the status of the hydrogen and fuel cell innovation system in iran abstract hydrogen energy in combination with fuel cell technology plays an important role in addressing the growing energy demand in the coming decades this paper analyses the functional and structural factors which affect the development of this technology in iran we apply the technological innovation system tis approach the analysis shows that compared to the progress of the hydrogen and fuel cell technology hfct in leading countries iran is far behind the desired phase of development this gap is partly explained due to the weak structure and functions of the hfct system in iran thus the technology has remained in the demonstration phase for a long time the analytical results show that the fulfillment of entrepreneurial activities is required for the transition of the technology to the pre commercial phase in turn considerable financial resources are needed to accomplish entrepreneurial activity considering the current situation of renewable energy resources in iran supportive laws and regulations are urgently needed as prerequisites for the mobilization of financial resources

assessing the regional economic impacts of renewable energy sources a literature review abstract the transition of the global energy system is one of the main trends that offers opportunities as well as challenges for the economy most literature evaluates the impact of that transition at a national level that view is broadened towards a regional scale due to the lower energy density of many renewable energy sources renewable energy generation will be more decentralised leading to potentially significant changes in the regional economy when transitioning to a renewable energy system in this paper the current literature and methods of assessing regional economic impacts of a transition to renewable energy generation is reviewed the findings suggest an overall need to clearly define the topics such as technologies that are assessed and the evaluated time period a guideline for a regional impact assessment is provided focusing on the suitability of applied impact assessment methods employment ratios supply chain analyses input output models and computable general equilibrium models

evidence of direct and indirect rebound effect in households in eu 27 countries abstract this research estimates the direct and indirect rebound effect of energy efficiency in households for the eu 27 countries the first twenty seven member states of the european union a hybrid methodology that combines econometric estimates environmental extended input output analysis and re spending models has been developed although most of the economies present values below 100 there are seven countries situated above this critical threshold by weighting individual estimates by gdp an average value for the overall eu 27 economy has been found between 73 62 and 81 16 these results suggest that the energy policy at the european level should be rethought if efficiency measures pursue reducing energy consumption and tackling climate change

transforming the energy sector the evolution of technological systems in renewable energy technology this paper analyses the development and diffusion of technologies that utilize renewable energy sources in germany sweden and the netherlands the analysis enlarges the life cycle model of industry evolution to one where the focus is on the formation and evolution of new technological systems particular focus is on explaining success and failures in shifting from a formative phase into one characterized by positive feedbacks a set of challenges is identified for policy makers attempting to influence the process of transforming the energy sector

market barriers to energy efficiency abstract discussions of energy policy in an environmentally constrained world often focus on the use of tax instruments to internalize the external effects of energy utilization or achieve specified reductions in energy use in the most cost effective manner a substantial literature suggests however that significant opportunities exist to reduce energy utilization by implementing technologies that are cost effective under prevailing economic conditions but that are not fully implemented by existing market institutions this paper examines the theory of the market for energy using equipment showing that problems of imperfect information and transaction costs may bias rational consumers to purchase devices that use more energy than those that would be selected by a well informed social planner guided by the criterion of economic efficiency consumers must base their purchase decisions on observed prices and expectations of post purchase equipment performance if it is difficult or costly for individuals to form accurate and precise expectations the level of energy efficiency achieved by competitive markets will vary from the socially efficient outcome such market barriers suggest a role for regulatory intervention to improve market performance at prevailing energy prices

unpacking policy processes for addressing systemic problems in technological innovation systems the case of offshore wind in germany while empirical studies on technological innovation systems tis usually focus on policy instruments and their suitability for curing identified weaknesses of such emerging systems the underlying policy processes and their effects have been largely disregarded we address this gap by exploring the style of two crucial policy making processes and how it influences the functioning and performance of a tis taking the case of offshore wind in germany our findings indicate important positive and negative impacts of the policy style on the tis for example the muddling through character apparent in one of the policy processes negatively influenced entrepreneurial activities knowledge development and finally technology diffusion whereas the participatory nature of both processes had a positive impact both on tis functioning and performance based on our findings we derive implications on how to improve policy making so as to foster the development of an emerging tis

restraining energy demand the stick the carrot or the market abstract following the 1973 arab oil embargo and continuing through the 1980s the us regulators at both the state and federal levels tried a number of schemes to encourage energy conservation in all sectors of the economy particularly in the electric power sector although these efforts resulted in significant energy efficiency improvements the utilities were not overly enthusiastic because of the negative impact of lower sales on their revenues and profits from 1989 several trend setting states in the usa introduced generous profit incentives to reward utilities financially for undertaking aggressive dsm programmes the impact of these new dsm incentives has been quite noticeable and they are expected to produce significant reductions in the growth rate of demand for electricity in states where they are available this paper reviews the success and some of the problems associated with dsm incentive mechanisms in the usa and provides some policy options for overseas countries interested in learning from the us experience

a coevolutionary framework for analysing a transition to a sustainable low carbon economy this paper proposes a coevolutionary framework for analysing a transition to a sustainable low carbon economy based on the coevolution of ecosystems technologies institutions business strategies and user practices within a multi level micro meso macro perspective this builds on and develops previous coevolutionary analyses of long term technological and industrial change and recent renewed interest within ecological economics on coevolutionary approaches previous work has analysed how the coevolution of technologies and institutions has led to the lock in of current high carbon energy systems and how the coevolution of physical and social technologies and business strategies has brought significant material and welfare benefits to the minority of the world s population living in industrialised countries the coevolutionary framework proposed here may be used to undertake 1 detailed empirical analyses at a micro meso level of the challenges relating to the innovation and adoption of particularly low carbon technologies 2 as a framework for analysing the multi level interaction of social and technological elements within potential transition pathways to a low carbon energy system 3 to assess the implications for economic growth and prosperity of a transition to a low carbon economy and 4 to assist in the development of more formal multi level evolutionary economic models

regulating technological change the strategic reactions of utility companies towards subsidy policies in the german spanish and uk electricity markets abstract this paper focuses on how incumbent electric utilities strategically react to subsidy schemes supporting renewable energy technologies in the uk germany and spain firms coordinate the development of their technological capabilities and their political activities to shape their regulatory environment analysing the diffusion of wind power in these countries we show that the different ways in which firms coordinate their technological and political strategies lead to very different market outcomes both for the firms market share and the size of the overall market although incumbents are usually seen as being resistant to change in energy systems we show that spanish utilities proactively drive the diffusion of wind power we speculate about the relation between the ownership structure of the energy system and its inertia with respect to the integration of new technologies we derive novel policy implications that explicitly take into account the strategic actions of incumbent firms shaping the technological and regulatory system

reducing energy demand a review of issues challenges and approaches most commentators expect improved energy efficiency and reduced energy demand to provide the dominant contribution to tackling global climate change but at the global level the correlation between increased wealth and increased energy consumption is very strong and the impact of policies to reduce energy demand is both limited and contested different academic disciplines approach energy demand reduction in different ways emphasising some mechanisms and neglecting others being more or less optimistic about the potential for reducing energy demand and providing insights that are more or less useful for policymakers this article provides an overview of the main issues and challenges associated with energy demand reduction summarises how this challenge is framed by key academic disciplines indicates how these can provide complementary insights for policymakers and argues that a sociotechnical perspective can provide a deeper understanding of the nature of this challenge and the processes through which it can be achieved the article integrates ideas from the natural sciences economics psychology innovation studies and sociology but does not give equal weight to each it argues that reducing energy demand will prove more difficult than is commonly assumed and current approaches will be insufficient to deliver the transformation required

towards a knowledge based theory of the geographical cluster co located firms within related industries enhance the ability to create knowledge by variation and a deepened division of labour the interdependent development between economic activities and local institutions make the cluster attractive to some industries and hostile to others the very reasons why cognitive distance might be small within the cluster tend to make cognitive distance great between clusters and make interfirm co operation across bodies of knowledge more costly the additional value created when clustering may justify the additional cost copyright 2001 by oxford university press

entrapment in large technology systems institutional commitment and power relations abstract large technology systems cannot be developed without social commitments usually including legal especially in the form of contracts organisational involving producers users and financiers and political involving various actors associated with the state commitments without such commitments there can be no innovation and no investment given the high risks that are entailed however embedded commitments can create inertia causing inferior technologies and technology paths to survive long after they should have been abandoned this form of technological lock in may be reinforced when there are close relations between producers and states which prevent markets and democratic processes from operating effectively these phenomena are illustrated through study of the thermal oxide reprocessing plant thorp a nuclear reprocessing plant in the uk the lesson for technology policy is that much more attention needs to be given to the maintenance of reversibility and adaptability in infrastructural development

energy conservation policies abstract an increased efficiency of energy use often equated with increased conservation is widely believed to be an important factor in constraining consumption of fossil fuels in the light of fears of global warming this mistaken belief is founded on the fall in energy gdp ratios observed since 1973 interpreted as a decoupling of energy from economic growth energy conservation is only one of a number of factors contributing to this fall in general increasing efficiency of use will lead to reduced costs which in turn promotes a greater usage if global warming is to be taken seriously restrictions on fossil fuel consumption may have to be imposed by measures such as the carbon tax proposed by the international energy agency

estimating direct and indirect rebound effects for u s households with input output analysis part 2 simulation abstract this is the second part of a two part paper that integrates economic and industrial ecology methods to estimate the indirect rebound effect from residential energy efficiency investments we apply the model developed in part one to simulate the indirect rebound given an estimate of the direct rebound using a 2002 environmentally extended input output model and the 2004 consumer expenditure survey in 2002 for the u s we find an indirect rebound of 5 15 in primary energy and co 2 e emissions assuming a 10 direct rebound depending on the fuel saved with efficiency and household income the indirect rebound can be as high as 30 40 in no x or so 2 emissions for efficiency in natural gas services the substitution effect modeled in part one is small in most cases and we discuss appropriate applications for proportional or income elasticity spending assumptions large indirect rebound effects occur as the u s electric grid becomes less carbon intensive in households with large transportation demands or as energy prices increase even in extreme cases there is limited evidence for backfire or a rebound effect greater than 100 enacting pollution taxes or auctioned permits that internalize the externalities of energy use would ensure that rebound effects unambiguously increase consumers welfare

bottom up estimation of industrial and public r d investment by technology in support of policy making the case of selected low carbon energy technologies abstract this paper discusses a bottom up approach to estimate the level of r d investment by technology in areas where data are scarce it develops a four step methodology for the estimation of corporate r d investments at technology level this approach can overcome gaps in existing data by combining publicly available information in a novel way even though it introduces some uncertainty this is illustrated for a set of low carbon energy technologies that were identified as key for meeting europe s long term energy and climate objectives by the european strategic energy technology plan the paper finds that the aggregated r d investments dedicated to these technologies amounted to 3 3 billion in the eu in 2007 including public funding from european union member states and at eu level and industrial research activities from companies with headquarters registered in the eu the results allow conclusions on the european energy research policy to be drawn such as the dominance of industrial funds and have provided significant input to the european policy making in this field the paper ends with suggestions on how to further enhance the accuracy of the approach and how to widen its application to other sectors

understanding carbon lock in abstract this paper narrative argues that industrial economies have been locked into fossil fuel based energy systems through a process of technological and institutional co evolution driven by path dependent increasing returns to scale it is asserted that this condition termed carbon lock in creates persistent market and policy failures that can inhibit the diffusion of carbon saving technologies despite their apparent environmental and economic advantages the notion of a techno institutional complex is introduced to capture the idea that lock in occurs through combined interactions among technological systems and governing institutions while carbon lock in provides a conceptual basis for understanding macro level barriers to the diffusion of carbon saving technologies it also generates questions for standard economic modeling approaches that abstract away technological and institutional evolution in their elaboration the question of escaping carbon lock in is left for a future paper

jevons paradox revisited the evidence for backfire from improved energy efficiency beginning with william stanley jevons in 1865 a number of authors have claimed that economically justified energy efficiency improvements will increase rather than reduce energy consumption jevons paradox is extremely difficult to test empirically but could have profound implications for energy and climate policy this paper summarises and critiques the arguments and evidence that have been cited in support of jevons paradox focusing in particular on the work of len brookes and harry saunders it identifies some empirical and theoretical weaknesses in these arguments highlights the questions they raise for economic orthodoxy and points to some interesting parallels between these arguments and those used by the biophysical school of ecological economics while the evidence in favour of jevons paradox is far from conclusive it does suggest that economy wide rebound effects are larger than is conventionally assumed and that energy plays a more important role in driving productivity improvements and economic growth than is conventionally assumed

empirical estimates of the direct rebound effect a review beginning with william stanley jevons in 1865 a number of authors have claimed that economically justified energy efficiency improvements will increase rather than reduce energy consumption jevons paradox is extremely difficult to test empirically but could have profound implications for energy and climate policy this paper summarises and critiques the arguments and evidence that have been cited in support of jevons paradox focusing in particular on the work of len brookes and harry saunders it identifies some empirical and theoretical weaknesses in these arguments highlights the questions they raise for economic orthodoxy and points to some interesting parallels between these arguments and those used by the biophysical school of ecological economics while the evidence in favour of jevons paradox is far from conclusive it does suggest that economy wide rebound effects are larger than is conventionally assumed and that energy plays a more important role in driving productivity improvements and economic growth than is conventionally assumed 2008 elsevier ltd all rights reserved

living up to expectations estimating direct and indirect rebound effects for uk households this study estimates the combined direct and indirect rebound effects from various types of energy efficiency improvement by uk households in contrast to most studies of this topic we base our estimates on cross price elasticities and therefore capture both the income and substitution effects of energy efficiency improvements our approach involves estimating a household demand model to obtain price and expenditure elasticities of different goods and services utilising a multiregional input output model to estimate the ghg emission intensities of those goods and services combining the two to estimate direct and indirect rebound effects and decomposing those effects to reveal the relative contribution of different mechanisms and commodities we estimate that the total rebound effects are 41 for measures that improve the efficiency of domestic gas use 48 for electricity use and 78 for vehicle fuel use the primary source of this rebound is increased consumption of the cheaper energy service i e direct rebound and this is primarily driven by substitution effects our results suggest that the neglect of substitution effects may have led prior research to underestimate the total rebound effect however we provide a number of caveats to this conclusion as well as indicating priorities for future research

enabling innovations in energy access an african perspective abstract conventional energy technologies and deployment approaches cannot be relied upon to eliminate energy poverty in africa innovations in energy access are necessary previous attempts at introducing and scaling up innovative solutions do not sufficiently address dynamic and structural determinants of success this limits their actual performance as scalable drivers of innovations in technology policy and institutions using technological innovation systems theory we demonstrate a practical approach to assess the sustainability of innovations in energy access and develop a framework to guide energy policy makers clean energy entrepreneurs and energy development researchers

responding to structural industry changes a technological evolution perspective we argue that the search for a dynamic theory of strategy and for a link between the product market and resource based views may be incomplete without an exploration of the evolution of the technology that underlies products and heterogeneous firm capability as technology evolves so do industry characteristics products and critical success factors firms without the right capabilities are forced to exit thus an industry s structure attractiveness and the kinds of capabilities that it needs to succeed may vary over time suggesting different strategies for each phase

initial advantage the origins of the geographic concentration of the pharmaceutical industry in the mid atlantic region in this paper we offer an interpretation of the social and institutional context that promoted the development and evolution of the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry our interest is in defining the historical circumstances that led to the geographic concentration of the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry in the mid atlantic region our focus is both geographic and institutional as we seek to understand the forces behind geographic localization and the ways in which geographic localization may contribute to the advancement of science and to the evolution of industries in this paper we describe the general development of the industry in the mid atlantic region of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries copyright 1996 by oxford university press

beyond energy efficiency and individual behaviours policy insights from social practice theories abstract this conceptual paper deals ultimately with the intricate relationships existing between quantity and quality in the field of energy conservation policies it discusses how current policy approaches to energy conservation have energy efficiency and individuals behavioural change as principle target it then argues that their limited impacts derive largely from how they are principally informed by quantitative estimates of reductions in energy inputs and neglect how qualitative changes generated in the energy outputs can either offset these reductions e g more energy efficient motors can enable the production of larger cars consuming more energy or cause higher savings e g smaller cars can consume less energy even with less efficient motors the paper also explains these limited impacts in terms of overly simplistic cause effect relationships assumed to exist between given exogenous factors e g provision of information price signals etc and individuals behaviours it then shows how radically alternative policies for energy conservation can target qualitative changes and re organisations in energy outputs in doing so it takes social practice theories as theoretical background finally it discusses the potentially very high impacts and the alternative character of policies informed by these theories and shows how and where they indicate to intervene

long term evolutionary change in organizational populations theory models and empirical findings in industrial demography organizational ecology is a theoretical perspective on organizations that attempts to explain long term social evolution especially the rise and fall of organizational populations this artist review the most sustained demographic research program of the perspective one based on the density dependent model of legitimation and competition it discusses the theoretical model and evidence from industrial demography that has been offered in its support as well as criticisms that have been registered unresolved research problems of the program are identified and three major models in progress attempting to address these open questions are discussed and compared copyright 1997 by oxford university press

the emerging liquid biofuel market in argentina implications for domestic demand and international trade while the world s transport energy matrix is still strongly linked to limited and heavily polluting fossil fuels new markets are appearing for the production and use of alternative transport fuels such as liquid biofuels due to an interconnected global economy such markets today are developing on a global scale with actors looking to meet local as well as potential international demand the aim of this paper is to describe and evaluate the emergence of markets for liquid biofuels in argentina it reveals that biodiesel production for international supply is likely to emerge in the short run up to 2010 giving the opportunity to be switched back to local supply in the medium run post 2010 it also suggests that a bioethanol market demand and supply does not seem to be likely in the short run and it is highly uncertain in the medium run as the most influential actors oppose its development on the other hand the current constellations of the biodiesel market appear to leave many uncertainties regarding its sustainability especially in regard to a limited role of small and medium sized enterprises and a suitable and diversified biodiesel feedstock currently the focus lies solely on very large scale production of biodiesel derived from soybean oil for the export market

public acceptability of personal carbon trading and carbon tax abstract climate change is one of the greatest challenges confronting the international community requiring action to achieve deep cuts in carbon emissions the implementation of potentially uncomfortable but necessary policy measures is though critically dependent upon public acceptability this paper reports a novel application of stated preference techniques to explore the influence of key design attributes on the acceptability of a personal carbon trading scheme in isolation and when compared to a carbon tax illustrative forecasts from the models developed indicate the importance of design attributes especially the basis of the initial permit allocation for personal carbon trading and the use to which revenues are put for carbon tax results indicate that the best scheme designs could be acceptable to a majority of respondents

increasing synergies between institutions and technology developers lessons from marine energy abstract this paper describes innovation activities in the marine energy sector across ten european countries in 2011 intense knowledge creation occurred in the uk and northern european countries while european research networks encouraged public private partnerships facilitating knowledge diffusion an analysis based on a technological innovation system tis has identified challenges for the system to evolve from one phase of development to another i e from pre development to take off phase in order for marine energy to pass successfully through the commercialisation valley of death entrepreneurial experimentation and production is crucial entrepreneurial initiatives were developed mainly in the united kingdom denmark norway and ireland whereas france germany and sweden were active through venture capital initiatives additional system builders such as the authorities in charge of energy policies could offer guidance for research ensure legitimacy and effectively mobilise resources for system development although public support was efficient in stimulating private investment national targets seemed less efficient in creating a long time horizon for private investors due to consecutive unexpected changes in contrast positive interactions between technology developers and policy makers could empower market formation ultimately the creation of a policy community also involving local communities could foster a positive environment for the development of innovation activities

public willingness to pay and policy preferences for tidal energy research and development a study of households in washington state puget sound in washington state wa has significant tidal energy resources but the industry is at a nascent stage of development at this stage the availability of research and development r d funding plays a critical role in the success or failure of renewable energy schemes however information about public interest in developing marine renewable energy technology including tidal energy technology in wa and the u s has been limited responses to a dichotomous choice referendum question on a mail survey sent to a representative sample of wa households were used to estimate residents willingness to pay wtp for tidal energy r d public preferences for policies to support tidal energy r d were also assessed wa households are wtp between 29m and 127m annually for tidal energy r d indicating public preference for an increase in government spending on tidal energy r d over current levels public perceptions of potential social environmental and economic risks and benefits of developing tidal energy emerged as highly significant predictors of wtp

using network analysis to understand public policy for wave energy abstract the uk s wave energy sector is at a pre commercial stage transitioning from prototype demonstration towards a revenue supported industry a host of advantages that could be realised through successful commercialisation include the potential to generate 40 50 twh yr 3 7bn of export and 10 000 jobs by 2020 with tidal despite this criticisms have been made about the lack of coordination between funding bodies communication between stakeholders and overly centralised actors although the value of strong problem solving networks has been noted problems arise in validating the presence nature and value of relationships as well as identification of tacit and informal linkages here network analysis is used to validate these criticisms and provide insight into sector activities it is shown that although high levels of interaction are occurring overall there are wide disparities prime movers are clearly present and less mature developers are isolated from the system as it develops norms and practices this combined with government fund gating has led to a matthew effect whereby some have access to finance and are shaping institutional norms while others struggle although convergence is expected a lack of public sector coordination transparency of decision making and comparability between devices has reduced both investor and stakeholder legitimacy

the critical role of informed political direction for advancing technology the case of swedish marine energy marine energy technologies can contribute to meeting sustainability challenges but they are still immature and dependent on public support this paper employs the technological innovation systems tis framework to analyze the development and diffusion of swedish marine energy up until 2014 while there were promising device developers relevant industrial capabilities and world class research the system suffered from weaknesses in several important innovation processes finally the analysis identifies the lack of informed political direction as a critical blocking factor and highlights its connection to domestic market potential

a theory of treasury auctions abstract i study a model of treasury auctions incorporating some of the important institutional features a treasury auction is a repeated multi unit common value auction in which bidders bid demand functions another important auction with similar features is the variable rate tender repo auction conducted by the european central bank i discuss the appropriateness of the treasury auction model for analyzing repo auctions rankings based on differences in one shot collusion opportunities among auctions with no entry are found in the literature these are possibly inappropriate for treasury auctions which take place at regular intervals and allow entry i present a repeated auctions framework with a group of informed bidders and free entry by uninformed outsiders i restrict attention to the class of equilibria that satisfy a no arbitrage no profitable entry by an uninformed outsider constraint and rank discriminatory pay your bid and uniform price auctions by revenue generated in the equilibria that are most favorable to informed bidders the main contribution of the paper is a ranking of treasury revenue across a variety of institutional set ups and the implied policy prescriptions

comparing the innovation effects of support schemes for renewable electricity technologies a function of innovation approach abstract the aim of this paper is to provide a comparative assessment of the innovation effects of instruments which support the diffusion of renewable electricity technologies with a functions oriented technological innovation system perspective the paper provides a link between two major streams of the literature the functions of innovation systems and the literature on renewable electricity support schemes we show that when a functional perspective is adopted feed in tariffs are likely to be superior to other policy instruments quotas with tradable green certificates and tendering although they still need to be complemented with other instruments most importantly direct r d support furthermore those innovation effects are affected by the specific design elements of the instruments chosen

discriminatory versus uniform treasury auctions evidence from when issued transactions abstract we use when issued transactions data to assess the treasury s current experiment with uniform auctions when issued volume is higher under uniform as compared to discriminatory auctions suggesting a higher information release which should reduce pre auction uncertainty and the winner s curse under uniform auctions when issued volatility falls after the auction and again after the outcome announcement the pattern is the opposite for discriminatory auctions this is further evidence that uniform auctions increase pre auction information and lower the short squeeze a direct comparison of markups in uniform and discriminatory auctions yields mixed results

the slow pace of rapid technological change gradualism and punctuation in technological change discussions of technological change have offered sharply contrasting perspectives of technological change as gradual or incremental and the image of technological change as being rapid even discontinuous these alternative perspectives are bridged using the punctuated equilibrium framework of evolutionary biology using this framework it is argued that the critical event is not a transformation of the technology but speciation the application of existing technology to a new domain of application as a result of the distinct selection criteria and the degree of resource abundance in the new domain a new technological form may emerge the new technological form may be able to penetrate other niches and in particular may precipitate a process of creative destruction and out compete prior technologies this framework is applied to an historical study of wireless communication from the early experimental efforts of hertz to the modern development of wireless telephony

mobilizing private finance for low carbon innovation a systematic review of barriers and solutions this paper analyses the field of innovation studies regarding barriers to low carbon innovation and consequences for finance investment and divestment and contributes to a more holistic understanding of the underlying mechanisms a combination of technological barriers combined with economic barriers institutional and political barriers contribute to sub optimal low carbon investment all along the innovation cycle policy makers need to take a systemic approach to enable the redirection of diverse private financial sources instruments range from cutting dirty r d subsidies and support for clean technology innovation and diffusion levelling the institutional playing field and making risks of high carbon and low carbon technologies transparent to providing a consistent but adaptive long term transition strategy this would allow financiers to gradually shift their investments away from high carbon mainstream markets and scale low carbon technology niche markets however financiers also need to sharpen their competencies with regard to new clean technologies and markets

hydrogen technological innovation systems in practice comparing danish and american approaches to fuel cell development this paper investigates danish and american hydrogen fuel research from a modified technological innovation system tis perspective we ask which approach to hydrogen research is more effective and what do the differences between the two cases tell us about the research process and theories of innovation to answer these questions we begin by justifying our selection of hydrogen systems and denmark and the united states as our case studies we proceed to introduce a modified theoretical framework of tis and focus on seven core elements of hydrogen research knowledge development and diffusion entrepreneurial experimentation political and social influence market formation legitimation resource mobilization and positive externalities we conclude by offering insights from our comparison as they relate to hydrogen research strategy and policy effectiveness at achieving national goals and the need for further research and better conceptual models about innovation

how to deal with the rebound effect a policy oriented approach policy makers and environmental agencies have echoed concerns brought forward by academics about the need to address the rebound effect for achieving absolute energy and environmental decoupling however such concerns have generally not been translated into tangible policy action the reasons behind this inaction are not fully understood and much remains unknown about the status of the rebound effect issue on the policy agenda and policy pathways available such knowledge gaps may hamper the development of effective policies to address this issue in this paper we examine the extent to and ways in which the rebound effect is considered in policy documents and analyse thirteen specific policy pathways for rebound mitigation the effectiveness of the pathways is scrutinised and conclusions are offered to mitigate rebound effects the main policy conclusions of the paper are that an appropriate policy design and policy mix are key to avoiding undesired outcomes such as the creation of additional rebound effects and environmental trade offs from the discussion economy wide cap and trade systems as well as energy and carbon taxes when designed appropriately emerge as the most effective policies in setting a ceiling for emissions and addressing energy use across the economy

a review of the european offshore wind innovation system offshore wind has the potential of becoming an important pillar of the future european energy system it can contribute to policy objectives on climate change energy security green growth and social progress however the large potential of offshore wind does not automatically lead to a large share in future energy systems neither does the emergent stage of development of the technology recent insights in innovation studies suggest that the success chances of technological innovations are to a large extent determined by how the surrounding system the innovation system is built up and how it functions in this paper we assess the offshore wind innovation systems of four countries denmark the uk the netherlands and germany with the objective to provide recommendations for strengthening the overall european offshore wind innovation system we use the technological innovation system tis approach to analyse the system in 2011 based on the analysis we identify a number of challenges that the european offshore wind sector faces some of them include a serious deficiency of engineers fragmented policies and poor alignment of national regulatory frameworks cost of the technology and limited grid infrastructure since the problems hinder the entire system development we call for a systemic policy instrument that would support the innovation system around this technology and contribute to its wider diffusion in europe

when shakeout doesn t occur the evolution of the turboprop engine industry abstract a careful case study of the history of the turboprop engine industry 1948 1997 is offered as an example of non shakeout pattern the persistence of high concentration is not associated with the exit of smaller manufacturers but instead a stable coexistence of generalist and specialist strategies emerges in sharp contrast to the pattern observed in the otherwise similar jet engine industry this paper identifies the relevant variables of a more general theory of industry life cycle by taking into account the lack of creation of significant increasing returns in r d manufacturing or marketing all of which are commonly found in industries that produce systemic products

treasury bill auction procedures empirical perspectives from french market bid functions we use empirical properties of market bid functions in treasury bill auctions to analyze the treasury auction mechanism we propose an econometric method that exploits data from auction tables and we determine variables influencing the shape of market bid functions and their fluctuations across auctions we apply the estimation procedure to discriminatory french treasury bill auctions we propose several applications of our empirical model first we provide a tool to forecast incoming auctions second we measure by simulations the impact of different environments on auction rates third we provide new empirical perspectives on the debate about the best procedure between the discriminatory and the uniform price auctions

compulsive policy making the evolution of the german feed in tariff system for solar photovoltaic power abstract in recent years policy approaches that build upon the notion of innovation systems have enjoyed increasing attention in science technology and innovation policy but while the usefulness of systemic thinking in policy making has been demonstrated in a large number of empirical settings we still lack a detailed understanding of the dynamics at play when policy makers address systemic problems in this paper we show how complex interdependencies and the uncertain nature of technological change shape the process of targeted policy interventions in socio technical systems toward this end we analyzed the evolution of the german feed in tariff fit system for solar photovoltaic power a highly effective and widely copied policy instrument targeted at fostering the diffusion and development of renewable energy technologies we find that the policy has been subject to a considerable amount of changes many of which are the result of policy makers addressing specific system issues and bottlenecks interestingly however often these issues themselves were driven by unforeseen technological developments induced by previous policy interventions we argue that the pattern of policy serving as both a solution to and a driver of technological bottlenecks shows strong similarities with what rosenberg 1969 called compulsive sequences in the development of technical systems by shedding more light on how the characteristics of socio technical systems affect policy interventions our framework represents a first step toward more closely integrating the literature on innovation systems with the work on policy learning

inventor networks in renewable energies the influence of the policy mix in germany technological change and gains in efficiency of renewable power generation technologies are to a large extent driven by governmental support various policy instruments that can broadly be categorized as technology push demand pull or systemic constitute part of the policy mix for renewable energies our goal is to gain insights into the influence of this policy mix on the intensity and organization of inventive activities for wind power and photovoltaics in germany since the 1980s we examine the effect of different instruments on the size and structure of co inventor networks based on patent data our results indicate notable differences between the technologies the network size for wind power is driven by technology push and systemic instruments while in photovoltaics demand pull is decisive for network growth by and large the instruments complement each other and form a consistent mix of policy instruments the structure of the networks is driven by demand pull for both technologies systemic instruments increase interaction especially in the wind power network and are complementary to demand pull in fostering collaboration

uk innovation systems for new and renewable energy technologies drivers barriers and systems failures abstract a better understanding of the systemic processes by which innovation occurs is useful both conceptually and to inform policy making in support of innovation in more sustainable technologies this paper analyses current innovation systems in the uk for a range of new and renewable energy technologies and generates policy recommendations for improving the effectiveness of these innovation systems although incentives are in place in the uk to encourage innovation in these technologies system failures or gaps are identified in moving technologies along the innovation chain preventing their successful commercialisation sustained investment will be needed for these technologies to achieve their potential it is argued that a stable and consistent policy framework is required to help create the conditions for this in particular such a framework should be aimed at improving risk reward ratios for demonstration and pre commercial stage technologies this would enhance positive expectations stimulate learning effects leading to cost reductions and increase the likelihood of successful commercialisation