Implications For Energy Policy Research Articles

Temporal-spatial determinants of renewable energy penetration in electricity production: Evidence from EU countries

The challenge of global warming requires deep decarbonization of the electricity system, which can be achieved with a higher share of renewables in the electricity mix. However, the driving mechanism for renewable penetration in electricity production has not been clearly revealed so far. Using the data of the European Union (EU) during 2001–2017, this paper aims to investigate the spatial-temporal heterogeneity and dynamic evolution mechanism of renewable electricity penetration. To this end, from the investment-production-consumption perspective, renewable electricity generation is decomposed into seven factors through temporal and spatial factor decomposition methods. Then, this paper integrates the factor decomposition results into a coupling elasticity analysis to study the dynamic evolution mechanism of renewable penetration in electricity production. The results are as follows. (1) Investment structure contributes the most to increasing renewable electricity generation, while the energy intensity effect and renewable generation-to-capacity ratio effect are the main reasons for the reduction in renewable electricity generation. The effect of technological structure is minor. (2) The economic scale effect and the investment structure effect are dominating factors accounting for the regional difference of renewable power generation between the EU countries and the benchmark region. (3) The progress of renewable electricity penetration accelerates over time for the EU, western EU, and eastern EU. The Western EU has realized remarkable progress in facilitating renewable electricity penetration during 2009–2017. (4) On the whole, the investment effect makes the largest contribution to promoting renewable electricity penetration, while the production effect is the major inhibiting factor, showing that there is considerable potential in renewable generation efficiency improvement in the EU. This paper provides insightful implications for energy policies aimed at the shift towards a low-carbon electricity system in the EU, which also gives a reference for other economies.

Toward Renewable Energy in China: Revisiting Driving Factors of Chinese Wind Power Generation Development and Spatial Distribution

As the biggest renewable energy installation and generation country globally, it is important to deeply understand China’s wind power production determinants and draw implications for energy policy. This paper analyzes local electricity deployment, electricity consumption, investment in wind power, and price of wind power electricity on-grid apart from traditional GDP and CO2 factors in the panel data regression model, and some interesting results are found. The investment of installation and the price of wind power electricity on-grid have negative impacts on wind power generation, while local electricity consumption and inter-provincial power transmission capacity significantly impact wind power generation positively. GDP and CO2 emission per capita have negative and positive impacts on wind power production, respectively. As for different wind power zones, the most influencing factors are local electricity consumption. Hence, this paper concludes that local absorbing capacity is still an important limiting factor to Chinese renewable energy development. At last, some policies are suggested to enhance the local absorbing capacity of renewable energy.

The Evaluation of Energy Efficiency Policies in the Building Sector: A Regional Analysis Based on the Stochastic Frontier Approach and on the Energy Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) and Policy Implications

The promotion of the Energy Efficiency is one of the priorities of EU energy policy to fight the Climate Change and make Europe climate neutral by 2050 (EC 2020). The civil sector offers high potential for energy efficiency improvement and the buildings are responsible for about 40% of the EU's energy consumption, and 36% of greenhouse gas emissions (EC 2020). In Italy the civil sector (residential and tertiary together), are responsible for approximately 45% of final energy consumption and 17.5% of Italy's CO2 emissions, has a potential in reducing energy consumption of approximately 5,7 Mtoe compared to the base scenario in 2030. The core research question is: “Are national and local energy efficiency policies effective in reducing aggregate energy consumption at regional level in the civil sector?” From the policy maker’s point of view, it is important to understand the effectiveness of the policy instruments introduced to promote energy efficiency. The research framework is based on the frontier analysis and its main objective is to econometrically estimate for the period 2010 to 2017 the energy efficiency level for the civil sector in the Italy regions. The estimates confirm the effectiveness of policy instruments, represented by tax deductions and economic incentives, in creating high potential for energy savings from reduced inefficiency in the civil sector.

Why we need battery swapping technology

Energy and transport must lead the transition to a low-carbon economy, weaning their dependence on fossil fuels via massive renewable generation and electrification of transport. A major challenge is the power system imbalance between generation and demand due to the higher fraction of non-dispatchable renewable generation such as solar photovoltaic or wind. Electric mobility will lean heavily on the power system but may contribute to mitigate the imbalance problem. This work focuses precisely on the impact of different models for future road mobility in a decarbonized power system, ranking the merits of each solution. The models considered are plug-in, plug-in and catenaries, plug-in and hydrogen, and battery swapping. We show that battery swapping, the least studied model so far, is superior to the other three in all semi-quantitative criteria of merit. We conclude our analysis with implications for energy policy and examples of public policies that could boost the adoption of this model, which has huge implications both for the mobility industry and for power systems.

Evaluation of Drivers and Barriers of Wind Power Generation in Pakistan. SWOT-Delphi Method

In the last two decades, the electricity shortage has hampered the economic growth of Pakistan. To overcome these crises, thermal power plants were commissioned to bridge the supply and demand gap. Deployment of thermal power generation resulted in an unsustainable energy mix with the higher cost of generation. In the last decade, policymakers have shown considerable interest in deploying renewable energy generally and wind energy particularly. Therefore, this paper evaluates some important drivers and barriers to wind power generation. The Strength, weakness, opportunities, and threats (SWOT)-Delphi approach with Relative Importance Index (RII) analysis has been applied. The results show that the deployment of wind power can enhance energy security and environmental sustainability. Major barriers to wind energy are the presence of competitive energy resources, policy implications, and poor grid infrastructure. With this contrasting environment, the evaluation of drivers and barriers of wind power are insightful for formulating sustainable energy planning strategies for future generation mix.

Energy policy paradox on environmental performance: The moderating role of renewable energy patents

The environmental and socioeconomic considerations of energy production have become crucial because of the increasingly complex relationship between energy and the environment. This study aims to develop possible mechanisms for perspectives on energy policy and the environment by exploring the mediating role of renewable energy patents. Non-radial data envelopment analysis and panel data models are applied using the panel data from 2010 to 2017 from 30 Chinese provinces. The results show an overall improvement in the environmental performance index (EPI) of China's provinces, but the average EPI is still relatively weak, with an average value between 0.44 and 0.52, which is far below the optimal value 1.. Furthermore, the econometric model offers evidence that provincial renewable energy and emission reduction policies positively impact the enhancement of EPI. The findings have several implications for energy and environmental policies.

Homeowner low carbon retrofits: Implications for future UK policy

The promotion of low-carbon home retrofit among UK homeowners is widely recognised as an important strategy to reduce operational energy use in dwellings and mitigate climate change. The related predominant UK policy approach is to address various market failures and develop the market for low-carbon retrofit and innovation. The current low uptake rate of low-carbon home retrofit suggests that a complementary policy approach is necessary to increase it and support households in their change towards low-carbon living. This paper uses an innovation framework to analyse retrofit as an innovation-decision process of several stages. Low-carbon technology is conceptualised at three nested levels: product, design option and technological system. A multiple-case study approach is used to analyse eight home retrofit cases from the SuperHomes network, that achieved significant carbon emission reductions through retrofit activities. Case analysis shows that: (i) homeowners collect information for each technology level through different communication channels, which are not interchangeable; (ii) homeowners develop a certain capacity to transform their environmental concerns into substantial retrofit activities; (iii) the positive retrofit experience of homeowners is crucial to develop such capacity and to convince others to retrofit their homes. These findings have important implications for energy policy on retrofit uptake in UK to support household transition to low-carbon living.

Financing costs and barriers to entry in Australia’s electricity market

PurposeThis paper aims to provide investors’ views on financing costs and barriers to entry into the electricity generation sector, with a focus on investors’ views on potential impacts on cost of capital from adopting nodal pricing and financial transmission rights (FTRs). The implications for policymakers and policy reforms are also discussed in detail.Design/methodology/approachSurvey-based data collection of investors and developers in electricity generation, consisting of multiple choice questions from a closed list of discrete choices, binary-choice questions, and questions with free-text/open-ended answers.FindingsAcross survey respondents, weighted-average cost of capital (WACCs) were broadly unchanged over 2019, with increases for undiversified/non-integrated participants offset by decreases for horizontally integrated participants. Cost of equity has risen, whereas cost of debt has fallen. Nodal pricing-cum-FTRs were estimated to increase WACCs by 150–200 basis points p.a. (15–20%), reflecting concerns around the firmness of FTRs and ability to automatically access intraregional settlement residues.Research limitations/implicationsThese findings have energy policy implications, namely, the need to consider the interaction between economic theory and real-world financing models when designing and implementing fundamental energy sector reforms.Practical implicationsThe need to consider implementation and transitional issues (e.g. grandfathering of existing rights, focusing on reducing the largest barriers to entry) is associated with implementing nodal pricing.Originality/valueUnique set of survey questions and insights that have not previously been addressed in an Australian context; what-if analysis not previously done in an Australian context

Wind power projects in Brazil: challenges and opportunities increasing co-benefits and implications for climate and energy policies

The purpose of this article is to analyze the challenges to, and opportunities for, increasing sustainable development (SD) co-benefits delivered by clean development mechanism (CDM) wind power projects in northeastern Brazil and the resulting implications for climate and energy policies. Five methodological phases were met: First, a documentary research was conducted in the main CDM database; second was a literature review, creating the analytical framework and a survey questionnaire needed to assess the SD co-benefits from the projects; third, documentary research was used to enable ex-ante analysis of the SD co-benefits proposed in the CDM Project Design Documents (PDDs); fourth, survey allowed for the analysis of SD co-benefits perceived by project entrepreneurs (ex-post analysis); and finally, a comparison between the ex-ante and ex-post analyses was completed. The results show the importance of carrying out SD co-benefit studies after the implementation of CDM projects in order to learn lessons for new mechanisms of climate governance. The lowest SD co-benefits were water management improvement in the project influence area, soil pollution prevention, health and safety improvements and technology transfer. The greatest opportunities for increasing SD co-benefits come from the environmental licensing process and the strengthening of Corporate Social Responsibility. The greatest challenges are new technology development, stakeholders’ engagement and SD co-benefit audits. We conclude that the improvement of multi-level climate and energy governance plays a key role in increasing SD co-benefits.

ASEAN’s Energy Transition towards Cleaner Energy System: Energy Modelling Scenarios and Policy Implications

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) faces tremendous challenges regarding the future energy landscape and how the energy transition will embrace a new architecture—including sound policies and technologies to ensure energy access together with affordability, energy security, and energy sustainability. Given the high share of fossil fuels in ASEAN’s current energy mix (oil, coal, and natural gas comprise almost 80%), the clean use of fossil fuels through the deployment of clean technologies is indispensable for decarbonizing ASEAN’s emissions. The future energy landscape of ASEAN will rely on today’s actions, policies, and investments to change the fossil fuel-based energy system towards a cleaner energy system, but any decisions and energy policy measures to be rolled out during the energy transition need to be weighed against potentially higher energy costs, affordability issues, and energy security risks. This paper employs energy modelling scenarios to seek plausible policy options for ASEAN to achieve more emissions reductions as well as energy savings, and to assess the extent to which the composition of the energy mix will be changed under various energy policy scenarios. The results imply policy recommendations for accelerating the share of renewables, adopting clean technologies and the clean use of fossil fuels, and investing in climate-resilient energy quality infrastructure.

Tail Risk and Extreme Events: Connections between Oil and Clean Energy

Do tail events in the oil market trigger extreme responses by the clean-energy financial market (and vice versa)? This paper investigates the relationship between oil price and clean-energy stock with a novel methodology, namely extreme events study. The aim is to investigate an asymmetry effect between the response to good versus bad days. The results show how the two markets influence each other more negatively, i.e., extreme negative events significantly impact the other market. Furthermore, we document how the impact of the shock transmitted by oil prices to clean-energy stocks is less than the amount of shock transmitted oppositely. These findings have important implications for investor and renewable energy policies.

Sunny days: Spatial spillovers in photovoltaic system adoptions

Spatial spillovers – peer effects from neighboring actions on one's own decisions – play an important role in the diffusion of technologies, particularly the adoption of residential photovoltaic (PV) systems and have important implications for renewable energy policies meant to encourage small-scale solar energy generation. Existing research notes spillovers manifest at large spatial scales but evidence at smaller scales is currently absent. In this work, we examine if spatial spillovers in residential PV system adoptions exist at small scales – specifically within one's nearest set of neighbors – using spatially explicit data on residential PV installations from Baltimore, MD. We find strong evidence for the existence of spatial spillovers, with a neighboring installation increasing PV system adoption likelihood by 16.5–17.1 percent. The results indicate the presence of a potential multiplier effect that can be targeted by policymakers interested in encouraging solar energy development to meet renewable energy goals. • Spatial spillovers play an important role in residential PV adoption decisions. • Observing a neighboring PV installation increases future installation 16.5–17.1%. • Policymakers may use this multiplier to encourage small-scale solar generation.

Effectiveness of China’s Labeling and Incentive Programs for Household Energy Conservation and Policy Implications

With incomplete information about the potential benefits and costs of energy-using durables, households may be unwilling to invest in products that are more energy-efficient but also more expensive in purchase decisions. To deal with this problem, labeling policy has been developed to guide customers’ energy consumption decisions by providing understandable information to evaluate the energy efficiency of products. Over the last 20 years, China has implemented a series of mandatory and voluntary energy labeling and incentive policies to reduce energy use and improve the energy efficiency of durable goods in dwellings. This study has employed empirical survey data from the Chinese General Social Survey to study the implementation effectiveness of these policies and explore demographic factors behind consumer investments in energy-saving durables by using the logistic regression model. Statistical results show that energy efficiency labeling, incentive programs, education levels, and regional differences of customers appear to be strong predictors for investing in energy-efficient air conditioners and washing machines. House size is a decisive factor in driving consumers to choose energy-saving air conditioners. In light of the above results, the study suggests improved policy for motivating consumers to purchase energy-efficient appliances in dwellings.

What Drives Saudi Airstrikes in Yemen? An Empirical Analysis of the Dynamics of Coalition Airstrikes, Houthi Attacks, and the Oil Market

Since 2015, Saudi Arabia has led a foreign military intervention against the Houthi movement, which took over major parts of Yemen. The intervention, which manifests mainly in airstrikes, has attracted widespread controversy in media and politics as well as a large body of (qualitative) academic literature discussing its background and ways to escape it. Complementary to these efforts and connecting to the literature on oil and conflict, this study provides unique quantitative insights into what drives the extent of military interaction. We use a vector autoregressive (VAR) model to analyse the interactions between Saudi airstrikes in Yemen, gains of the Houthi movement on Yemeni ground, their attacks on Saudi Arabian soil, and crude oil prices. Our approach builds on high-resolution data from the Yemen Data Project and the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project. Our results show not only that the airstrike campaign has been factually impotent to repulse the Houthi movement but also that the movement’s expansion in Yemen has not driven Saudi airstrikes. These findings draw both suitability and justification of the intervention further into question. Moreover, although the data fail to show that oil price levels drive the developments, our model identifies oil price volatility as a determinant for the airstrikes. However, the intervention has, in turn, no significant effect on oil markets. Besides adding to the academic discourse on oil and conflict, our results have implications for energy and climate policy: a coordinated transition might not deteriorate regional security, while uncertainty and fluctuations can increase conflict potential.

Sustainability of nuclear energy in Korea: From the users’ perspective

The purpose of this study is to examine the impacts of nuclear energy risk perception, benefit perception, and political orientation on nuclear energy consumption behaviour from the nuclear energy users' perspectives. The existing studies on nuclear energy acceptance have mainly used local or public acceptance as outcome variables with a single dimension and haven't considered users' risk and benefit perceptions as multi-dimensional constructs. Therefore, this study examines the impacts of nuclear energy risk and benefit perceptions at social and personal levels on the attitude and usage intention towards nuclear energy. In addition, this study examines the relationships between political orientation, attitude, and usage intention towards nuclear energy. This study conducted hierarchical multiple regression analysis on 312 samples collected through random sampling from each region in Korea through the stratified sampling method. This study found that users with lower social and personal risk perceptions of nuclear energy and with higher social benefit perception of nuclear energy tend to have more positive attitude towards nuclear energy, and greater usage intention of nuclear energy. And this study also found that conservatives and authoritarians show more positive nuclear energy consumption behaviour than socilaists and libertarians. From these findings, the study discusses practical and theoretical implications for nuclear energy policies in Korea.

Causal interactions between trade openness, renewable electricity consumption, and economic growth in Asia-Pacific countries: Fresh evidence from a bootstrap ARDL approach

This paper applies a new bootstrap Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach to examine the nexus between trade openness, renewable electricity consumption, and economic growth for seven countries in the Asia-Pacific region during 1980–2017 period. In fact, there is no evidence of cointegration among real trade openness, electricity consumption, and real GDP per capita in countries, with the exception of Malaysia, where real GDP serves as dependent variable. However, cointegration does manifest in the cases of Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, and Thailand when trade openness is used as the dependent variable. A similar outcome is observed for Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand when renewable electricity consumption is used as the dependent variable. A short-run analysis reveals mixed results in term of the direction of the causality among different variables for various countries. Such results have implications for trade, energy, and environmental policies. One implication is that any environmental policy aiming to reduce the use of non-renewable energy and carbon dioxide emissions will inevitably lead to greater renewable energy consumption, which in turn may enhance trade openness and ultimately accelerate economic growth.

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Modelling the interaction between tourism, energy consumption, pollutant emissions and urbanization: renewed evidence from panel VAR

In less than two decades, the global tourism industry has overtaken the construction industry as one of the biggest polluters, accounting for up to 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions as reported by the United National World Trade Organization (UNWTO 2018). This position resonates the consensus of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Consequently, research into the causal link between emissions and the tourism industry has increased significantly focusing extensively on top earners from the industry. However, few studies have thoroughly assessed this relationship for small island economies that are highly dependent on tourism. Hence, this study assessed the causal relationship between CO2 emissions, real GDP per capita (RGDP) and the tourism industry. The analysis is conducted for seven tourism-dependent countries for the period 1995 to 2014 using panel VAR approach, with support from fully modified ordinary least square and pooled mean group–autoregressive distributed lag models. Unit root tests confirm that all variables are stationary at first difference. Our VAR Granger causality/block exogeneity Wald test results show a unidirectional causality flowing from tourism to CO2 emission, RGDP and energy consumption, but a bi-directional causality exists between tourism and urbanization. This implies that in countries that depend on tourism, the behaviour of CO2 emission, RGDP and energy consumption can be predicted by the volume of tourist arrivals, but not the other way around. The impulse response analysis also shows that the responses of tourism to shocks in CO2 appear negative within the 1st year, positive within the 2nd and 3rd years but revert to equilibrium in the fourth year. Finally, the reaction of tourism to shocks in energy consumption is similar to its reaction to shocks in RGDP. Tourism responds positively to shocks in urbanization throughout the periods. These outcomes were resonated by the Dumitrescu and Hurlin causality analysis where the growth-induced tourism hypothesis is validated as well as feedback causality observed between tourism and pollutant emission and urbanization and pollutant emission in the blocks over the sampled period. Consequently, this study draws pertinent energy and tourism policy implications for sustainable tourism on the panel over their growth trajectory without compromise for green environment.

Energy and environmental benefits and policy implications for private passenger vehicles in an emerging metropolis of Southeast Asia – A case study of Metro Manila

An increase in private vehicle fleet and usage exacerbates the overuse of petroleum products, air quality degradation, and public health risks, among other drawbacks. This study investigated the energy and environmental benefits for private passenger vehicles under various scenarios in Metro Manila, the Philippines. The findings are informative to design policy implications for energy and environmental benefits. The study applied the Gaussian copula-based multinomial logit (MNL)-linear regression to develop the household vehicle ownership and energy consumption model using the disaggregated data of 1,795 households collected in 2017. The simulated vehicle fleet and energy consumption were then adopted to extrapolate energy demand, emissions, and public health risks for a 2010–2050 horizon using the bottom-up approach. Under the baseline scenario, the energy demand and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions will reach 5.45 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe) and 16.93 million tonnes (Mt) in 2050, respectively. The amounts of hydrocarbon (HC), carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOX), particulate matter 10 (PM10) and particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) emissions, and economic loss of health risks will be 6,214 tonnes (t), 62,136 t, 536 t, 10,550 t, 1,348 t, 996 t, and 237 Million USD, respectively, under the baseline scenario in 2050. Improvement of accessibility significantly reduces energy demand and CO2 emissions. Introduction of Euro 6 cars and Euro 4 buses and Public Utility Jeepneys noticeably improves public health. The new tax schedules on gas and vehicle maximize the tax revenue. The integration of all the mentioned alternatives can achieve sustainable mobility and urbanization.

High-Temperature Geothermal Utilization in the Context of European Energy Policy—Implications and Limitations

The European Union (EU) has made climate change mitigation a high priority though a policy framework called “Clean Energy for all Europeans “. The concept of primary energy for energy resources plays a critical role in how different energy technologies appear in the context of this policy. This study shows how the calculation methodologies of primary energy content and primary energy factors pose a possible negative implication on the future development of geothermal energy when comparing against EU’s key energy policy targets for 2030. Following the current definitions of primary energy, geothermal utilization becomes the most inefficient resource in terms of primary energy use, thus contradicting key targets of increased energy efficiency in buildings and in the overall energy use of member states. We use a case study of Hellisheidi, an existing geothermal power plant in Iceland, to demonstrate how the standard primary energy factor for geothermal in EU energy policy is highly overestimated for efficient geothermal power plants. Moreover, we combine life cycle assessment and the commonly utilized combined heat and power production allocation methods to extract the non-renewable primary energy factor for geothermal and show how it is only a minimal fraction of the total primary energy factor for geothermal. The findings of the study apply to other geothermal plants within the coverage of the European Union’s energy policy, whether from high- or low-temperature geothermal resources. Geothermal has substantial potential to aid in achieving the key energy and climate targets. Still, with the current definition of the primary energy of geothermal resources, it may not reach the potential.

From thermal comfort to conflict: The contested control and usage of domestic smart heating in the United Kingdom

The possible benefits of the ongoing digitization and enhancement of energy services with smart technologies has been extensively documented in the literature, but is there also scope for smart systems to lead to household conflicts? In this study, using data from the Energy Systems Catapult's Living Laboratory, we explore a fundamental energy service (heat) utilized in buildings from a novel angle: social conflict. We define social conflict as oppositional goals, aims, and values held by different people. We draw from three sets of primary data—diary studies and blogging via mobile ethnography, telephone interviews, and household interviews—involving 100 homes across Birmingham (West Midlands), Bridgend (Wales), Manchester (Greater Manchester), and Newcastle (Northumberland) in the United Kingdom. We identify five different forms of “thermal conflict”: parents versus children, hosts versus guests, roommates vs. each other, landlords vs. tenants, and couples vs. each other. After documenting the presence of 20 specific examples of conflict, we then discuss how they differ by location (intrinsic vs. extrinsic), type (preference, attitude, and variety) and values (hedonic, egoistic, altruistic, biospheric). We conclude with implications for energy and buildings research and policy more broadly, noting that thermal conflicts in the home differ in their location or cause. Moreover, thermal conflicts differ in their severity, with some occurring as more minor annoyances over preferences, but others relating attitudes, where heating actions or preferences become a proxy for something else, and emit strong feelings about how household members view another person as lazy, careless or wasteful. A variety of values remain attached to heating conflicts, with hedonic (self-comfort, self-pleasure), egoistic (saving money, control) and altruistic (helping others, making others comfortable) values almost evenly reflected across our examples.