{"title":"The role of political parties in the public perception of nuclear energy","authors":"Emrah Akyuz","doi":"10.1016/j.tej.2024.107429","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tej.2024.107429","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Discussions about nuclear energy in Türkiye are held in the shadow of the political polarization between the People's Alliance and the Nation's Alliance. However, there are no comprehensive studies that have investigated how political polarization affects the social acceptance of nuclear energy. To investigate these effects, face-to-face interviews (n=52) were conducted with people living around the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant. The study found two main results: first, the most important factor affecting the social acceptance of nuclear energy is the nuclear energy policies of the political parties they vote for; and second, those who vote for the People's Alliance, which advocates nuclear energy, have a high benefit perception, while those who vote for the Nation's Alliance, which opposes nuclear energy, have a high risk perception. The article concludes that Turkish nuclear energy policy is a highly political issue rather than just a strictly environmental one.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":35642,"journal":{"name":"Electricity Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142058058","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":"Does electricity consumption impact biocapacity deficit? Evidence from domestic and commercial electricity consumption in India","authors":"Ch. Sravan, Prajna Paramita Mishra","doi":"10.1016/j.tej.2024.107443","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tej.2024.107443","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The increasing population across the world poses challenges for the fulfilment of electricity demand across various sectors, and subsequently impacts biocapacity. As India is the second-most populous country and the third largest electricity consumer globally, such challenges need to be addressed. While it is true that, in the context of electricity, pollution stems from the producer’s side, that from the consumer’s side is largely ignored. Using the Vector Error Correction model, this study investigates whether electricity consumption from the domestic and commercial sectors has an impact on biocapacity deficit. The result shows that, in the long run, domestic electricity consumption is not significant in causing biocapacity deficit, whereas commercial electricity consumption has an increasing effect on the latter, making it unsustainable. Further, lower levels of income and natural resource rents are also observed to lead to biocapacity deficit. In the short run, however, neither domestic nor commercial consumption has any significant impact on biocapacity deficit. The findings call for an extended focus on the sustainable management of electricity consumption across sectors so that their adverse impact on biocapacity can be minimised.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":35642,"journal":{"name":"Electricity Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142571649","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}
Feiyan Wang , Shanyong Wang , Fang Fang , Kun Cheng
{"title":"Who should be responsible? Responsibility attribution and public response to data security risks in China’s intelligent connected vehicles","authors":"Feiyan Wang , Shanyong Wang , Fang Fang , Kun Cheng","doi":"10.1016/j.tej.2024.107445","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tej.2024.107445","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As the global Internet of Vehicles (IoV) industry continues to expand, the associated risks, such as data security, software vulnerabilities, communication hijacking, and privacy breaches in intelligent connected vehicles, have become increasingly severe. This issue has emerged as an urgent concern for governments worldwide. Understanding the public's attribution of responsibility for these risks, the factors influencing such attributions, and how these attributions affect public response behaviors is crucial for creating an effective risk communication environment and promoting the healthy development of the IoV industry. Our study categorizes public response behaviors into defensive and positive coping behaviors on the basis of attitudes toward risk. We conduct surveys within and empirical analyses of major Chinese cities where intelligent connected vehicles are predominantly used and perform a heterogeneity analysis among cities of different administrative levels to explore how the public attributes responsibility and reacts to these risks. Data from 523 respondents indicate that while both types of response behaviors are influenced by risk perception and sources of information, only positive coping behaviors are affected by the attribution of responsibility. Responsibility attribution itself is influenced by risk perception, an individual's occupation, and information sources. Additionally, cities of different administrative levels show slight variations in the relationships among responsibility attribution, information sources, and response behaviors.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":35642,"journal":{"name":"Electricity Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142658420","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"With uncertainty comes opportunity: Repurposing coal assets to create new beginnings in the U.S.","authors":"Ivonne Pena Cabra , Jorge Izar-Tenorio , Smriti Sharma , Luke Clahane , Arun K.S. Iyengar","doi":"10.1016/j.tej.2024.107431","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tej.2024.107431","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Coal power plants are retiring in the United States due to a sharp decline in natural gas prices along with an aging fleet, the rising cost of coal, and decarbonization goals. In the last five years alone (2019–2023), more than 58 gigawatts (GW) of coal power capacity retired in the United States, while almost 30 percent of the remaining 194 GW of operating capacity is expected to retire by 2040. The cessation of operations at an existing power plant can have important impacts on the local economy, including job loss and a potential reduction in total economic output. Repurposing these assets effectively, including conversion into other power generation technologies, industrial manufacturing facilities, or commercial buildings, among others, can at least partially offset any negative economic impacts. This paper provides a review of ongoing and planned repurposing activities related to former coal power plants (not including repurposing related to fuel-switching from coal to natural gas) being pursued by utilities across the United States and discusses the costs, benefits, and challenges presented by types of repurposing assets or prospects.<span><span><sup>2</sup></span></span> The review shows that the repurposing type and capacity of the new projects is typically unrelated to the asset type and capacity being retired. The decision to repurpose a retiring power plant or unit is a result of a combination of factors that include, among others, decommissioning costs, land availability, and financial and regulatory incentives directed towards a clean and just energy transition. A list of current planned, in-process (under construction), or completed repurposing projects for energy and non-energy alternatives is presented, including several reference examples of repurposing from fuels other than coal. Relevant factors to consider in repurposing existing retiring assets, including the relevance of incentives for retiring assets in a just energy transition, are identified and described.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":35642,"journal":{"name":"Electricity Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1040619024000666/pdfft?md5=b8bda08521ad0fb03155253ee255a603&pid=1-s2.0-S1040619024000666-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142117446","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Maxwell Clovice Kamanyire , Fred Matovu , Paul Wabiga , Aisha Nanyiti
{"title":"Rural electrification and women empowerment: Do bargaining game approaches with real household items reduce the bias?","authors":"Maxwell Clovice Kamanyire , Fred Matovu , Paul Wabiga , Aisha Nanyiti","doi":"10.1016/j.tej.2024.107420","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tej.2024.107420","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>In this study, we examine the impact of rural electrification on women empowerment. Previous studies have examined this relationship mainly using self-reported measures of empowerment, and experimental approaches . We conduct an incentive-compatible framed field experiment in a natural household setting. We modify the public goods game by introducing a trade-off between real household items and cash in three scenarios: a woman-only case, a man-only case, and a joint decision case. We then construct a women empowerment index ranging between 0 and 1. A joint decision closer to 1 indicates greater bargaining power for the wife, while a joint decision closer to 0 indicates greater bargaining power for the husband. We then apply propensity score matching to address potential selection bias. We find households in rural electrification villages, to have higher women empowerment index.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":35642,"journal":{"name":"Electricity Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141595091","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":"One-size-fits-all? Top-down U.S. approach to equitable decarbonization does not fully address state and community-scale perspectives","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.tej.2024.107415","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tej.2024.107415","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The U.S. government has made addressing energy equity a key objective of its decarbonization efforts. While energy equity has been studied for decades, equity research in the U.S. has only very recently focused on impacts specific to decarbonization. To guide the implementation of new federal funding for clean energy investments in disadvantaged communities, federal agencies are relying on national-scale socioeconomic and demographic tools to define disadvantaged communities and energy equity metrics. Through an analysis of U.S.-oriented energy equity literature and recently developed tools and frameworks for decarbonization, this paper provides the first comparison of U.S. national versus subnational perspectives on defining disadvantaged communities, their energy equity concerns, and relevant metrics in the context of decarbonization. We show that the U.S. top-down approach to an energy equity framework for decarbonization, while necessary for large-scale policymaking, does not identify all disadvantaged communities nor the diversity and complexity of their concerns and is insufficient to ensure equitable decarbonization.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":35642,"journal":{"name":"Electricity Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1040619024000502/pdfft?md5=cd154bde5bea7a8823ec1131acd7eedd&pid=1-s2.0-S1040619024000502-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141393737","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Minnesota’s energy paradox: Household energy insecurity in the face of racial and economic disparities","authors":"Bhavin Pradhan, Gabriel Chan","doi":"10.1016/j.tej.2024.107423","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tej.2024.107423","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The “Minnesota Paradox” points to the nation-leading socioeconomic indicators enjoyed in Minnesota that belie some of the largest racial disparities between the state’s majority White and minority Black populations. The Minnesota Paradox has been identified in indicators with complex, structural social determinants: income, employment, educational outcomes, incarceration rates, home ownership, and even drowning. In this paper, we ask if similar disparities exist in access to shared infrastructure systems, focusing on the electric system, an essential service delivered by heavily regulated public utilities. We examine disparities in access to electricity service across three dimensions: utility disconnection, service reliability, and availability of the grid to host distributed energy resources. We quantify disparities across Census block groups by leveraging unique, high-resolution datasets that have only recently been made publicly available. We find significant and pervasive evidence of the Minnesota Paradox across utility disconnection and service reliability. Across a battery of regression models, we find that living in neighborhoods with a greater concentration of people of color is associated with a statistically and practically significant difference in the likelihood of disconnection from service due to non-payment and the experience of extended power outages. We also find a positive association between communities with larger populations of people of color and hosting capacity, suggesting a potential opportunity to affirmatively address disparities in energy insecurity in the energy transition. These findings shed light on the pervasive nature of the Minnesota Paradox in the electric system, which underscores the pressing need for policy initiatives to rectify deep-seated inequalities and ensure all communities have equitable access to universal basic utility service and reliable, clean energy.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":35642,"journal":{"name":"Electricity Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141839295","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}
Sungmin Lim , Heerae Lee , Syngjoo Choi , Jong Ho Hong , Booyuel Kim , Jinwook Shin
{"title":"A framework for measuring electricity price literacy: Application to South Korea","authors":"Sungmin Lim , Heerae Lee , Syngjoo Choi , Jong Ho Hong , Booyuel Kim , Jinwook Shin","doi":"10.1016/j.tej.2024.107425","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tej.2024.107425","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Consumers’ knowledge of electricity prices and its effect on their behaviors have been widely studied, yet the comparison and generalization of these findings are challenging due to variations in definition and survey items. This paper proposes a comprehensive framework to assess Electricity Price Literacy by introducing a functional representation that encompasses various electricity pricing systems and categorizing into three knowledge domains to systematically organize previous literature's knowledge measures. To demonstrate the practicality of this framework, a survey was administered to a nationwide sample of 4214 electricity consumers in South Korea. The survey results highlight variations in electricity price literacy across different domains and reveal varying relationships between domain-specific knowledge and behaviors, thereby highlighting the need for a decomposed measure of price knowledge.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":35642,"journal":{"name":"Electricity Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141961065","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 renewable and non-renewable generation on economic growth in Greece","authors":"Melina Dritsaki , Chaido Dritsaki , Vasileios Argyriou , Panagiotis Sarigiannidis","doi":"10.1016/j.tej.2024.107421","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tej.2024.107421","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The consumption of coal, oil, and other fossil fuels has raised concerns about climate change. The Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement aimed to address climate change by promoting sustainable clean energy technologies. The UN conference in the United Arab Emirates in December 2023 concluded with an agreement marking the end of the fossil fuel era. All these developments aim to address climate change through the use of clean energy technologies while maintaining economic growth. The connection of climate change with the developing model has gained significant importance on countries’ adjusted plans for climate change. The fossil fuels have a negative impact on economic growth of Greece, implying a continuous dependence from non renewable energy sources and a burden of economic expansion. The reliable estimation of the consequences of climate change on growth, both spatial and temporal, constitutes a decisive parameter for the adjusted plan not only in short term level but also in a long term horizon. Focusing on the improvement of energy efficiency, on the maximization use of renewable energy sources in Greece, on the emphasis given to technologies and fuels storage as well as alternative technologies of energetic and industrial sector, the achievement of energetic and climate transition designed on Greece will be feasible on a long term strategy. The results showed that the growth of renewable energy sources to produce electric energy is necessary for the sustainable growth of Greece. Specifically, the results of ARDL model showed that the renewable energy sources have a positive impact on economic growth in Greece in the long run, and the non-renewable energy sources have a significant effect on economic growth in the short run. These results imply that the aim for investments on renewable energy sources from policy makers should be direct mainly on regions with high levels of carbon dioxide emissions due to lignite combustion.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":35642,"journal":{"name":"Electricity Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1040619024000563/pdfft?md5=791627ba450b843c861c0ea87aa44c98&pid=1-s2.0-S1040619024000563-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141480494","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Adrienne de Bazelaire , Kutluhan Pak , Yannick Perez , Vincent Rious
{"title":"Grid expansion planning with battery storage: Economic potential under high renewable penetration","authors":"Adrienne de Bazelaire , Kutluhan Pak , Yannick Perez , Vincent Rious","doi":"10.1016/j.tej.2024.107419","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tej.2024.107419","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>To ensure a smooth energy transition, rapid expansion of the electric grid is essential to accommodate growing renewable power generation. We assess the role battery storage can play for the power system by either complementing or replacing costly line reinforcements. Adopting a benevolent planner point-of-view, we optimise the expansion of storage with the grid. We focus on a discrete representation of the sub-transmission grid. Given high reinforcement costs and efficient batteries, storage could replace grid investments, especially during low energy prices periods. Additionally, adopting a cost-effective grid representation minimizes storage investments. Ultimately, our work aims to empower grid operators to efficiently utilize battery storage in planning grid expansion.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":35642,"journal":{"name":"Electricity Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141595210","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}