidimensional energy poverty indicator is used to evaluate the overall consequences of these region's energy poverty. It is estimated that EPI of Nepal region is 0.02, Sri Lanka composite score (CS) is 0.03, and Bangladesh's CS is 0.011, which are the maximum affected nations. In contrast, India's CS is above 0.88 and Pakistan's CS is above 0.49 and are expected to be the minimum energy poor. Of the total energy production, 79% is based on traditional fuels, followed by 12% based on petroleum products. Results further highlight the availability of electricity, the time it earns to obtain electricity, access to clean energy, and cooking technology have substantial positive relationship with region's EPI. Private investment in energy sector is a consistent negative component in EPI. In other economies, poverty headcount ratio coefficients are notably positive. Implemented energy policies and their impact on access to energy in South Asian region, highlight possible challenges but also benefits of the association between energy poverty and access to energy.

Re-examining the effect of China’s new-energy demonstration cities construction policy on environmental pollution: a perspective of pollutant emission intensity control

The construction of new-energy demonstration cities (NEDC) is a typical energy policy recently implemented in China, which aims to accelerate energy transition. Using panel data for 269 Chinese cities during 2010-2017, this study examines the effect of the NEDC construction policy on environmental pollution under the difference-in-differences (DID) framework from the perspective of pollutant emission intensity control. The results show that China’s NEDC construction policy exerts a significant negative impact on environmental pollution, especially in the central and western cities, as well as the cities with a low level of economic development. However, the pollution reduction effect is unsustainable due to the lack of long-term policy planning. The mechanism analysis suggests that the NEDC construction policy mainly reduces environmental pollution through the scale effect, that is, reducing the scale and intensity of electricity consumption. The findings of this study provide beneficial inspiration for scientific implementation of energy policies in the future.

Energy Innovation of Polish Local Governments

The main aim of the research is to evaluate the innovativeness of Polish municipalities in the field of energy. The study was carried out as a part of the First National Competition for the Most Innovative Local Government in Poland, taking into account the original method of assessing the innovativeness of local governments. From all over Poland, 30 communes participated in the research: 14 urban communes, 8 rural communes, and 8 urban–rural communes. The study analyzes the activities of municipalities in the field of energy-related construction and transport innovations and inventories innovative social campaigns in the area of climate and energy policy implementation. The second part of the article presents a case study of innovations recognized as exemplary. As a result of the conducted research, it was found that 50% of the surveyed local governments are innovative and the remaining are moderately innovative. No commune has been assigned to the non-innovative category. In terms of the type and size of the local government, it has been observed that smaller municipalities, mainly rural local governments, allocate much higher financial resources per capita to the implementation of modern solutions in the field of climate and energy policy implementation. In some cases, commune heads spend several times higher funds per capita than mayors and city presidents. The use of the developed innovation research method in practice may motivate local government authorities to increase innovative activities for energy transformation.

Hydropower development, policy and partnership in the 21st century: A China-Nigeria outlook

Regardless of the challenges facing renewable energy development in today’s world, hydropower is still the most broadly patronized source of renewable energy, with a global installed capacity of 1330 GW in 2020. Hydropower contributes the largest share of the total installed renewable energy globally, accounting for more than 54% of renewable energy generation capacity worldwide. In this 21st century, the quest for a global shift to a carbon-emission-free future has been epitomized by China through its way of overcoming some crucial challenges to becoming the number one hydropower producer in the world. China is currently the top exporter of its hydropower technology and expertise to a reasonably significant number of countries across the globe. Due to failed energy policy implementation, Nigeria, on the other hand, has been languishing in air pollution from fossil fuel energy generation due to poor and erratic electrical energy supply from the grid, despite its enormous hydropower potential. However, a resurgence of Nigeria’s National renewable energy and Energy Efficiency Policy in 2015 resulted in a consortium signed between China and Nigeria, placing China at the helm of reviving Nigeria’s hydropower industry, yielding some positive outcomes so far. A partnership between technologically advanced and undeveloped countries, particularly Africa, is required to overcome significant avoidable hydropower constraints towards attaining their full hydropower output potential. In this way, the imperative to guaranteeing a globally cleaner and more sustainable energy future is more reassuring.

From tweets to insights: A social media analysis of the emotion discourse of sustainable energy in the United States

Social acceptance is essential to effective sustainable energy policy implementation. Social media offer new platforms to support policy work and, by allowing emotional expressions, help to create an emotion discourse. Emotions and the discourse around them impact social acceptance by influencing organizational legitimacy, supporting and disrupting institutions, and energizing policy actors. This research investigates how social media analytics (SMA) can be used to decode the emotion discourse on sustainable energy to fulfill diverse informational goals of policy actors. Applying SMA to 6528 Twitter messages for 27 U.S. electricity utilities over five months, we demonstrate how to measure and compare the emotion discourse of utilities over time. Using a variety of SMA techniques, we find the emotion discourse around sustainable energy varies across utilities in terms of both magnitude and polarity and we uncover four clusters of utilities having similar patterns of emotion discourse. We further identify three anomalous emotional events. SMA also reveal that joy and sadness are, respectively, the most common positive and negative emotions expressed. Finally, we use SMA to reveal how different actors contribute to the emotion discourse: utility followers are predominately responsible for negative affect in the emotion discourse. This work serves as a proof-of-concept showing how SMA can complement other techniques for gauging social acceptance, informing policy, managing sustainable energy programs, and developing effective communication strategies.

Mapping and understanding the drivers of fuel poverty in emerging economies: The case of Egypt and Jordan

This study develops an empirical model to investigate the extent of fuel poverty in two emerging economies, Egypt and Jordan. We also identify explanatory factors for fuel poverty. We use an innovative empirical framework based on a multivariate statistical approach with logistic regression and classification and regression tree models. Using this framework, we evaluate the rates of fuel poverty, the factors contributing to fuel poverty and salient fuel poverty profiles. This analysis is helpful in identifying and targeting the families that most need energy and financial assistance. The results show that the proportion of fuel-poor households is greater in Jordan (15.8%) than in Egypt (8.4%). They also highlight four different energy poverty profiles for each country. The findings show that good economic conditions, reduced inequality and access to education are critical for attenuating fuel poverty in Egypt and Jordan. The analytical framework innovatively captures fuel poverty as a new dimension in the vector of inequality trends in the Middle East and North Africa. The findings offer insights into fuel poverty in developing countries and have important policy implications. Specifically, they provide strategic information for implementing energy policies and programs to reduce inequality in the future.

REGULATION OF THE WORLD ENERGY MARKET: PRINCIPLES OF FORMATION AND REGULATION

In general, the crisis in the energy sector that is taking place today is directly related to the investigation of energy pressure on Ukraine by Russia, which for decades has been using means for the implementation of energy policy as tools for various kinds of political pressure. In this regard, at the thematic summit held at the beginning and end of 2021, the EU confirmed a high degree of readiness for a phased abandonment of energy resources from the Russian Federation. As a result, as a result of forecasting, it is assumed that already in 2023, alternative energy sources will allow a significantly reduce the dependence of the EU energy sector on Russian natural gas. A substantial restructuring of the energy market today especially jeopardizes the regulatory processes implemented in the practical part until today. It is not a secret that modern changes in various technological processes based on global network-related energy connections actualize the problem of expanding the energy market. Therefore, all these mentioned aspects significantly influence the process of understanding a new practical and theoretical approach to the essential indicator of the "world energy market,", especially from the point of view of its reflection of increasing homogeneity and homogeneity. First, the density of energy flows, transit, and logistic connections forms a position for understanding the unity of the world energy market, its boundlessness, and spaciousness. At the same time, given the independence of each state that is part of the specified market, there is a need for a mental understanding of the principles, norms, standards, and instruments of its regulation. This and other related questions were the basis for a scientific solution to today's significant problem. It is also worth noting that the mechanism of law of the world energy market is nevertheless influenced by the activities of the organizations, as mentioned earlier. Still, the energy pressure from Russia constantly poses new challenges, which in their content involve changes in the activities of the institutions, as mentioned earlier, and the states within which they operate, regarding the formation of a new policy for the regulation of the global energy market under these circumstances. Under these conditions, the EU seeks to ratify a political agreement on the voluntary reduction of consumer demand for natural gas by EU countries in the winter of 2023 to save and increase energy efficiency. The main principles of regulation of the global energy market should be continuity of supplies and purchases of energy products of traditional and non-traditional origin; avoidance and prevention of threats to extraction, storage, and transfer of energy carriers; achieving a balance between the interested parties of this market and ensuring its competitiveness; ensuring rational, ecologically clean and safe energy consumption. Keywords: energy market, global energy, energy market formation, energy market regulation, alternative energy sources.

Achieving a Carbon Neutral Future through Advanced Functional Materials and Technologies

Abstract Current greenhouse gas emissions suggest that keeping global temperature increase below 1.5 degrees, as espoused in the Paris Agreements will be challenging, and to do so, the achievement of carbon neutrality is of utmost importance. It is also clear that no single solution can meet the carbon neutral challenge, so it is essential for scientific research to cover a broad range of technologies and initiatives which will enable the realization of a carbon free energy system. This study details the broad, yet targeted research themes being pioneered within the International Institute for Carbon-Neutral Energy Research (I2CNER). These approaches include hydrogen materials, bio-mimetic catalysts, electrochemistry, thermal energy and absorption, carbon capture, storage and management and refrigerants. Here we outline the state of the art for this suite of technologies and detail how their deployment, alongside prudent energy policy implementation can engender a carbon neutral Japan by 2050. Recognizing that just as no single technological solution will engender carbon neutrality, no single nation can expect to achieve this goal alone. This study represents a recognition of conducive international policy agendas and is representative of interdisciplinary, international collaboration.

Integrative Smart Grids’ Assessment System

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected the energy sector. The new behavior of industrial and non-commercial consumers changes the energy consumption model. In addition, the constraints associated with the coronavirus crisis have led to environmental effects from declining economic activity. The research is based on evidence from around the world showing significant reductions in emissions and improved air quality. This situation requires rethinking the energy development strategy, particularly the construction of smart grids as a leading direction of energy development. Evaluating the efficiency of smart grids is a vital tool for disseminating successful experience in improving their management. This paper proposes an approach to a comprehensive assessment of smart grids based on a comparative analysis of existing methods, taking into account the changes that need to be considered after the experience gained from the COVID-19 pandemic. The approach provides an accurate set of efficiency indicators for assessing smart grids to account for the direct and indirect effects of smart grids’ implementation. This evaluation approach can be helpful to policymakers in developing energy efficiency programs and implementing energy policy.

A Multi-Criteria Approach to Sustainable Energy Management Evaluation Focusing on Renewable Energy Sources

Reliable assessment of countries’ energy policy implementation across multiple dimensions and sectors requires appropriate tools and methods. Monitoring the situation of countries in terms of renewable energy sources (RES) makes it possible to rank them and assess their progress. Multi-criteria decision analysis methods (MCDA) are valuable in this field because they allow considering multiple conficting criteria and prioritizing according to the preferences given by decision-makers. This work presents the application of two MCDA methods to assess the sustainable use of RES in different sectors in 30 European countries. The applied methods, which are COmbinative Distance-based ASsessment (CODAS) and Weighted Aggregated Sum Product Assessment (WASPAS), include in their algorithms additional adjustable parameters which enable performing sensitivity analysis of the evaluated alternatives. In this way, it is possible to determine the stability of the considered solutions in the rankings. The study identified the best-ranked countries regarding sustainable RES usage, including the Nordic countries such as Sweden, Norway, Iceland, and Finland. In addition to the Nordic countries, Austria is also among the best-scored countries.