What information should be provided in communications on biomass power generation?

In order to promote the production and use of electricity generated from renewable energy sources, support schemes such as the Renewables Portfolio Standard and various green power programs have been implemented. When evaluating the costs and benefits associated with those schemes, people need accurate information about the characteristics of renewable generation. The objective of the present paper is to identify the kind of information to be provided to lay people in Japan in order to enhance their understanding of biomass generation. We used the two-stage “mental model” method to conduct open-ended interviews and a questionnaire survey to reveal people’s beliefs about biomass generation. From the survey results, it was identified that the information to be provided should include the following: (a) definitions of biomass and biomass generation, (b) specific generation technologies, (c) the carbon neutral concept of biomass, (d) non-use of energy food crops in Japan, (e) sustainable availability of resources under certain conditions, and (f) high generation costs with their causes, such as collection costs of resources.     

What should we expect from innovation? A model-based assessment of the environmental and mitigation cost implications of climate-related R&D

This paper addresses two basic issues related to technological innovation and climate stabilization objectives: can innovation policies be effective in stabilizing climate? To what extent can innovation policies complement carbon pricing (taxes or permit trading) and improve the economic efficiency of a mitigation policy package? To answer these questions, we use an integrated assessment model with multiple externalities and an endogenous representation of the technical progress in the energy sector. We evaluate a range of innovation policies, both as stand-alone and in combination with other mitigation policies. Our analysis indicates that innovation policies alone are unlikely to stabilize global concentration and temperature. As for the benefits of combining climate and innovation policies, we find efficiency gains of 10% (6 USD Trillions in net present value terms) for a stringent climate policy, and 30% (3 USD Trillions) for a milder one. However, such gains are reduced when more plausible (sub-optimal) global innovation policy arrangements are considered.     

What can be learned from the free destination option in the LNG imbroglio?

We examine the profitability of flexible routing by LNG cargoes for a single supplier taking into account uncertainty in the medium-term dynamics of gas markets. First, we model the trajectory of natural gas prices in Asia, Northern America, and Europe using a Threshold Vector AutoRegression representation (TVAR) in which the system's dynamics switches back and forth between high and low regimes of oil price volatility. We then use the generalized impulse response functions (GIRF) obtained from the estimated threshold model to analyze the effects of volatility shocks on the regional gas markets dynamics. Lastly, the valuation of destination flexibility in LNG supplies is conducted using a real option approach. We generate a sample of possible future regional price trajectories using Monte Carlo simulations of our empirical model and determine for each trajectory the optimal shipping decisions and their profitability. Our results portend a substantial source of profit for the industry and reveal future movements of vessels. We discuss the conditional impact of destination flexibility on the globalization of natural gas markets.     

What drives public acceptance of second-generation biofuels? Evidence from Canada

North American publics are currently much more supportive of second-generation biofuels than of conventional biofuels like corn-based ethanol. But what is the likely future trajectory of consumer acceptance of advanced biofuels? This study considers whether increased awareness of the potential unintended consequences of increasing the production of advanced biofuels could lead to a decline in public support for the technology. Using an experiment embedded in an original survey of Canadian adults, we test for the effect of two anti-biofuels arguments on Canadians' support for policies meant to encourage the production of biofuels. We find that support for biofuels policies was reduced in our experiment when respondents were exposed to an argument about the potential impact of biofuels production on food prices and when they were told that the use of woody biomass as a feedstock for the production of cellulosic biofuels might lead to an increase in commercial logging. In both cases, however, support was reduced only among respondents who did not perceive climate change to pose a significant risk. Overall, our results suggest that public support for advanced biofuels is potentially vulnerable to arguments that focus on the unintended consequences of producing biofuels from non-food feedstocks.     

Solar XXI building: Proof of concept or a concept to be proved?

Solar XXI building is a low energy office building where passive and active solar strategies have been applied to reduce the use of energy for heating, cooling and lighting, combining also an extensive photovoltaic façade for electricity production. Solar XXI opened in 2006 and is considered a high efficient building, close to a net zero energy building (NZEB), where the difference between the energy consumed and that produced is 1/10^th of the energy consumed by a Portuguese standard new office building. Its design includes many energy efficiency concepts, such as a high insulated envelope, south sun exposure, windows external shading, photovoltaic panels heat recovery, ground-cooling system, daylighting, stack effect and cross ventilation. The solar gains of the windows and the effectiveness of shading devices were evaluated in order to correlate solar radiation, external and indoor air temperatures. It was also verified that amplitude-dampening of ground-cooled air ranged between 5 and 8 °C, following the trend of the analytical solution for heat diffusion of a cylindrical air/soil heat-exchanger.     

What might be the energy demand and energy mix to reconcile the world’s pursuit of welfare and happiness with the necessity to preserve the integrity of the biosphere?

In today’s global energy mix with a share of 80% fossil energy, the growth of the world population and energy demand will lead to a conflict between stable ecosystems and global welfare. The inspection of social indexes of welfare and happiness leads to the following energy plan: high-income countries with a current annual energy demand of up to 8 tonnes of oil equivalent per capita (toe pc) have to reduce their demand to 2 toe pc, which should be sufficient without cutback in welfare. Vice versa, low-income countries increase their demand until 2 toe pc are reached. Compared to today this scenario (2 toe pc, 9 billion people by 2050) leads to an increase of the ecological footprint from today 1.3 to 2 planet Earths in today’s technologies. The only solution to provide 2 toe pc without damaging the biosphere is a reduction of the CO₂ footprint with a current share of 50%. A complete shift from fossil fuels to renewables would half the ecological footprint as needed for the desired footprint of one planet Earth. To reach this goal, one or more forms of solar power and/or nuclear power are needed, as the potential of non-solar renewables is too small.     

Mini-grid based off-grid electrification to enhance electricity access in developing countries: What policies may be required?

With 1.2 billion people still lacking electricity access by 2013, electricity access remains a major global challenge. Although mini-grid based electrification has received attention in recent times, their full exploitation requires policy support covering a range of areas. Distilling the experience from a five year research project, OASYS South Asia, this paper presents the summary of research findings and shares the experience from four demonstration activities. It suggests that cost-effective universal electricity service remains a challenge and reaching the universal electrification target by 2030 will remain a challenge for the less developed countries. The financial, organisational and governance weaknesses hinder successful implementation of projects in many countries. The paper then provides 10 policy recommendations to promote mini-grids as a complementary route to grid extension to promote electricity access for successful outcomes.     

Oil-exporting countries of the Persian Gulf: What happened to all that money?

Our objective is to assess the economic performance of Middle Eastern oil-exporting countries over the past 25 years based on their general economic characteristics (economic dependence on a depletable resource) and attendant policy requirements (transforming to a non-depletable resource-based economy). As oil-exporting countries, we assess the macroeconomic and development policies that they should have implemented and have actually implemented over time. We find that their policies have rarely been consistent with the requirements of exhaustible resource-based economies. This has resulted in a widespread misallocation of resources and a divergence from their essential goal of economic transformation.     

Multilateral trade measures in a post-2012 climate change regime? What can be taken from the Montreal Protocol and the WTO?

The climate-trade nexus gains increasing attention as governments are taking great efforts to forge a post-2012 climate change regime to succeed the Kyoto Protocol. This raises the issues of the scope of trade-related measures and of when and how they could be used. This paper discusses how far trade-related measures should be incorporated in that context. Drawing on an analogy to the Montreal Protocol and comparing developing country's climate mitigation and adaptation needs with the funding available, the paper argues that such measures should initially be applied only among Annex I or II countries. To discipline the use of unilateral trade measures at the international level, the paper emphasizes a need to define comparable climate efforts. Moreover, the Lieberman–Warner bill in the US Senate-taken as a proxy for future US climate legislation—is assessed, and found to be neither effective nor likely to be WTO-consistent. The paper is concluded by arguing that, in order to encourage developing countries to do more to combat climate change, developed countries should focus on carrots. Sticks can be incorporated, but only if they are credible and realistic and serve as a useful supplement to push developing countries to take actions or adopt policies and measures earlier than would otherwise have been the case.     

What encourages local authorities to engage with energy performance contracting for retrofitting? Evidence from German municipalities

Municipalities aiming at mitigating climate change by implementing new energy efficiency technologies face budgetary and capacity constraints. Outsourcing through energy service contracting could provide a solution. This paper reports results from a survey of 1298 municipalities concerning barriers to retrofitting public street lighting and the possible role of energy service contracting to overcome these barriers. Using a logistic regression analysis, the authors investigate determinants of opting for energy service contracts in the specific context of LED retrofits. Results point to an advantage of outsourcing in a financially and capacity-constrained environment, which corresponds with the main reasons for engaging in contracting: minimising investments and financial risks. However, municipalities often do not fully grasp the risks associated with retrofitting especially using a novel technology such as LED. In relation to that they underestimate the risk reduction potential of energy performance contracts (EPC). Previous experience with outsourcing increases the probability to engage in servitization although certain existing partnerships, particularly with utilities, prevent municipalities from considering energy performance contracts. Interestingly, engaging an energy consultant has a negative propensity to use energy service contracts, while pre-negotiated standardised contracts for energy performance contracts have a positive influence.     

Adoption of solar home lighting systems in India: What might we learn from Karnataka?

Karnataka has been among the most successful markets for solar lighting systems (SLS) among Indian states. In order to understand the dynamics of systems adoption and operation, that have fostered market based adoption of solar lighting, we interviewed rural households from six districts that had purchased solar lighting systems using loans at market rates, the rural banks that provided loans and the solar firms that marketed the technology. We found that a large proportion of households in our sample were connected to the grid but chose to install solar lighting because they considered the power supply from the grid to be unreliable. Households in our sample reported savings on electricity costs and reduced kerosene usage for lighting. In addition to providing credit, banks also play a key role in ensuring good service and maintenance; the viability of the SLS market is thus critically dependent on the role that the banks play as intermediaries between consumers and solar firms in rural areas. Government programs should be carefully designed to match the incentives of firms, banks and consumers if the successes of the ‘Karnataka model’ are to be repeated and amplified.     

Catalytic hydrogenation of CO2 from 600 MW supercritical coal power plant to produce methanol: A techno-economic analysis

Electricity and water from renewable hydropower plant are used as input for electrolysis unit to generate hydrogen, while CO₂ is captured from 600 MW supercritical coal power plant using post-combustion chemical solvent based technology. The captured CO₂ and H₂ generated through electrolysis are used to synthesize methanol through catalytic thermo-chemical reaction. The methanol synthesis plant is designed, modeled and simulated using commercial software Aspen Plus^®. The reactor is analyzed for two widely adopted kinetic models known as Graaf model and Vanden-Bossche (VB) model to predict the methanol yield and CO₂ conversion. The results show that the methanol reactor based on Graaf kinetic model produced 0.66 tonne of methanol per tonne of CO₂ utilized which is higher than that of the VB kinetic model where 0.6 tonne of methanol is produced per tonne of CO₂ utilized. The economic analysis reveals that 1.2 billion USD annually is required at the present cost of both H₂ production and CO₂ abatement to utilize continuous emission of 3.2 million tonne of CO₂ annually from 600 MW supercritical coal power unit to synthesize methanol. However, sensitivity analysis indicates that methanol production becomes feasible by adopting anyone of the route such as by increasing methanol production rate, by reducing levelised cost of hydrogen production, by reducing CO₂ mitigation cost or by increasing the current market selling price of methanol and oxygen.     

Epoxy-activated acrylic particulate polymer-supported Co–Fe–Ru–B catalyst to produce H2 from hydrolysis of NH3BH3

Epoxy-activated acrylic particulate polymer, namely Eupergit CM, supported Co–Fe–Ru–B catalyst (EP/Co–Fe–Ru–B) for the first time was used to produce H₂ from hydrolysis of NH₃BH₃. The EP/Co–Fe–Ru–B showed very effective performance in the production of H₂ from the hydrolysis of NH₃BH₃. Various techniques such as XRD, SEM-EDS, ICP-OES, and TEM have been used to characterize these catalysts. The parameters on the hydrolysis reaction of NH₃BH₃ such as the effect of metal amount, the effect of Ru percentage, the effect of NH₃BH₃ concentration, the effect of NaOH concentration, the amount of catalyst, temperature, and catalyst durability were investigated in detail. Eupergit CM based polymer support and Ru particles have been found to be highly effective in H₂ production reactions. The hydrogen production rate (HGR) of the EP/Co–Fe–Ru–B catalyst was found to be 36,978 mL/min/g_cat, which was quite good compared to the values reported in the literature. In addition, the activation energy (Ea) of the polymer-supported Co–Fe–Ru–B catalyst was determined as 24.91 kJ/mol.     

What can we learn from North American transport energy demand restraint policies of the 1970s and 1980s and public reactions to them?

This paper offers a North American perspective on the possible reaction of the general public to regulatory instruments addressing energy consumption, and by implication, carbon emissions. Its purpose is to reflect on some of the lessons learnt from research on consumer behaviour undertaken by the author and colleagues in the wake of the oil shortages of 1973 (OPEC embargo) and 1979 (interruption of Iranian production). The paper does not, therefore, provide an extensive review of related literature. It first outlines very briefly the policy context of the past 30 years and the classes of transport energy demand restraint policies of the 1970s and 1980s. It then describes some key lessons from our research during those two decades and concludes with some speculation on their relevance to demand-side management that is motivated by concerns over greenhouse gas emissions.     

Which is the preferable biogas utilisation technology for anaerobic digestion of agricultural crops in Ireland: Biogas to CHP or biomethane as a transport fuel?

The utilisation of anaerobic digestion to produce biogas as an energy source is a mature technology in many European countries but is yet to be developed in Ireland. In 2009, the EU issued the Renewable Energy Source Directive 2009/28/EC which requires a 20% share of renewable energy sources (heat and electricity) in final energy consumption for all member states, respectively, including a 10% share of biofuels in the transport sector by 2020. The introduction of biogas to produce power and electricity in the form of CHP technology and biomethane as a transport fuel can help Ireland achieve the mandatory targets set by the directive. The key focus of the paper is to determine the optimum small to medium scale biogas technology and the impact the introduction of that technology infrastructure will have on renewable energy targets for Ireland. In terms of feedstock, agricultural sources such as energy crops and slurry offer a sustainable input to the anaerobic digestion process. The crop rotations under consideration consist of different arrangements of grass silage, maize silage and barley. Grass silage is found to be the most suitable crop for biogas energy production while biogas upgrading to biomethane as a transport fuel has the optimum technology potential in Ireland. To fuel a car operating on biomethane, 0.22 ha of grass land is required annually. Full scale national development of 5% of the area under grass in Ireland will contribute 11.4% of renewable energy to the total final transport energy demand by 2020, surpassing the target set by the Renewable Energy Source Directive 2009/28/EC.     

Technology interactions among low-carbon energy technologies: What can we learn from a large number of scenarios?

Advanced low-carbon energy technologies can substantially reduce the cost of stabilizing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. Understanding the interactions between these technologies and their impact on the costs of stabilization can help inform energy policy decisions. Many previous studies have addressed this challenge by exploring a small number of representative scenarios that represent particular combinations of future technology developments. This paper uses a combinatorial approach in which scenarios are created for all combinations of the technology development assumptions that underlie a smaller, representative set of scenarios. We estimate stabilization costs for 768 runs of the Global Change Assessment Model (GCAM), based on 384 different combinations of assumptions about the future performance of technologies and two stabilization goals. Graphical depiction of the distribution of stabilization costs provides first-order insights about the full data set and individual technologies. We apply a formal scenario discovery method to obtain more nuanced insights about the combinations of technology assumptions most strongly associated with high-cost outcomes. Many of the fundamental insights from traditional representative scenario analysis still hold under this comprehensive combinatorial analysis. For example, the importance of carbon capture and storage (CCS) and the substitution effect among supply technologies are consistently demonstrated. The results also provide more clarity regarding insights not easily demonstrated through representative scenario analysis. For example, they show more clearly how certain supply technologies can provide a hedge against high stabilization costs, and that aggregate end-use efficiency improvements deliver relatively consistent stabilization cost reductions. Furthermore, the results indicate that a lack of CCS options combined with lower technological advances in the buildings sector or the transportation sector is the most powerful predictor of high-cost scenarios.     

Ten years of corporate action on climate change: What do we have to show for it?

A significant proportion of the world's greenhouse gas emissions can be attributed, directly or indirectly, to corporate activities. An increasing number of companies have set targets and have adopted initiatives to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, raising the question of what sorts of outcomes can realistically be expected from corporate action on climate change? This paper aims to shed some light on this issue through an analysis of the climate change performance of the UK supermarket sector. This sector is directly responsible for around 1% of UK greenhouse gas emissions, but it has been estimated that indirectly it may be responsible for up to 10% of emissions. In the period between 2000 and 2010, the major UK supermarkets transformed their approach to climate change. This paper examines the outcomes that resulted from these actions. It finds that there have been significant and steady improvements in energy efficiency, but that these efficiency gains are often outstripped by the impacts of business growth. For most companies, short of a radical redesign of their business activities, or an expansion of the scope of their energy management initiatives to include their indirect emissions, total greenhouse gas emissions will tend to increase over time.     

On the intraday dynamics of oil price and exchange rate: What can we learn from China and India?

The main aim of this paper is to investigate the volatility determinants of crude oil and foreign exchange markets and jump spillover between them. We consider currencies of two major oil-importing countries (India and China) over the sample period of January 1, 2013 to October 31, 2019. We find evidence of positive return spillover from the oil to the foreign exchange market; however, there is a lack of return spillover in the other direction. Oil jumps appear to have a negative impact on exchange rate conditional volatility, and the latter responds asymmetrically to disentangled (positive and negative) oil price jumps. We also report disentangled exchange rate jumps' significant impact on conditional oil price volatility. These results, however, are asymmetric based on the nature of jumps and alternative oil price series. Finally, we do not find evidence of co-jump between the oil and foreign exchange markets. These results have important implications for investors and policymakers.     

What proportion of renewable energy supplies is needed to initially mitigate CO2 emissions in OECD member countries?

In spite of increasing numbers of countries having established renewable energy development mechanisms for carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions reduction, the CO₂ emissions problem continues to worsen along with the growth of the world economy. This leads us to examine the threshold effect of the proportion of renewable energy supply for CO₂ emissions reduction by means of the panel threshold regression model (PTR). Economic growth and the price of energy are also both taken into account in the model in measuring the specific influence that each of them has on CO₂ emissions. The empirical panel data encompass all 30 member countries of the OECD and cover a period of about a decade in length from 1996 to 2005. Our empirical results provide clear evidence of the existence of a single threshold effect that may be divided into lower and higher regimes. Based on the specific estimates of the slope coefficients in each regime distinguished, we find that a renewable energy supply accounting for at least 8.3889% of total energy supply would mean that CO₂ emissions would start to be mitigated. Furthermore, real GDP and the CPI of energy are significantly and positively and insignificantly and negatively correlated with CO₂ emissions, respectively. These findings lead us to conclude that the authorities ought to enhance the proportion of renewable energy supply to more than 8.3889% of all energy supplied, which might help resolve the dilemma between economic growth and CO₂ emissions. Realizing the effects of CO₂ emissions reduction via energy price reforms or the levying of a carbon tax levy may, however, still remain a puzzle.