ChemRN: Energy Policy (Topic)最新文献

{"title":"Più Greggio Per Tutti: La Rivoluzione Shale Negli USA E La Reazione Dell’Opec (The Big Oil Glut: U.S. Shale Revolution and OPEC Countermoves)","authors":"Riccardo Cristadoro, Virginia Di Nino, Laura Painelli","doi":"10.2139/SSRN.2743247","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.2743247","url":null,"abstract":"Italian Abstract: Il crollo delle quotazioni di greggio nello scorso anno ha riflesso il peggioramento delle attese di domanda per il 2014-15, una produzione superiore al previsto negli Stati Uniti e la scelta dell’OPEC in novembre di preservare le proprie quote di mercato non riassorbendo l’eccesso di offerta con un taglio produttivo. La rinuncia dell’OPEC al ruolo di produttore marginale dimostra che la “shale revolution” ha determinato un mutamento strutturale nella geopolitica del petrolio. La ripresa dei corsi nei primi mesi del 2015 e avvenuta in un quadro incerto, dove tensioni in Medioriente, Ucraina e Africa si sono accompagnate alle incognite sulla futura strategia dell’OPEC e sulla tenuta della produzione non convenzionale, a fronte di prezzi piu bassi di quelli che ne avevano favorito l’espansione. Lo stimolo alla crescita mondiale derivante dal calo dei corsi e valutato con prudenza poiche il calo riflette in parte una minor domanda; inoltre, in molte aree, la bassa inflazione comporta rischi di rialzi indesiderati dei tassi d’interesse reali, se si affermassero attese di sue ulteriori riduzioni.English Abstract: Last year’s slump in oil prices reflected deteriorating expectations for demand in 2014 and 2015 as well as higher-than-expected production levels in the US combined with OPEC’s decision in November to maintain its market share instead of cutting oil production to absorb the excess supply. OPEC’s decision to give up its role of ‘marginal producer’ shows that the ‘shale revolution’ triggered a structural change in the geopolitics of oil. The pick-up in prices in the first part of 2015 occurred amid tensions in the Middle East, Ukraine and Africa and growing uncertainty about OPEC’s future strategy and the resilience of non-conventional oil production now that prices are far below the levels that sustained its growth. The upswing in economic growth caused by declining prices has, however, been interpreted with a degree of caution, because the fall in prices also reflects lower demand. Moreover, in many areas, low inflation carries the risk of unwanted increases in real interest rates, should expectations of a further decrease gain currency.","PeriodicalId":151913,"journal":{"name":"ChemRN: Energy Policy (Topic)","volume":"16 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134442300","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Liberalization of Utility Services in the Developing Countries: A Panacea to Economic Development? An Analysis on Malawi Power Sector","authors":"B. B. Majanga","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.2741529","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2741529","url":null,"abstract":"Economic development is a compound outcome arising from a combination of many factors which may include among others, good governance; educational levels of the citizenry; effective political and administrative systems; availability of production resources; as well as availability of utilities such as reliable electricity and clean and potable water. Holding all other factors constant, the paper discusses the impact of reliable accessibility of utilities on economic growth and whether it is necessary or not to privatise or liberalise the utility sector, especially the electricity sector to enhance power access in promoting economic growth in developing countries like Malawi. Most developing countries in Africa face a lot of challenges in power generation and supply and the paper is focusing on establishing whether these challenges are a significant cause for stunted growth in GDP per capita in these countries, and whether liberalisation could be a way out of persistent power shortages affecting the economy. The study findings reveal that there is a direct relationship between electricity consumption and growth in GDP per capita and that most developing countries struggling to improve their economies share the same challenge of power supply for effective productivity. The study further finds that liberalization of the power sector can invigorate the countryi¯s productivity and hence improve the GDP per capita.","PeriodicalId":151913,"journal":{"name":"ChemRN: Energy Policy (Topic)","volume":"28 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122455166","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"European Power Struggles. Can EU's Decarbonisation Agenda Break the State-Company Axis in the Power Sector?","authors":"T. Sattich, I. Ydersbond, D. Scholten","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.2614425","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2614425","url":null,"abstract":"Europe’s power system is still marked by a distinct national component, and despite some regions with strongly integrated power systems, electricity supply today still has a largely national basis. Policies to decarbonise the power sector may fundamentally alter this situation, because power generation from renewable, carbon-neutral sources may require large, flexible, and heterogenic power pools as backdrop for efficient operation. Integration of little or non-integrated parts of the European power system is therefore a key element for the successful transition of the European power sector towards more renewables. But a development which fosters integration, growing transmission distances and bigger markets will likely lead to a reshuffling of allocation of power generation capacity in Europe. As with any fundamental policy change, decarbonisation of the power sector will create new winners and losers. Moreover, an integrated power system will probably cause new dependencies on the good-will of neighbouring countries. Europe is hence confronted with a ‘catch-22’: On the one hand, policy makers see the advantages of renewables and the exploitation of domestic energy resources, yet the necessary adaptations of power generation, distribution and consumption implies the risk of ‘harming’ the national power sector. EU policies to increase renewables and to create an internal energy market (IEM) thus aim at ameliorating this situation by e.g. both stimulating construction of renewable energy infrastructure and creating more interconnectors between member states. But due to various interests at the national level, member states’ levels of ambitions in contributing to achieving these overarching targets vary a lot. The instruments the European Union has at her hands will therefore have to be refined if the reluctance of member states to integrate power systems is to be overcome.","PeriodicalId":151913,"journal":{"name":"ChemRN: Energy Policy (Topic)","volume":"44 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-06-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116926461","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Model of Climate Policy Using Board Game Mechanics","authors":"Edward Castronova, I. Knowles","doi":"10.17083/IJSG.V2I3.77","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17083/IJSG.V2I3.77","url":null,"abstract":"This paper provides a case study of how a board game can be modified to generate a serious game. We argue that board games are an interesting medium for serious games, especially when the goal is to teach players about particularly complex systems. In that case, the transparency of a board game makes it possible for players to “see the whole boards” – to see all of the various moving parts at work. That transparency also makes it very easy to modify board games. To demonstrate these claims, we present a modification to the board game CO2 that accurately models different policy options with regard to global warming. We show how a few major changes to the original game’s point systems, as well as removal of certain extraneous features, can significantly improve the game, adding an instructional value. The game allows players to experiment with several policy options, including carbon taxes, carbon emissions permit sales, and clean energy research support, and lets players see how these policies interact. We discuss ways that teachers, advocates, journalists, and others can the Climate Policy mod to more easily explain the incredibly complex interactions of power markets, carbon dioxide emissions, and public policy.","PeriodicalId":151913,"journal":{"name":"ChemRN: Energy Policy (Topic)","volume":"82 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134397683","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Is Sustainable Transport Policy Sustainable?","authors":"J. Elíasson, S. Proost","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.2509216","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2509216","url":null,"abstract":"The paper challenges part of the sustainable transport literature. Sustainable transport plans often focus on reducing carbon emissions in a specific city, region or country, and this neglects two handicaps of strong unilateral action. The first is that climate is a global commons problem, so a strong binding international climate agreement is unlikely. The second is that a unilateral reduction of oil consumption may be partially, or even completely, offset by market responses – in some circumstances, cumulative emissions may even come earlier (the “green paradox”). When a coalition of the willing reduces oil use in the transport sector, this may delay rather than reduce total emissions. This requires rethinking climate policies for the transport sector: What policies remain cost effective in reducing greenhouse gas emissions?","PeriodicalId":151913,"journal":{"name":"ChemRN: Energy Policy (Topic)","volume":"393 3","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134323460","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Fracking Oligarchies: Environmental and Social Disasters Caused by Hydraulic Fracturing Explained by the Rule of the Few","authors":"V. Blokker","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.2846840","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2846840","url":null,"abstract":"This paper will propose that the extraction of gas by hydraulic fracturing, and the social and environmental disasters that shadow it, can be best explained by the influence exerted by a select few extremely wealthy people in order to secure their private interests: to protect and further embed their wealth and power. Oligarchs in the United States form an exceptionally small proportion of the total population, but control a vast amount of the financial resources. These financial resources allow the oligarchs access to high-ranking government officials, but those same resources can also be used to influence political decision-making through 'think tanks', contributions to political campaigns or by employing the services of professional lobby agents. This paper will first, though briefly, examine the contemporary energy crisis caused by the depletion of finite natural resources. Then it will look into the history and process of hydraulic fracturing, before turning to the environmental impacts, with a particular focus on the local communities and the social impacts.","PeriodicalId":151913,"journal":{"name":"ChemRN: Energy Policy (Topic)","volume":"286 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-10-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115986570","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Transaction Cost Regulation after Expropriation: Argentina's Public Utility Sector","authors":"Andrés Chambouleyron","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.2405856","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2405856","url":null,"abstract":"With the passing of the Economic Emergency Act in January 2002 which froze all public utility rates and simultaneously devalued the local currency, Argentina entered a period of systematic breaches of the guarantees granted by the government to public utility investors in the early nineties. Such guarantees provided safeguards that managed to substantially reduce expropriation risk in the sector by lowering investors’ cost of capital, thus encouraging foreign capital inflows. The implementation of the Emergency Act in the country also marked the beginning of a period in which rule-based regulation of public utilities was replaced by a mechanism based on government discretion. This paper looks into the governance structure used by the government for the sector in the early nineties when the privatization process was designed and launched, and suggests what that governance structure should be today, more than a decade after the beginning of the contract breaches. Defining governance as the institutional and contractual framework within which public services are provided, the paper concludes that after a decade of systematic contract breaches and expropriations, neither the bilateral governance (i.e., government as regulator with a vertically integrated private company providing the service) adopted by the country in the early nineties nor the one that would be recommended by Williamson's taxonomy (i.e., state-owned vertically integrated companies) would be appropriate, at least in the short- and medium-term. Given that the guarantees provided to investors at the beginning of the nineties failed to prevent the contract violations, a structure that seeks to minimize the risk of a future expropriation should be based on a more market-oriented type of governance, without additional guarantees to investors. The proposed governance structure involves vertically separated companies with the current public utilities acting as OpCos, with network maintenance and commercial obligations only and without the responsibility of network expansions, a task that would be conducted by NetCos under the structure of public-private partnerships (PPP) or Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) created for this exclusive purpose.","PeriodicalId":151913,"journal":{"name":"ChemRN: Energy Policy (Topic)","volume":"15 5","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-08-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133042894","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Impact of the Clean Development Mechanism on Host Countries: The Relevance of Absorption Capacities","authors":"I. Hristova","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.2277343","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2277343","url":null,"abstract":"This paper aims to apply the theoretical framework of the FDI literature to the CDM case when dealing with host countries absorption capacities. The absorption capacities could be defined as the conditions that would ease the integration of the investments and, thus, provide greater benefits for the host country. Therefore, they can be considered as the determinants that would optimize the positive spill-over effects. Three models try do define the links that might occur between host country absorption capacities and the issuance of CERs. The first provides details on the determinants that promote greater positive spill-over effects. The second and the third study the absorption capacities that would induce a greater increase of those effects. For the estimation of these models, four datasets for the sample period 2004-2010 are applied: one encompassing all the concerned countries, one including only the major CERs emitter countries (with and without China) and one focusing only on the small CERs emitter countries. On the basis of the estimations also a comparison is drawn between the particularities of FDI and CDM financial flows.","PeriodicalId":151913,"journal":{"name":"ChemRN: Energy Policy (Topic)","volume":"18 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122878826","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Subglobal Climate Agreements and Energy-Intensive Activities: An Evaluation of Carbon Leakage in the Copper Industry","authors":"Bruno Lanz, T. Rutherford, J. Tilton","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.2224000","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2224000","url":null,"abstract":"Subglobal climate policies induce changes in international competitiveness and favor a relocation of carbon-emitting activities to non-abating regions. In this paper, we evaluate the potential for CO2 abatement and the emissions 'leakage' effect in the copper industry, a prominent energy-intensive trade-exposed sector. We formulate a plant-level spatial equilibrium model for copper commodities in which parameters describing the behavioral response of agents are calibrated to econometric estimates of price elasticities. We find producers and consumers to be price inelastic even in the long-run, making the copper industry unresponsive to climate policies. Monte Carlo simulations with our model based on statistical uncertainty on elasticity estimates suggest that around 30% of emissions reductions in industrialized countries would be compensated by an increase of emissions in non-abating countries.","PeriodicalId":151913,"journal":{"name":"ChemRN: Energy Policy (Topic)","volume":"23 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-02-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125347177","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Carbon Management Strategies in Manufacturing Companies: An Exploratory Note","authors":"Simon Cadez, A. Czerny","doi":"10.5771/0949-6181-2010-4-348","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5771/0949-6181-2010-4-348","url":null,"abstract":"In order to meet the Kyoto Protocol’s greenhouse gas emissions targets, the EU has implemented an Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) as a cornerstone of its climate policy. The main attribute of this mechanism is its inherent flexibility. It offers companies the possibility of tailoring a carbon management strategy that is the most cost-effective, i.e. reducing actual emissions vs. buying allowances to emit. Although the EU ETS was launched in 2005, to date little is known about its implications for corporate carbon management. The study provides some original insights into corporate carbon management strategies by deploying a case study of two Slovenian manufacturing companies.","PeriodicalId":151913,"journal":{"name":"ChemRN: Energy Policy (Topic)","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-08-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128416859","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}