Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy最新文献

{"title":"Enhancing the Reliability of Bulk Power Systems against the Threat of Extreme Weather: Lessons from the 2021 Texas Electricity Crisis","authors":"Chiara Lo Prete, S. Blumsack","doi":"10.5547/2160-5890.12.2.clop","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5547/2160-5890.12.2.clop","url":null,"abstract":"In February 2021, Texas experienced a 1-in-30-year cold weather event that resulted in sub-freezing temperatures well below average for over six days. Given the state’s reliance on electric heating, the extreme cold weather drove winter electricity demand to unprecedented levels. Meanwhile, electricity supply fell significantly, and the grid operator managing about 90% of the state’s electric load, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), was forced to initiate customer load-shedding. More than 10 million people in Texas lost electric distribution service, and a large swath of electricity customers in ERCOT were without power for up to 96 hours. At least 210 people died during the event, and losses to the Texas economy were estimated between $80 and $130 billion. The event was followed by extensive finger-pointing, and some immediate reactions blamed competition, ERCOT’s market structure and grid management, wind’s underperformance and limited connectivity with neighboring states. In our view, the major causes of the crisis were not due to wholesale electricity market design, but to problems in planning and awareness of system interdependencies. As of the time of writing, the most significant energy-related bills passed by the Texas Legislature will result in a $18-billion out-of-market directive to build up to 10 gigawatts of new natural gas-fired power plants sitting in reserve; substantial changes to the governance of ERCOT and certain aspects of the ERCOT market (e.g., emergency pricing); a mandate for electricity suppliers in the state to purchase dispatchable power services as insurance; and the ban of wholesale-indexed products that include a direct pass-through of real-time prices for residential customers. To varying extents, these steps are reactions to a particular event, and may address pieces of what was a highly complex failure across multiple infrastructure and regulatory systems. By and large, however, reforms in Texas and elsewhere have not addressed fundamental systems-level practices to enhance the reliability of bulk, i.e., transmission-scale, power systems against the threats of extreme weather. We contribute to the literature on the Texas electricity crisis by discussing three systems-level strategies to prevent and mitigate the adverse consequences of extreme weather events. Two of these strategies, in particular, have received limited attention in previous analyses. First, generation resource adequacy and planning processes in the electric power sector should be enhanced to include multiple adverse conditions occurring simultaneously, common mode failures, growing system variability and potentially severe future weather events as part of the calculus. Actions to enhance understanding of the potential impacts of climate change on system load and resource availability are being undertaken in other regions of the U.S. and Europe. The Texas crisis also illustrates that performance incentives and non-performance penal","PeriodicalId":194500,"journal":{"name":"Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy","volume":"168 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133058438","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":"How Should We Think About Pricing Electricity in the Context of Potential Life-Threatening Weather Events?","authors":"Charles F. Mason","doi":"10.5547/2160-5890.12.2.cmas","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5547/2160-5890.12.2.cmas","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":194500,"journal":{"name":"Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy","volume":"158 4","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132069660","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":"From Diesel to Electric: Overcoming Grid Integration Challenges in the Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicle Sector","authors":"Nafisa Lohawala, Elisheba Spiller","doi":"10.5547/2160-5890.12.2.nloh","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5547/2160-5890.12.2.nloh","url":null,"abstract":"Mediumand heavy-duty vehicles (MHDVs) contribute an outsized share of local air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions within the transportation sector. Decarbonizing these vehicles is crucial for achieving the clean energy transition and for improving the health and wellbeing of communities most affected by transportation pollution. Electric trucks and buses are a promising solution but electrifying these vehicles will not be easy. One of the greatest challenges is the massive amount of electric grid investments required to support MHDV electrification and integrate these new vehicles onto the grid.","PeriodicalId":194500,"journal":{"name":"Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy","volume":"2 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116768731","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":"The (indirect) Effects of Windfall Funds on Sustainability Behavior: Insights for Carbon Fee Dividends","authors":"Shana McDermott, C. Noblet","doi":"10.5547/2160-5890.12.1.smcd","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5547/2160-5890.12.1.smcd","url":null,"abstract":"Addressing global climate change continues to challenge decision-makers and citizens alike. In the United States, legislation involving a carbon tax and dividend is increasingly discussed to help move away from the heavy reliance on carbon-based fuels and encourage investment in energy innovations that meet energy demands. The purpose of the dividend would be to reallocate collected fees to American residents who may spend it as they choose. Analysis suggests that many households (60%+) will receive a larger dividend payment than their increased energy cost from the tax. However, whether the reallocation and spending of such funds would support or detract from efforts to pivot away from carbon fuels and towards energy conservation and/or innovation remains unknown. A growing body of work indicates that people act quite differently depending on how money, including policy incentives such as the proposed reallocation of fees in the Carbon Dividend Trust Fund, has become entrusted to them. Of particular importance to the current study is whether all types of windfall are perceived, and acted upon, equally. Specifically, if the government (in the form of the Carbon Dividend Trust) is taxing carbon (or carbon-equivalent) emissions to encourage lower individual use, will people change their behavior and limit or expand their own conservation efforts because the government is involved? Our paper is motivated by this open question and broader inquiries from the literature regarding behavior from windfall funds and linked sustainability behaviors. This article contributes three ways to the literature on windfall effects and behavioral spillover. First, we examine whether the source of windfall funding (a subsidy, tax refund, or no information on the source) impacts an individual’s stated future sustainability behavior. Second, we investigate if a threshold windfall amount must exist before we see changes in stated sustainable behavior. Third, we explicitly examine heterogeneity in response to windfall funding. Moreover, this study was designed to directly investigate important policy questions surrounding legislation like the Carbon Dividend Act. Our results show that the source of money substantially influences behavior and must be carefully considered when analyzing policy that intends to reallocate funds for citizens to spend as they see fit. Importantly, our paper serves as a reminder that there is a lot we don’t know about the indirect impacts of a carbon fee and dividend approach and provides insight into various avenues for future research.","PeriodicalId":194500,"journal":{"name":"Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy","volume":"273 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131108004","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":"Changes in Electricity Use following COVID-19 Stay-at-home Behavior","authors":"D. Brewer","doi":"10.5547/2160-5890.12.1.dbre","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5547/2160-5890.12.1.dbre","url":null,"abstract":"This article uses hourly electricity consumption data from the PJM Interconnection in the United States and stay-at-home metrics from cell phone location data to study the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on electricity consumption using a difference-in-predicted-differences strategy. I show that while in the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic total electricity consumption declined by 2.7–3.8% relative to a predicted counterfactual, in June through August 2020 electricity consumption was 2.1–3.5% higher than the predicted counterfactual. Time spent at home reduces electricity consumption, and a reduction in time at home after May lead to increased electricity consumption in the summer months. In addition, higher temperatures had an increased effect on electricity consumption in 2020 relative to previous years. Nationwide monthly data on electricity consumption by load class reveals that commercial and industrial consumption was below its expected baseline from March-December 2020, while residential consumption was above its expected baseline, peaking in July. This suggests that increased demand for residential cooling offset declines in commercial and industrial demand for electricity. Estimates of the total effect of the pandemic on electricity consumption from March through December 2020 suggest that early reductions in electricity use were offset by later increases, implying that any expected \"silver lining” of decreased emissions from electricity generation may be smaller than previously thought. © 2023 by the IAEE. All rights reserved.","PeriodicalId":194500,"journal":{"name":"Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy","volume":"487 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124420818","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":"Vehicle-to-grid Policy in South Africa: State-led v. Market-directed Approaches","authors":"F. Ahjum, A. Lawrence","doi":"10.5547/2160-5890.12.1.fahj","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5547/2160-5890.12.1.fahj","url":null,"abstract":"For economic, no less than ecological and energy security reasons, transitioning from coal to less expensive, cleaner, and more reliable renewable energy sources has become increasingly urgent for South Africa. Energy parastatal Eskom provides more than 90 percent of the country’s electricity, and depends on coal for more than 90 percent of its generation; yet this source is proving to be increasingly expensive and unreliable, with power reductions and outages costing more than 1 percent of GDP loss in recent years. While the country’s world-class wind and solar endowment has already proven to be less expensive than current (let alone new) coal and gas generation, it presents the challenge of intermittent generation, and thus of energy storage. This article presents the first exploratory study of a solution to South Africa’s energy storage challenge that would cost a fraction of the chronic blackout losses: the provision of bi-directional or Vehicle-to-Grid (or V2G) charging infrastructure, using electric vehicle (EV) batteries as complementary storage. Because South Africa’s current rate of electric vehicle uptake is low compared to most Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, we explore the option of providing V2G infrastructure to the most widely used subgroup of vehicles for mass transportation, minibus taxis. An additional advantage is that, because the minibus taxis are heavily concentrated in urban areas with relatively short commuting routes (well within the typical electric minibus range of 150-200 km per charge), the oft-cited “range anxiety” that prospective electric vehicle drivers face is far less of a concern. We model for the effect of V2G adoption v. the rollout of uni-directional EV charging infrastructure, while also comparing stipulated charging – using time slices (TS) to account for daily variation in demand, such as morning and evening commutes – to unstipulated charging. Whereas uni-directional infrastructure is less expensive, it does not afford the storage capacity of V2G infrastructure. With approximately 300,000 minibus taxis currently in use in South Africa, the combined storage potential of a completely electrified fleet would approach 6 GWh—almost twice that of the country’s combined pumped storage capacity.","PeriodicalId":194500,"journal":{"name":"Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129940412","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":"Who's Responsible for Climate Change? New Evidence Based on Country-level Estimates of Climate Debt","authors":"Benedict Clements, S. Gupta, Jianhong Liu","doi":"10.5547/2160-5890.12.1.bcle","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5547/2160-5890.12.1.bcle","url":null,"abstract":"Persistent increases in average global temperatures, in the absence of mitigation policies, risk catastrophic climate change as well as reduced world GDP per capita. In the absence of policy changes, fossil fuel consumption and global CO2 emissions are projected to continue to rise, with an increase in global CO2 emissions of 4 percent by 2030 relative to 2019. Over the longer term, even scenarios that maintain global emissions at present levels, before dropping after 2050, are troubling. For example, the intermediate scenario of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts an increase in average global temperatures from the present 1.2 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average (1850–1900) to an average of 2 degrees in 2041–60 and 2.7 degrees in 2081–2100. In order to avoid the adverse consequences of this scenario of increasing global temperatures, a number of countries have pledged to reduce emissions beyond their initial commitments in the 2015 Paris Agreement (COP21). under which countries agreed to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees relative to pre-industrial levels and aim for 1.5 degrees. Under the present framework, mitigation pledges in countries’ nationally developed contributions (NDCs) are voluntary. However, pledges would only cut global emissions by 1/3–2/3 of the reductions consistent with Paris warming targets. As such, there is a large gap between what countries have committed to do and what needs to be done. In this context, a key issue in deciding which countries should do more is an assessment of which countries have contributed the most to climate change (through their CO2 emissions) and its associated economic damages. The total sum of these damages can be conceptualized as a “climate debt” in the sense that these costs have been imposed on the globe without any compensation. This paper seeks to contribute to this debate by providing an assessment of the climate debt of each country, based not only on historical emissions, but emissions that are likely in the near future. These estimates could be used to address the appropriate size of climate finance assistance, where countries with large climate debt may be seen as needing to contribute proportionately more to these efforts.","PeriodicalId":194500,"journal":{"name":"Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy","volume":"134 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125941034","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 Global South Perspective on Stranded Regions: Insights from the Decline of Coal Mining in Cesar, Colombia","authors":"Andrea Furnaro, P. Yanguas-Parra","doi":"10.5547/2160-5890.11.2.afur","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5547/2160-5890.11.2.afur","url":null,"abstract":"The sharp decline in fossil fuel demand related to the Covid-19 pandemic put in evidence some of the impacts that can be created by the energy transition. By putting into conversation the literature on economic decline in extractive regions and debates on stranded fossil fuel assets, this paper presents the case of the region of Cesar, Colombia, which in 2020 experienced a 33% decline in coal production and an unexpected idling of some of its largest coal mines. We identify various economic impacts for workers, communities, and local governments caused by the structural crisis faced by this activity. Eight challenges identified can be of relevance to other coal-dependent regions in the Global South. We argue that in such regions, many of the impacts recognized by the literature on the Global North are exacerbated. More importantly, additional challenges of a decline in coal pro-duction, particularly the precariousness of local economies based on high levels of informal and low value-added activities, the role of coal companies in social spending, and limited available data and institutional capacity, increase the risk of coal regions becoming stranded.","PeriodicalId":194500,"journal":{"name":"Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy","volume":"52 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123319299","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":"From Negative to Positive Carbon Pricing in Mexico","authors":"Carlos Muñoz-Piña, Mariza Montes de Oca Leon, Marisol Rivera-Planter","doi":"10.5547/2160-5890.11.2.cmun","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5547/2160-5890.11.2.cmun","url":null,"abstract":"Over the course of a decade, Mexico transitioned from a peak of 1.8% of GDP given as fuel subsidies in 2008 to generating positive fuel tax revenues equivalent to 1.6% of its GDP in 2018. In this paper, we analyze Mexico’s carbon pricing experience and its effects on the country’s carbon emissions. The policy changes that were embedded in its mid 2010s energy and fiscal reforms have been described as containing “valuable lessons for other emerging countries wishing to carry out a broad-based reform of the energy sector” (OECD 2017; OECD/IEA 2021). Yet, scholarly work on Mexico’s experience with graduality, fiscal innovation, and market structural changes in the transition from negative to positive carbon pricing, is scarce, especially the one linking it to their effects on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and advancing its Climate Change goals and commitments. This paper seeks to find out what are precisely those lessons that can help other countries overcome their fuel subsidy challenges, using politically feasible and resilient strategies, and then transition to a robust positive carbon pricing policy that supports a decoupling of GHG emissions from economic growth. This paper contributes to the literature in three ways: First, it describes a subsidy reform that was followed by a strong positive carbon pricing in an emerging economy in Latin America. Given that the success of reforms elsewhere has been mixed (Clements, et al. 2019), Mexico stands out as a relevant example of how to circumvent its challenges (OECD 2017; OECD/IEA 2021). Second, uses an institutional economics lens to analyzes the features that are thought to have made the Mexican strategy successful; among them are its graduality, its ability to generate a long-term price signal, and its capacity to weave the momentum of the final stage of its subsidy phase-out into the strategy for structural change that made explicit and implicit carbon taxing a resilient element of Mexico’s fiscal and environmental policy. Finally, this paper searches for the evidence of the outcomes of this transition. The substantial and sustained price increase experienced over the period analyzed was, theoretically, enough to alter significatively the carbon intensity of the Mexican economy through changes in its consumption of gasoline and diesel, and that needed to be documented.","PeriodicalId":194500,"journal":{"name":"Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy","volume":"257 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121884547","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":"Mexico's Energy Prospects: Gains from Renewable Sources Over A Fossil Fuel-Dominated Environment","authors":"Pedro I. Hancevic, H. Núñez, Juan Rosellón","doi":"10.5547/2160-5890.11.2.phan","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5547/2160-5890.11.2.phan","url":null,"abstract":"Following the energy reform in December 2013, Mexico set its priorities by pushing a more competitive electricity market and pursuing specific greenhouse gases emissions and renewable penetration goals. However, with the arrival of the new administration to the federal government on December 1, 2018, the a-priori promising future of a cleaner environment in Mexico has been seriously compromised. Specifically, the current administration aims to increase revenue from the national power company and gain control of the electricity market at the expense of consumer welfare and the environment. In the mediumand long-term (that is, within the next 10 to 30 years), however, renewable energies should become competitive and marketable energy sources due to significant technological advancements, including battery storage infrastructure. Because of this, it is interesting to analyze, and to quantify as much as possible, the potential benefits of an energy system based primarily on renewable energy compared to another scenario dominated by fossil fuels. Therefore, our analysis uses a baseline scenario that follows the energy policy agenda of the current administration which is popularly known as the “Fourth Transformation” or “4T”. Throughout the paper, we contrast the 4T scenario to an alternative “green scenario”. Based on our model, we can deduce the implications of changes in energy supply and demand on the rest of the economy, such as impacts on economic activity, air pollution, and, more generally, economic welfare.","PeriodicalId":194500,"journal":{"name":"Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128832423","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}