北美的门窗热工性能认证

本文综述了NFRC和"能源之星"对门窗热工性能认证要求、热效标识和北美对采用节能门窗的激励措施.     

奖励区划技术的演变与应用

作为应用于商业街区改造的一项重要区划改良技术,奖励区划技术在美国城乡规划调控体系中应用已经超过60年,时至今日已发展为一项较为成熟的规划弹性引导技术.本文试图从奖励区划技术的演化过程入手,从技术的产生、发展、运作、改良几个方面分析奖励区划技术在不同发展阶段的历史背景及技术演化要点.并在此基础上提出在中国实施的若干启示,即需强调奖惩并施、保障管理机制以及借助于公众力量,以此达到高效借鉴与运用奖励区划技术的目的.     

The British utility regulation model: Its recent history and future prospects

This paper considers the evolution of the British model of independent utility regulation from the publication of the 1983 Littlechild Report on telecom regulation. Over the last ten years, the model has faced some threats to its pro-competition emphasis, notably in energy regulation and particularly in electricity. These threats have arisen since 2008 and the onset of the Great Recession. However, with the partial exception of energy, challenges to the independence of regulators and to the role of competition have not been acute. The model seems to have generally been able successfully to meet the challenges faced and, relative to other countries, remains intact, if less distinctive. The main continuing issue is how best to handle repeat price-setting regulatory reviews where new initiatives have been tried but have not as yet reached a settled framework within which to handle the underlying strategic gaming problems.     

Policy recommendations to promote shale gas development in China based on a technical and economic evaluation

Because of its resource potential and clean burning advantages, the development of shale gas can significantly increase the supply of cleaner energy while offering the associated benefits. To foster shale gas development, many policy incentives have been introduced in China. However, the current incentives have not been sufficiently aggressive, and the shale gas industry has been slow to develop. Existing policies thus need to be further improved. To provide effective support for decision makers in China, a technical and economic evaluation is performed in this study to explore the profitability of shale gas production in pilot zones. The results show that shale gas production is subeconomic under the current technical and economic conditions. Based on this evaluation, a policy analysis is conducted to investigate the profitability improvement offered by the major policies available in China to elucidate a path toward improving incentive policies. The results indicate that policy instruments related to gas prices, financial subsidies, corporate income taxes or combinations thereof could be used as priority options to improve policy incentives. Based on these results, recommendations are presented to improve the current incentive polices aimed at accelerating shale gas development.     

30 years of British utility regulation: Developing country experience and outlook

This article examines the impact the UK regulatory model has had in developing and transition countries in the three decades since its inception. It presents data linked to three key features of the model, namely independent regulatory institutions; focus on competition; and greater efficiency in service delivery through incentive-based regulation. The difficulty of formulating statements valid for a very diverse set of countries is acknowledged. Nevertheless, the article argues that despite of the rapid spread of regulatory agencies across the world, the UK regulatory model has been only partially successful in middle- and low-income countries. The main explanation offered is that the ‘de-politization’ of regulatory institutions is more challenging to achieve in a context of below cost-recovery tariffs and continued state-ownership of utilities. But improving the technical soundness of decision making and introducing accountability for operators are key tasks that regulators can address even if the gap to the UK ideal remains in a number of countries.     

Comparative study of commercial building energy-efficiency retrofit policies in four pilot cities in China

The energy efficiency of existing commercial buildings is more challenging to regulate and improve than the energy efficiency of new constructions. In 2011 and 2012, the Chinese Government selected four cities- Shanghai, Tianjin, Shenzhen, and Chongqing- to implement pilot commercial building energy efficiency retrofit program. Based on site surveys and expert interviews in these pilot cities, this research conducted a comparative analysis on incentive policies of local city level. The analysis results show that policy designs of existing commercial buildings should be further improved. The aspects that influence the implementation effect in the future, such as subsidy level, installments, and business model promotion, should be specified in the policy clauses. Referring to the technical solution and cost-benefit in Chongqing, we found that lighting system is the most common retrofit objects while envelope system is the least common one. And the subsidy incentive is greatest for educational buildings, followed by office buildings. In the end, we further discussed the problems and obstacles in commercial building retrofit market, and provided a series of recommendations.     

Do effects of theoretical training and rewards for energy-efficient behavior persist over time and interact? A natural field experiment on eco-driving in a company fleet

Increasing energy efficiency is a cornerstone of policy initiatives to tackle climate change and increase corporate sustainability. Convincing people to drive more fuel-efficiently (“eco-driving”) is often an integral part of these approaches, especially in the transport sector. But there is a lack of studies on the long-term persistence and potential interaction of the effects of incentives and training on energy conservation behavior in general and eco-driving behavior in particular. We address this gap with a twelve months long natural field experiment in a logistics company to analyze the time-dependent and potentially interacting effects of rewards and theoretical training for eco-driving on fuel consumption in a real-world setting. We find an immediate reduction of fuel consumption following the introduction of a non-monetary reward and an attenuation of this effect over time. Theoretical eco-driving training shows no effect, neither short-term nor long-term, highlighting the often neglected necessity to include practical training elements. Contrary to common assumptions, the interaction of incentives and theoretical training does not show an additional reduction effect. Our results demonstrate the difficulty of changing engrained behavior and habits, and underline the need for a careful selection and combination of interventions. Policy implications for public and private actors are discussed.     

An approach to calibrate incentives for continuity of supply in the Spanish electricity distribution system

This paper proposes an approach to calibrate incentives for continuity of supply in electricity distribution in Spain. This approach consists on the estimation of the impact of continuity of supply improvements on distribution network costs. For this purpose, distribution costs resulting from different continuity of supply requirements are computed by a reference network model (RNM). The results obtained from the RNM are used to estimate a cost-function that considers continuity of supply a cost driver for distribution costs. This methodology is applied to three Spanish areas of service (an urban one, a semi-urban one and a rural one) in such a way that differences in distribution costs caused by the characteristics of the area type can be taken into account. The analysis indicated that distribution costs are more sensitive to continuity of supply improvements in rural areas of service. It also demonstrated that the incentive for reducing number of service interruptions should be higher than the incentive for reducing duration of service interruptions. Finally, the current Spanish incentive scheme for continuity of supply was analyzed under the perspective of the proposed approach.     

A contract design perspective on balancing the goals of utility regulation

Designing utility regulation involves trade-offs between different goals of contract design. Prioritising one objective may come at the cost of assigning a lower priority to another objective. This study compares four regulatory frameworks in terms of how they each prioritise different goals of contract design. While revenue-cap regulation can be said to minimise transaction costs, it also assigns a lower priority to coordination of production. Conversely, the frameworks that explicitly incorporate stakeholder engagement or negotiation prioritise coordination of production while assigning a lower priority to minimisation of transaction costs.     

A comprehensive method to find RPO trajectory and incentive scheme for promotion of renewable energy in India with study of impact of RPO on tariff

Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) regime in India started in 2011 with the announcement of benchmark RPO (BRPO) of states for the Financial Year (FY) 2011 by respective State Electricity Regulatory Commissions (SERC), to promote Renewable Energy (RE). The report submitted to Forum of Regulators (FoR) in this regard has recommended uniform rate of increase of BRPO of states and studied the impact of RPO on tariff for FY 2011–2015. However, more rigorous analysis is needed for fixing BRPO in a scientific manner and for fair allocation of incentives to promote RE. This paper attempts to evaluate all states on a common platform to find BRPO, giving due weightage to the state-wise energy demand and RE generation, ensuring minimum change in BRPO of consecutive years and hence less impact of RPO on tariff. To encourage the states to align their actual RPO with BRPO, a financial incentive scheme is proposed giving due weightage to RE consumption, RE capacity addition and RPO compliance of the states. The methods are illustrated for the Indian states using real system data. A study of RPO's impact on electricity tariff of Indian states is also conducted and reported for FY 2011–2015, considering Renewable Energy Certificate (REC).