Energy Policy最新文献

A country grappling with conflict faces a multitude of socioeconomic challenges. In addition to human costs, conflicts are observed to destroy a country's energy infrastructure, such as power plants, transmission lines, and fuel supply chains, inter alia. As such, conflicts reduce access to energy products as well as clean and appropriate technologies in the afflicted economy. This aggravates the competition for resources and the energy deprivation problem among the country's survivors. Against this backdrop, this study examines the relationship between energy poverty and internal conflict, as well as the impact of internally displaced persons on energy poverty. Our study uses data from the World Bank and the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) database for 94 countries from 1996 to 2021, and employs panel logistic regression and various other estimators. We find that internal conflict and internally displaced persons contribute to increased energy poverty within and between economies, which is attributed to reduced energy consumption and limited access to electricity and clean cooking. Our results are robust to endogeneity, specification, omitted variable bias, and alternative measures of conflict.

The ongoing climate crisis presents a formidable global challenge, driving the urgent need for both technological advancements and a deeper understanding of the psychological factors that influence sustainable energy practices. Among the various technologies available, solar photovoltaic (PV) systems are pivotal in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, the adoption of residential rooftop solar systems, particularly from a psychological perspective, remains underexplored. Hence, this study aims to investigate the influence of personal values, beliefs, and norms on the intention to adopt residential rooftop solar systems. By integrating the Value-Belief-Norm (VBN) framework with Norm Activation Theory (NAT) and the norm internalization process, the research seeks to provide a more nuanced understanding of the environmental and sustainability context. This study employs a non-probability purposive sampling method, collecting 303 valid responses from individuals who do not currently use residential rooftop solar systems, live in landed houses, and are involved in primary household decision-making. Data were analyzed using SmartPLS software. The findings confirm all hypothesized relationships, except for the impact of egoistic values on both the new ecological paradigm and awareness of consequences, as well as the influence of descriptive norms on personal norms. This paper introduces a novel approach by adapting the VBN model to predict the intention to use residential rooftop solar systems through several key modifications: integrating ecological values and openness to change, establishing connections between different values and beliefs (such as altruistic, biospheric, egoistic, openness to change, and ecological values) and awareness of consequences, and incorporating the influence of response efficacy, injunctive social norms, and descriptive norms in positively shaping personal norms.

The global drive towards sustainability has ushered in a new era of transportation, prominently featuring the rise of Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs). The rapid rise of BEVs has been widely and rightfully hailed as a crucial milestone in promoting sustainable transportation and combating climate change. The existing empirical evidence provides undeniable support for the essential role of BEVs to support net zero targets. However, like most disruptive or emerging technologies, BEVs are not without their hidden effects. This paper seeks to explore and analyse these lesser-known effects, i.e., externalities, of BEV adoption. In doing so, it sheds light on the environmental, infrastructure, socio-economic and safety externalities of BEVs, aiming to promote a holistic understanding of their impact and to facilitate informed policy making. Furthermore, it highlights the critical role of public awareness and user education campaigns in maximising the benefits and mitigating the externalities of BEVs, along with the importance of maintaining a balance of information in developing such campaigns. It is argued that providing individuals and policymakers with accurate information, dispelling misconceptions, and promoting responsible BEV practices are essential for minimising the externalities. At a broader level, these discussions emphasise the importance of moving beyond mere tailpipe emissions towards a holistic, life-cycle-based approach in setting climate-change targets.

Reductions in residential energy demand (especially by high-consuming households) are critical for climate change mitigation. Interventions that inform people about their energy use and its consequences may encourage them to reduce energy consumption, but such informational interventions have not always been found to be effective. In addition, little is known about the factors that determine the effectiveness of informational interventions. Here, we examined the effect of an informational intervention campaign on household energy use (electricity and gas) in Mechelen, Belgium. Neighborhoods were randomized to different variants of the intervention that emphasized the monetary, environmental, or monetary and environmental consequences of saving energy. Across a three-year study period, we observed significantly larger reductions (two additional percentage points) in gas consumption in the intervention city than in four comparable control cities. This effect was largely driven by reductions in neighborhoods with high baseline levels of gas consumption. No substantial changes were found between neighborhoods that received monetary information, environmental information, or both. Our findings support the effectiveness of informational interventions for the reduction of energy use, point to the special role of high-consuming households, and can inform the design of future intervention campaigns.

Addressing energy vulnerability can unlock economic potential and create pathways for inclusive and sustainable development. Knowledge creation and use are essential components of efforts to promote sustainable energy access and support development goals. This paper scrutinizes the effect of knowledge on energy vulnerability in Africa. Using data from 27 countries from 2000 to 2019, findings from feasible generalized least squares, panel-corrected standard errors, and fixed-effects with Driscoll and Kraay (1998) standard errors demonstrate that the three components of knowledge creation and use (education quality, ICT penetration, and innovation) mitigate energy vulnerability in Africa. Moreover, findings from the quantile regression confirm that the effect of knowledge is negative but heterogeneous across the conditional distribution of energy vulnerability. Finally, economic globalization incurs energy vulnerability, while urbanization has a negative and statistically significant effect. Thus, policymakers and governments should actively invest in education and training programs and provide incentives for ICT development and energy innovation to alleviate energy vulnerability in Africa.

This study addresses whether energy depletion leads to a fast-track energy transition in the context of four energy and mineral giants (i.e., Australia, China, India, and the USA) in the Indo-Pacific bloc. Specifically, we explore how pro-environmental technologies, environmental policy stringency, energy efficiency, economic complexity, and human capital affect energy transition in the region. Harnessing data from 1995 to 2020 and relying on the quantile moment approach (i.e., MMQR), with and without time-fixed effects, we note some intriguing findings that could reshape the energy policies in the surveyed nations. Our findings unfold as follows: Energy depletion does not foster energy transition in the studied territories. Instead, energy depletion inhibits the penetration of renewable energies. Moreover, pro-environmental energy technologies, energy efficiency, and environmental policy stringency support fast-track energy transition in the designated territories. Contrarily, economic complexity and human capital inhibit the fast-track energy transition during the studied period. Overall, we unveil that energy-rich nations still disregard the possible adverse effects of rapid energy depletion, which can severely affect the growth hypothesis and the environment. Key policies have been delineated at the end of this article.

Auctions are an alternative for introducing renewable energy (RE) projects into electricity markets at competitive prices. Colombia added 2.2 GW capacity of RE through this mechanism. Nevertheless, 94% of the awarded generation is allocated between 12 a.m. and 5 p.m. because of a lack of low-cost storage. Integrating concentrating solar power plants (CSP) could be relevant in tackling this issue. Therefore, a preliminary step is to determine if Colombian instruments benefit the deployment of CSP and trigger the discussion about its future in the country. In this work, we evaluate how auction mechanisms and fiscal incentives (FI) influence the Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) and Internal Rate of Return (IRR) for two CSP configurations. The results indicate that FIs reduce capital expenditures between 17.11% and 19.45%, reaching similar LCOEs to those reported internationally. However, energy prices higher than USD 150/MWh are required to achieve an adequate IRR. Regarding the auction design, it is observed that a “security criterion” leads to a significant loss of competitiveness for CSP as it neglects its possibility to support demand at night. Policy suggestions are provided for a level playing field where low-cost solutions can coexist with dispatchable renewable power generation.

A large majority of Africans do not have access to modern energy. Initiatives at the international, regional, and national levels have been launched to address energy access; yet, Africa, particularly Sub-Saharan Africa, remains volatile. At the same time, Africa is one of the world's poorest performing regions in terms of governance, even though many African nations decentralized power in the 1990s to advance constitutionalism and break free from the highly centralized governance systems left over from the colonial era. The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of constitutional power concentration on energy poverty in 36 African countries using the Entropy Balancing and system GMM methods. The findings reveal that constitutional power concentration worsens energy poverty via corruption, inequality, tax evasion, and government integrity. African policymakers should pursue a more decentralized system of political authority as a policy option for combating energy poverty.

Australia’s National Electricity Market has shifted from 30- to 5-minute settlement (5MS)— a major regulatory reform since its inception. Using a Bayesian structural time-series model over the period 1 October 2021 to 31 May 2022, we demonstrate that despite having no immediate impact on price dynamics, 5MS eventually exerts upward pressure on spot prices over time. Price volatility remains essentially unchanged. Moreover, dispatch-weighted prices (DWPs) for flexible battery generators increase. DWPs for aggregated gas generators barely change, while DWPs for incumbent black coal-fired generators unexpectedly increase. These findings support the notion that the market is gradually adapting to 5MS. For a more effective adaptation, energy policies must be in place to lower entry barriers for flexible, dispatchable generation capacity and reduce market concentrations.