determining appropriate feed in tariff rates to promote biomass to electricity generation in eastern ontario canada abstract on site data collection interviews and financial models were used to determine the feed in tariff fit rate required to encourage investment in the generation of electricity from currently unused biomass from the eastern ontario forest industry a financial model was adapted and run to determine the net present value internal rate of return and payback period associated with a 15 mw biomass to electricity facility the analysis suggests that ontario should consider a stronger incentive than the recently offered cdn 0 13 kw 1 h 1 for biomass to electricity if no customer for heat generated from the plant can be found fit rates between cdn 0 17 0 22 kw 1 h 1 are necessary to achieve a 15 internal rate of return and a simple payback of approximately 5 yr achieving a price of cdn 0 013 kw 1 of thermal output still requires elevated fit rates between cdn 0 15 0 21 kw 1 h 1 to meet economic performance criteria other barriers particularly regulations regarding the use of operating engineers in steam plants should also be addressed to facilitate development of biomass to electricity without these changes it is likely that biomass will be significantly under used and will not contribute to the renewable energy goals of ontario

support systems for the diffusion of renewable energy technologies an investor perspective concern over climate change impacts and the projected depletion of fossil fuels has urged more governments to adopt policies that stimulate the diffusion of renewable energy technologies ret with an increasingly diverse suite of support instruments the question emerges as to which instruments or combinations are able to achieve faster more substantial diffusion results although various support instruments were extensively addressed in policy studies there is still no consensus this is partly because many policy studies take a policy maker approach in comparing support instruments leaving relationships between policy design and policy results as a black box this paper proposes an investor oriented perspective to analyze the diffusion potential of support systems for ret the main argument is that it is not the type of support instrument but rather its risk profitability characteristics that influence investor behavior and the rate of diffusion the two instruments most frequently discussed and compared are the feed in tariff and the quota model the analysis in this paper concludes that policy design is crucial while often feed in tariffs are applauded and quota system feared feed in tariffs may also bring about disappointing diffusion results when poorly designed while quota systems may be also conceived as attractive instruments for independent power producers

financing renewable energy infrastructure formulation pricing and impact of a carbon revenue bond abstract renewable energy systems depend on large financial incentives to compete with conventional generation methods market based incentives including state level rec markets and international carbon markets have been proposed as solutions to increase renewable energy investment in this paper we introduce and formulate a carbon revenue bond a financing tool to complement environmental credit markets to encourage renewable energy investment to illustrate its use we value the bond by predicting future revenue using stochastic processes after analyzing historical price data three illustrative examples are presented for renewable energy development in three different markets europe australia and new jersey our findings reveal that the sale of a carbon revenue bond with a ten year maturity can finance a significant portion of a project s initial cost

the importance of comprehensiveness in renewable electricity and energy efficiency policy based on extensive research interviews and supplemented with a review of the academic literature this article assesses the best way to promote renewable energy and energy efficiency it begins by briefly laying out why government intervention is needed and then details the four most favored policy mechanisms identified by participants eliminating subsidies for conventional and mature electricity technologies pricing electricity accurately passing a national feed in tariff and implementing a nationwide systems benefit fund to raise public awareness protect lower income households and administer demand side management programs drawing mostly from case studies in the united states the article also discusses why these policy mechanisms must be implemented comprehensively not individually if the barriers to renewables and energy efficiency are to be overcome

electricity supply security and the future role of renewable energy sources in brazil abstract hydropower is the backbone of the brazilian electricity generation sector even though the use of this resource is advantaged in terms of greenhouse gas emissions last years severe droughts have exposed the country s huge dependency on hydroelectricity brazil s electricity supply system has shown to be vulnerable to electricity shortages and has demanded significant overhaul in order to address its challenges the present paper provides a comprehensive review of the current status of the brazilian electricity sector and discusses diversification of electricity generation mix as a strategy to improve electricity supply security in the country an overview of the main features of the energy sources applied in brazil is also presented through a review of the latest available generation data the central section of this work is a discussion of the main causes of the current crisis and the future role of renewable energy sources in a 10 year perspective

wage and employment growth in america s drug epidemic is all growth created equal the rise in drug overdose deaths in the united states since the turn of the millennium has been extraordinary a popular narrative paints a picture whereby opioid overdoses among white male less educated rural workers have been caused by reduced economic opportunities borne by such people in this article we causally test the validity of this theory by using bartik type variables to explore the relationship between local economic conditions and county opioid overdose death rates we add to the literature by exploring how both employment and wage growth in different types of industries are related to opioid overdose deaths for the population as a whole as well as for rural vs urban male vs female and white vs black populations we find mixed evidence our results confirm that wage and employment growth in industries more likely to employ low skill workers are important protective factors for rural white males however we also find evidence that economic improvements in low skill industries are just as important in protecting blacks and women against opioid overdoses and for workers in metro counties we also find evidence that employment growth in high paying industries has led to increases in opioid overdoes rates

effects of farm size education and off farm income on productive efficiency of dairy farmers in utah a stochasitc frontier approach this study is primarily concerned with investigating the technical allocative and scale inefficiency of owner operators of dairy farms in utah a stochastic production frontier has been applied to analyze these inefficiencies the results indicate that there is positive association between years of education and productivity of labor and capital productivity is also found to be negatively related to off farm income regarding the effects of farm size on efficiency it is found that large farms are the most efficient of all sizes considered separate estimates of technical allocative and scale inefficiencies indicate that large and medium sized farms are technically more efficient than small farms large farms on average are found to be performing much better than medium sized and small farms so far as allocative and scale inefficiency are concerned copyright 1989 by mit press

impact of deployment of renewable portfolio standard on the electricity price in the state of illinois and implications on policies abstract the renewable portfolio standard rps of the state of illinois specifies a schedule for the fraction of electricity produced from wind to be phased in through 2025 the price of electricity due to implementation of rps in order to achieve a six year payback on investment on new wind farms was estimated for six scenarios that examined the effect of electricity consumption growth rate production tax credit of 0 022 kw h or unrestricted investment tax credit of 30 and projected changes in installed project costs in all cases the electricity price was found to be dominated by the installed project cost capital cost thus any policy that affects the capital cost directly or indirectly would have a significant effect on the electricity price whereas investment tax credit has a direct effect policies that encourage technology improvement and improve transmission lines would have a similar effect of lowering the capital cost carbon tax on the other hand would increase the electricity price to the consumers although it offers other benefits

eu renewable energy support policy faith or facts the recent eu commission proposal for promoting the supply of power from renewable energy sources was originally based on a pan european harmonised tradable green certificate tgc scheme we suggest on the basis of a multi disciplinary analysis that a pan eu tgc system is not the way forward for europe it is vital that the commission and the majority of member states avoids implementation of such policy designs put forward by a coalition of vested interests they should instead look at and act upon the available evidence from those countries that have experimented with tgcs e g flanders uk and sweden and design policies that stand a better chance of meeting the criteria of effectiveness efficiency and equity in particular the policies must enable eu to meet the immense innovation industrialisation challenge by inducing the development of a capital goods industry that can eventually diffuse a broad range of technologies that use renewable energy sources only then we can acquire an ability to implement an industrial revolution in the energy system in a way that broadly meets the criteria of effectiveness and dynamic efficiency

on the quantification of the network capacity deferral value of distributed generation this paper presents an approach to the quantification of the distribution network capacity deferral value of distributed generation dg besides different technical benefits such as reliability and power quality improvement there are a number of economic benefits related to dg the most important of which being the end user electricity bill reduction capability however since the onset of the implementation of these technologies the potential of dg to defer investments on distribution wires and transformers was soon realized to the point that non wire solutions are now considered as an alternative to network upgrades in this work a first approximation to the capacity deferral benefits brought about by dg is obtained such approach can be the starting point towards the development of a framework of credits to the owners of dg that fully and fairly recognize the deferral benefits provided to the utility the financial performance of investments on these important technologies can be then improved thus broadening dg as a viable market alternative for customers and utilities

cost effectiveness as energy policy mechanisms the paradox of technology neutral and technology specific policies in the short and long term when choosing policy mechanisms to design and deploy energy policies policymakers typically seek cost effective ones linking cost effectiveness to the lowest cost of support for res e generation and or consumer costs the objectives of this paper are to analyze the cost effectiveness of renewable portfolio standards rps feed in tariffs fit and auctions in the short and long term considering both technology neutral and technology specific approaches results show that rps and auctions are more cost effective than feed in tariffs fit in the short term if cost effectiveness is defined as minimizing consumer costs also if one or more emerging technologies with higher levelized life cycle costs lcc low cumulative production and high experience elasticity are considered in the pool of res e policy design a technology neutral approach in the short term could lock out these emerging technologies avoiding a long term lcc reduction in this case a technology specific policy used in the short term would reflect lower total generation policy costs in the long term if compared with a technology neutral policy in both short and long term this paper calls this phenomenon the paradox of technology neutral and technology specific policies in the long term considering the results this paper suggests a mix of technology neutral and technology specific policies using rps or auction mechanisms to promote res e

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

electricity generation from renewables in the united states resource potential current usage technical status challenges strategies policies and future directions abstract in order to secure the energy future and protect the environment the u s is looking for renewable resources to meet the increasing energy demands for its electricity sector which accounts for 40 of total u s energy consumption in 2011 the overall aim of this article is to summarize the possible approaches that can be used to improve and optimize the utilization of renewables for electricity generation in the united states first an overview is presented about the resource potential current usage and technical status of electricity generation from renewables in the united states second a number of economic operational regulatory sustainability and technical challenges that are likely to be encountered are identified third strategies are outlined that can be used to minimize costs deal with the spatial nature of renewables smooth temporal variations associated with intermittency and achieve successful integration of electricity generated from renewable resources into the u s power grid fourth a sustainability assessment framework for renewable resource deployment for electricity generation in the u s is discussed the framework considers multiple criteria including cost environmental and social impacts thus giving a comprehensive assessment of each renewable energy resource for electricity generation in the united states fifth the current u s renewable energy policy is analyzed and rigorous recommendations are made for optimizing future u s renewable energy policy that can permanently induce a long term sustainable shift towards electricity generation from renewables finally directions for future research are highlighted

analysing the technical efficiency of the spanish football league first division with a random frontier model this article analyses technical efficiency of football clubs in the spanish football league division 1 primera liga from the seasons 1995 1996 to 2004 2005 with an unbalanced panel data the random frontier model is used allowing the identification of random variables in the cost frontier it is concluded that the price of capital investment the number of points won and attendance are heterogeneous variables therefore no common public policy aiming to improve efficiency can embrace all of the clubs so that policies by clusters are required

an introduction to the economics of immigration in oecd countries the share of the foreign born in oecd countries is increasing and this article summarizes economics research on the effects of immigration in those nations four broad topics are addressed labor market issues fiscal questions the political economy of immigration and productivity international trade extreme concerns about deleterious labour market and fiscal impacts following from new immigrants are not found to be warranted however it is also clear that government policies and practices regarding the selection and integration of new migrants affect labour market fiscal and social cultural outcomes policies that are well informed well crafted and well executed beneficially improve population welfare

bartik instruments what when why and how the bartik instrument is formed by interacting local industry shares and national industry growth rates we show that the typical use of a bartik instrument assumes a pooled exposure research design where the shares measure differential exposure to common shocks and identification is based on exogeneity of the shares next we show how the bartik instrument weights each of the exposure designs finally we discuss how to assess the plausibility of the research design we illustrate our results through two applications estimating the elasticity of labor supply and estimating the elasticity of substitution between immigrants and natives

lowering standards to wed spouse quality marriage and labor market responses to the gender wage gap this paper examines the effect of the female to male wage ratio relative wage on women s spouse quality marriage and labor supply over three decades exploiting task based demand shifts as a

renewable electricity support systems are feed in systems taking the lead abstract support systems for renewable energy sourced electricity res e can be classified into price and quantity based systems their most representative instruments are feed in systems price based and quota systems e g green certificates or a renewable portfolio standard quantity based the origins of these support systems are quite different and are motivated by different political and economic needs likewise their geographical distribution and effectiveness also differ worldwide feed in systems are the most widespread res e support system in recent years some classical quota countries have partially or even totally changed to feed in systems feed in systems seem to encourage higher res e deployment technology diversity and investor security although the manufacturing capacity for certain res e technologies has been more developed in some feed in countries lately this has changed to some extent due to the incorporation of emerging countries in the res e industry traditionally quota systems appeared to be more compatible with liberalisation of the electricity market however since the introduction of the premium system this argument can be countered since feed in premiums can be considered compatible with the electricity market as quota systems regarding the price paid for res e in quota countries higher green certificate prices have not led to higher res e quantities moreover the relative support levels in quota countries are higher on average than in fit countries contradicting the common argument that quota systems are more cost effective additionally feed in systems especially if stepped tariffs are designed encourage higher res e geographical dispersion avoiding the concentration of res e facilities in just a few locations which can lead to nimby not in my back yard syndrome all these factors may explain the steady spread of feed in systems worldwide the purpose of this paper is to assess the performance of quota and feed in systems thereby contributing to the worldwide debate on the suitability of the different res e support systems

implementing renewable energy portfolio standards the good the bad and the ugly in a two state comparison abstract understanding how household practices with regard to energy usage change and how to most effectively encourage the adoption of technologies that utilize renewable energy sources at the residential scale are important issues for addressing the environmental impacts of energy use here the social practices model spaargaren 2003 is applied to examine solar technology adopters in two u s states who were interviewed about adopting residential solar electric technology and specifically about their experiences with the rebate and incentive programs available to them examining the policies and interrogating their potentially unintended consequences from the perspective of the user sheds light on how residential solar incentive programs act as systems of provision shaping the practices of solar technology adopters in hopes of improving these incentive programs and effectively encouraging increased residential solar technology adoption findings suggest that feed in tariffs offer additional positive outcomes related to broadening the context for adoption and encouraging future energy conservation while size restrictions wholesale pricing in net metering agreements and inconsistent policy mechanisms across utilities in the same state all have potentially unintended negative consequences utilizing a perspective attentive to social practice offers a means of improving the design and implementation of energy policy

renewable deployment in india financing costs and implications for policy india s ambitious goals for renewable energy raise many questions regarding the nature of investment required we conduct financial modeling of actual renewable projects in india and derive the following insights first the high cost of debt is the most pressing problem higher cost and inferior terms of debt in india may raise the cost of renewable energy by 24 32 compared to the u s second even if cost of debt goes down loan terms including short tenors and variable interest rates will become significant impediments given that they add 13 14 to the cost of renewable energy in india compared to the u s finally due to the high cost of debt policy lessons from the u s and europe which focus on finer instruments such as duration of revenue support revenue certainty investor risk perception and completion cost certainty are not likely to be as effective with potential impacts on the cost of renewable energy in the 3 11 range in fact we find that an interest rate subsidy which reduces the cost of debt reduces the overall subsidy burden by 13 16 this suggests that indian policymakers need to prioritize the provision of low cost long term debt and take a closer look at the successful efforts by china and brazil 2013 elsevier ltd

strategic choices for renewable energy investment conceptual framework and opportunities for further research this paper introduces the special issue on strategic choices for renewable energy investment which is a collection of best papers presented at an international research conference held in st gallen switzerland in february 2010 substantial private investment is needed if public policy objectives to increase the share of renewable energy and prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change are to be achieved the aim of this paper and the entire special issue is to draw scholarly attention to the processes underlying strategic choices for renewable energy investment and how they are influenced by energy policy we disentangle the role of risk return perceptions portfolio effects and path dependence in explaining energy investment decisions and suggest that the heterogeneous universe of investors requires a segmentation of policies the paper outlines some of the rich opportunities for further research in this emerging area

do state minimum wages affect the incarceration rate because of historically unprecedented increases in the prison population since the late 1970s the united states has the highest incarceration rate in the world using becker s 1968 framework on crime this study investigates the causal relationship between incarceration rates and state minimum wages our identification strategy consists of a state level fixed effects model and autor and dorn s 2013 two stage least squares 2sls approach using the historical local industry structure we predict the change in employment shares of manual task intensive occupations and use those as an instrument for state minimum wages the fixed effects and 2sls estimates suggest that a one dollar increase in state minimum wage leads to approximately 12 25 fewer incarcerations per 100 000 state residents estimates of the heterogeneous impacts by race and gender indicate that the aggregate impact of state minimum wages is entirely driven by men

the economic costs of reducing greenhouse gas emissions under a u s national renewable electricity mandate the electricity sector is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions ghgs in the u s many states have passed and congress has considered renewable portfolio standards rps mandates that specific percentages of electricity be generated from renewable resources we perform a technical and economic assessment and estimate the economic costs and net ghg reductions from a national 25 percent rps by 2025 relative to coal based electricity this policy would reduce ghg emissions by about 670 million metric tons per year 11 percent of 2008 u s emissions the first 100 million metric tons could be abated for less than 36 metric ton however marginal costs climb to 50 for 300 million metric tons and to as much as 70 metric ton to fulfill the rps the total economic costs of such a policy are about 35 billion annually we also examine the cost sensitivity to favorable and unfavorable technology development assumptions we find that a 25 percent rps would likely be an economically efficient method for utilities to substantially reduce ghg emissions only under the favorable scenario these estimates can be compared with other approaches including increased r d funding for renewables or deployment of efficiency and or other low carbon generation technologies

optimal design of subsidy to stimulate renewable energy investments the case of china this paper proposes a real options model for estimating the optimal subsidy for renewable energy power generation project by using stochastic process to describe the market price of electricity co2 price and investment cost two indicators i e project value and threshold value are used to derive the optimal subsidy the least squares monte carlo simulation method is used to solve the model the proposed model is used to empirically evaluate the optimal level of subsidy for solar photovoltaic power generation in china the results show that carbon emission trading scheme helps reduce subsidy unit generating capacity market price of electricity co2 price and the volatility of investment cost are negatively related with subsidy whereas investment cost and the volatility of electricity price and co2 price are positively related with subsidy it is suggested that chinese governments take some measures e g promoting technological progress establishing a nationwide carbon emission trading market promoting the competition in renewable energy industry as well as maintaining the stability of co2 price and electricity price to reduce the required subsidy

social acceptance of renewable energy innovation an introduction to the concept this paper introduces the special issue on social acceptance of renewable energy innovation it is a collection of best papers presented at an international research conference held in tramelan switzerland in february 2006 while there are ambitious government targets to increase the share of renewable energy in many countries it is increasingly recognized that social acceptance may be a constraining factor in achieving this target this is particularly apparent in the case of wind energy which has become a subject of contested debates in several countries largely due to its visual impact on landscapes this paper introduces three dimensions of social acceptance namely socio political community and market acceptance factors influencing socio political and community acceptance are increasingly recognized as being important for understanding the apparent contradictions between general public support for renewable energy innovation and the difficult realization of specific projects the third dimension market acceptance has received less attention so far and provides opportunities for further research particularly from management scholars

envisaging feed in tariffs for solar photovoltaic electricity european lessons for canada abstract while it is widely agreed that support schemes need to be put in place to promote the use of renewable electricity there is less consensus as to what are the best kinds of strategies to use what is attracting increasing attention in canada is a system of renewable portfolio standards in this all power suppliers are under an obligation to ensure that a certain percentage of the electricity they generate is from renewable resources they can either generate that electricity themselves or purchase green certificates from those who have used renewables to generate electricity recent experience from europe however suggests that a whole hearted commitment to this single strategy could be premature and potentially damaging for the development of all kinds of renewable electricity in canada solar photovoltaics included on the other side of the atlantic ocean the use of so called feed in tariffs that is an obligation for utilities to purchase at a set price the electricity generated by any renewable energy resource is widely credited with accelerating the development of renewable electricity in many countries the purpose of this article is to reflect upon this european experience with feed in tariffs to stimulate discussions regarding what promise they might hold for the development of solar photovoltaic electricity in canada the article is divided into three main sections in the first section policies to promote renewable electricity presently in place in different parts of canada are reviewed attention is then focused more specifically in the second section of this article upon feed in tariffs after defining and describing this alternative system experiences in the countries of the european union are reviewed the main strengths and weaknesses of feed in tariffs in the european experience are also examined the focus then moves back to canada in the third section of the article in this a system of feed in tariffs is proposed for the province of ontario in order to provide just one example of the kind of support that could be forthcoming

the empirical identification of heterogeneous technologies and technical change when different technologies are present in an industry we assume that a homogeneous technology will lead to misleading implications about technical change and inefficient policy recommendations in this article a latent class modelling approach and flexible estimation of the production structure is used to distinguish different technologies for a representative sample of eu dairy producers as an industry exhibiting significant structural changes and differences in production systems in the past decades the model uses a transformation function to recognize multiple outputs separate technological classes based on multiple characteristics a flexible generalized linear functional form a variety of inputs and random effects to capture firm heterogeneity and measures of first and second order elasticities to represent technical change and biases we find that if multiple production frontiers are embodied in the data different firms exhibit different output or input intensities and changes associated wi

interactions between the power and green certificate markets abstract the current trend of liberalising the power markets is combined with ambitious deployment plans for power production based on renewable energy supplies a new policy scheme to ensure this extension has been developed in the form of a green certificate system with a politically determined target of deployment in such a system producers of renewably based electricity receive tradable certificates in proportion to the electricity they produce the producer can thereby sell these certificates and receive additional revenue apart from the power price this paper studies the price and consumption effects of such a system with a simple model we show that the effects are ambiguous this ambiguity is caused by the interaction between the two markets therefore the green certificate system is difficult to manage if the state has parallel energy targets such as a desired deployment of renewably based energy and a stabilisation or reduction of the energy consumption in addition this complicates the regulation through a deployment target of renewably based power production as the regulator has to be aware of the different effects which follow a specific target until now these effects have not been considered in the analyses of the green certificate system when introducing the system even though it might have considerable consequences for the success of the system

policies and market factors driving wind power development in the united states abstract in the united states there has been substantial recent growth in wind energy generating capacity with growth averaging 24 percent annually during the past five years about 1700 mw of wind energy capacity was installed in 2001 while another 410 mw became operational in 2002 during 2003 development activity has remained strong with an estimated 1600 mw of capacity installed with this growth an increasing number of states are experiencing investment in wind energy projects currently about half of all states host at least one wind power project this paper explores the key factors at play in the 12 states in which a substantial amount of wind energy capacity has been developed or planned some of the factors that are examined include policy drivers such as renewable portfolio standards rps federal and state financial incentives as well as market drivers such as consumer demand for green power natural gas price volatility and wholesale market rules

the cost of solar centric renewable portfolio standards and reducing coal power generation using arizona as a case study abstract this paper develops an econometric forecasting system of energy demand coupled with engineering economic models of energy supply the framework is used to quantify the impact of a state level renewable portfolio standard rps achieved predominately with solar generation we perform the analysis using arizona s rps as a case study over the period 2012 2035 we find if arizona implements its rps when supplying future electricity demand there will be an increase in electricity rates relative to a business as usual scenario of reliance on gas fired generation extending the current regime of tax credits greatly reduces this increase at the taxpayers expense we find that by 2025 arizona s rps will implicitly abate carbon dioxide emissions at a cost between 58 and 82 per metric ton and by 2035 abatement costs are between 22 and 69 per metric ton depending on the future evolution of nature gas prices the rps always leads to a negative impact on social welfare under low gas prices but after 2029 the welfare impact is positive under high gas prices in contrast phasing out arizona s existing coal fired generation always has positive welfare impacts

estimating the value of wind energy using electricity locational marginal price abstract there is an increasing interest in adding renewables such as wind to electricity generation portfolios in larger amounts as one response to concern about atmospheric carbon emissions from our energy system and the resulting climate change most policies with the aim of promoting renewables e g rps fit do not explicitly address siting issues which for wind energy are currently approached as the intersection of wind resource land control and transmission factors this work proposes the use of locational marginal price lmp the location and time specific cost of electricity on the wholesale market to signal locations where generation can address electricity system insufficiency after an examination of the spatial and temporal behavior of lmp in michigan over the first two years of wholesale market operation this work combines lmp with wind speed data to generate a value metric high value sites in michigan tend to be sites with higher wind speeds with the bulk of value accruing in the fall and winter seasons

which renewable energy policy is a venture capitalist s best friend empirical evidence from a survey of international cleantech investors governments around the world have adopted ambitious targets to increase the share of renewable energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions they pursue a variety of policy approaches to achieve these targets it has been a popular theme for contributions in energy policy to investigate the effectiveness of such policies this article adds a new perspective to the debate namely looking at the policy preferences of private investors in innovative clean energy technology firms we surveyed 60 investment professionals from european and north american venture capital and private equity funds and asked them to assess the effectiveness of various policies in terms of stimulating their interest to invest in innovative clean energy technologies in addition to quantitative rankings we use qualitative interview data to capture additional information on why investors prefer some policies over others the combined analysis compensates for the inherent limitations of a quantitative ranking using generic policy types the results of this exploratory analysis demonstrate that all other things being equal investors in our sample perceived feed in tariffs to be the most effective renewable energy policy the overall preference for feed in tariffs is even more pronounced among investors based in europe and with higher exposure to clean energy

dairy farm efficiency measurement using stochastic frontiers and neoclassical duality this paper presents a stochastic efficiency decomposition model based on kopp and diewert s deterministic methodology the stochastic model is used to analyze technical economic and allocative efficiency for a sample of new england dairy farms the results suggest that mean economic efficiency for the farmers in the sample is about 70 and that on average there is little difference between technical 83 0 and allocative 84 6 efficiency analyses of the relationship between efficiency and four socioeconomic variables farm size education extension and experience reveal that despite some statistically significant associations efficiency levels are not markedly affected by these variables

green energy market development in germany effective public policy and emerging customer demand this paper reviews the development of renewable energy in germany from 1973 to 2003 it investigates the relative importance of energy policy and green power marketing in shaping the renewable energy market more than a decade of consistent policy support for renewables under the feed in law streg and its successor eeg has been an important driver for increasing renewable electricity generation to date putting the country in a better position than most of its peers when it comes to achieving european union targets for renewable energy green power marketing driven by customer demand on the other hand is growing but has had limited measurable impact so far we discuss potential intangible benefits of green power marketing and scenarios for future market development the paper concludes with lessons that can be learned from the german case for policy design and market development in other countries

market deregulation trade liberalization and productive efficiency in bangladesh agriculture an empirical analysis the impact of trade liberalization and of market deregulation in general on the performance of agriculture remains contentious and empirical issue in the literature following the random coefficient frontier modelling framework this paper attempts to contribute to this debate by computing the farm specific productive efficiency indices in bangladesh agriculture before and after reform it also examines the impact of some farm specific and policy variables on productive efficiency the empirical results show that there are wide variations in productive efficiency across farms and regions and the average efficiency of all regions increased modestly by 8 percentage points from the pre reform to post reform period the efficiency differentials are largely explained by farm size infrastructure households off farm income and the reduction of government anti agricultural bias in relation to trade and domestic policies the implication of these results suggests the need for further policy reform to augment p

renewable energy technology diffusion an analysis of photovoltaic system support schemes in medellin colombia abstract colombia s electricity mix is dominated by hydropower which constitutes over 65 percent of the installed capacity the country has important potential for introducing solar photovoltaic sources into its electricity generation mix given its high average annual insolation however there is a lack of incentives and support schemes for alternative renewable energy technologies this paper analyzes the diffusion of a photovoltaic system in colombia with a focus on medellin colombia s second largest city a diffusion model is constructed based on the classic bass diffusion theory where the adoption rate is a function of awareness raising campaigning and social interaction the model incorporates both subsidy and feed in tariff policies policy implementation scenarios and the effects of policy mixes are analyzed results show that a 50 percent subsidy for investment together with a usd 0 30 kwh feed in tariff rate jointly provide the highest marginal increase in diffusion rate however given the cheapness of the country s current hydroelectric resources photovoltaic system diffusion might remain a challenge for both the government and private sectors for the foreseeable future

cost effectiveness of renewable electricity policies we analyze policies to promote renewable sources of electricity a portfolio standard rps raises electricity prices and primarily reduces gas fired generation a knee of the cost curve exists between 15 and 20 goals for 2020 in our central case and higher natural gas prices lower the cost of greater reliance on renewables a renewable energy production tax credit lowers electricity price at the expense of taxpayers which limits its effectiveness in reducing carbon emissions and it is less cost effective at increasing renewables than a portfolio standard neither policy is as cost effective as a cap and trade policy for achieving carbon emission reductions

state level renewable electricity policies and reductions in carbon emissions abstract a wide range of renewable electricity policies has been adopted at the state level in the united states but to date there has been no large scale empirical assessment of the effect of these policies on carbon emissions such an assessment is important because scholars have pointed out that increases in renewable electricity will not necessarily lead to declines in carbon emissions we examine the effects of a range of policies across 39 states we find significant and robust decreases in carbon emissions associated with the introduction of public benefit funds a form of carbon tax adopted by 19 states to date our aim in this paper is not to provide a final judgment on these policies many of which may not have been in place long enough to show strong effects but to shift the attention of the research community away from proximate measures such as increases in clean electricity generation and onto measurement of lower carbon emissions

the distributional effects of job loss from fiscal consolidation evidence from the budget control act of 2011 abstract we leverage spending reductions from the budget control act of 2011 to estimate the effect of fiscal consolidation on local employment overall job losses were modest and tilted more heavily toward educated individuals cost per job estimates range from 250 000 500 000

china s sovereign wealth fund investments in overseas energy the energy security perspective abstract sovereign wealth funds swfs are state owned investment funds that invest in real and financial assets since the global financial crisis in 2008 swfs investments have resulted in national security concerns of host countries because swfs continue to expand rapidly and have become increasingly active in real time strategic transactions given this background china which has the biggest swf in the world is facing severe challenges of energy resources shortages while its plan is to accomplish social and economic development goals energy security is a key driving force of the energy investment policy of china s swfs this makes the swf investments more complicated and more politically sensitive the combination of sovereign rights and the strategic importance of energy also makes geopolitics more complicated and brings more uncertainty to swf investments this article explores the relationship between energy security and energy investments of china s swfs it is recognised that the energy investment of swfs must follow a sustainable path to coordinate energy security economic growth return on investment and national security concerns government policymakers are urged to balance the financial and political returns on swfs against potential negative effects the conclusion presents insights for policymakers energy scholars and swf researchers

investment barriers and incentives for marine renewable energy in the uk an analysis of investor preferences abstract deployment of marine renewable energy mre in the uk is desirable in order to address climate change meet mandatory eu renewable energy targets and provide significant economic development opportunities including new export markets public funding constraints in the uk mean that substantial investment is required from the private sector to commercialize the industry by focussing on investor attitudes and behaviours towards wave and tidal technologies this paper reveals significant observations from the investment community with serious implications for the future of the mre industry through a series of in depth interviews with individuals from the investment community device developers and industry support the research seeks to identify common barriers and incentives to investment the paper demonstrates that although investors attitudes are generally aligned they do appear to have changed over time of the participants that had previously invested in early stage mre device development none were likely to do so again it is concluded that this is a function of investors greater understanding of the scale and unpredictability of the costs and the length of time required to develop these technologies this presents a significant policy challenge for all actors interested in the commercialization of wave and tidal technologies

assessment of sustainability indicators for renewable energy technologies the non combustion based renewable electricity generation technologies were assessed against a range of sustainability indicators and using data obtained from the literature the indicators used to assess each technology were price of generated electricity greenhouse gas emissions during full life cycle of the technology availability of renewable sources efficiency of energy conversion land requirements water consumption and social impacts the cost of electricity greenhouse gas emissions and the efficiency of electricity generation were found to have a very wide range for each technology mainly due to variations in technological options as well as geographical dependence of each renewable energy source the social impacts were assessed qualitatively based on the major individual impacts discussed in literature renewable energy technologies were then ranked against each indicator assuming that indicators have equal importance for sustainable development it was found that wind power is the most sustainable followed by hydropower photovoltaic and then geothermal wind power was identified with the lowest relative greenhouse gas emissions the least water consumption demands and with the most favourable social impacts comparing to other technologies but requires larger land and has high relative capital costs

the cinderella options a study of modernized renewable energy technologies part 1 a technical assessment abstract this paper examines the status of and prospects for renewable energy technologies it is argued that the prospects for obtaining large scale supplies are good especially in the industrialized countries and that sufficient evidence exists for them to be taken much more seriously in the energy policy process reasons for their low status include inadequate data and a scepticism born of past disappointments however a failure to transfer existing knowledge to the policy community and well documented institutional and psychological processes are probably more important a major change of attitudes is required and is in the long run inevitable but the process will not be easy together with energy efficiency and natural gas renewable sources will then emerge as the third leg of the triad which will lead the way out of the growing energy environmental impasse however the changes involved could either deepen or alleviate political conflicts a great deal will hinge upon the timing and path of the changes

forecasts scenarios visions backcasts and roadmaps to the hydrogen economy a review of the hydrogen futures literature scenarios roadmaps and similar foresight methods are used to cope with uncertainty in areas with long planning horizons such as energy policy and research into the future of hydrogen energy has been no exception such studies can play an important role in the development of shared visions of the future creating powerful expectations of the potential of emerging technologies and mobilising resources necessary for their realisation this paper reviews the hydrogen futures literature using a six fold typology to map the state of the art of scenario construction the paper then explores the expectations embodied in the literature through the answers it provides to questions about the future of hydrogen what are the drivers barriers and challenges facing the development of a hydrogen economy what are the key technological building blocks required in what kinds of futures does hydrogen become important what does a hydrogen economy look like how and when does it evolve and what does it achieve the literature describes a diverse range of possible futures from decentralised systems based upon the small scale renewables through to centralised systems reliant on nuclear energy or carbon sequestration there is a broad consensus that the hydrogen economy emerges only slowly if all under business as usual scenarios rapid transitions to hydrogen occur only under conditions of strong governmental support combined with or as a result of major discontinuities such as shifts in society s environmental values game changing technological breakthroughs or rapid increases in the oil price or speed and intensity of climate change

estimating technical efficiency of australian dairy farms using alternative frontier methodologies technical efficiency is estimated and examined for a cross section of australian dairy farms using various frontier methodologies bayesian and classical stochastic frontiers and data envelopment analysis the results indicate technical inefficiency is present in the sample data also identified are statistical differences between the point estimates of technical efficiency generated by the various methodologies however the rank of farm level technical efficiency is statistically invariant to the estimation technique employed finally when confidence credible intervals of technical efficiency are compared significant overlap is found for many of the farms intervals for all frontier methods employed the results indicate that the choice of estimation methodology may matter but the explanatory power of all frontier methods is significantly weaker when interval estimate of technical efficiency is examined

assessing the impact of economic liberalization across countries a comparison of dairy industry efficiency in canada and the usa this paper examines and compares the technical efficiency measures of ontario and new york dairy producers for the period 1992 to 1998 a nonparametric stochastic frontier model is introduced to estimate technical efficiency the backfitting algorithm of breiman and friedman is used to estimate the frontier empirical results indicate that during the period of study new york dairy farmers produced milk more efficiently than ontario dairy producers but the magnitude of the difference was small the estimated mean technical efficiency for the former group is 0 602 as compared to 0 532 for the latter the results also indicated that over time dairy farms in both regions improved their level of technical efficiency furthermore no correlation was found between farm size and estimated technical efficiency

state renewable energy electricity policies an empirical evaluation of effectiveness over the past decade state governments have emerged as us energy policy leaders across the country states are adopting policy instruments aimed at carbon mitigation and renewable energy deployment one of the most prevalent and innovative policy instruments is a renewable portfolio standard rps which seeks to increase the share of renewable energy electrification in the electricity market this analysis evaluates the effectiveness of state energy programs with an empirical investigation of the linkage between state rps policy implementation and the percentage of renewable energy electricity generation across states we use a variant of a standard fixed effects model referred to as a fixed effects vector decomposition with state level data from 1998 to 2006 results indicate that rps implementation is not a significant predictor of the percentage of renewable energy generation out of the total generation mix yet for each additional year that a state has an rps policy they are found to increase the total amount of renewable energy generation these findings reveal a potentially significant shortcoming of rps policies political institutions natural resource endowments deregulation gross state product per capita electricity use per person electricity price and the presence of regional rps policies are also found to be significantly related to renewable energy deployment

employment in the great recession how important were household credit supply shocks i pool data from all large multimarket lenders in the united states to estimate how many of the over 7 million jobs lost in the great recession can be explained by reductions in the supply of mortgage credit i construct a mortgage credit supply instrument at the county level the weighted average by prerecession mortgage market shares of liquidity driven lender shocks during the recession the reduction in mortgage supply explains about 15 of the employment decline the job losses are concentrated in construction and finance

estimating total factor productivity growth in singapore at sectoral level using data envelopment analysis trends in total factor productivity growth tfpg are examined in the ten major sectors of singapore data are drawn from the yearbook of statistics singapore various issues and economic survey of singapore series ranging from the year 1985 to 2000 due to the heterogeneous characteristic of each sector and non availability of reliable input price data this study uses a non parametric frontier methodology known as data envelopment analysis dea to obtain the malmquist productivity index at the sectoral level the results can help singapore identify the best practice sector and laggards in three aspects efficiency change technical change and tfpg which is the qualitative productivity improvements needed for long term economic growth the three sets of productivity estimates are adjusted for effects of inflation and business cycles so that they are more reliable for policy implications this exercise will provide a platform for more detailed study on the determinants of tfp growth in different s

the politics of renewable energy policies the case of feed in tariffs in ontario canada designing and implementing a renewable energy policy involves political decisions and actors yet most research on renewable energy policies comparatively evaluates instruments from an economic or technical perspective this paper presents a case study of ontario s feed in tariff policies between 1997 and 2012 to analyze how the political process affects renewable energy policy design and implementation ontario s policy although initially successful has met with increasing resistance over time the case reveals key political tensions that arise during implementation first high level support for a policy does not necessarily translate into widespread public support particularly for local deployment second the government often struggles under asymmetric information during price setting which may weaken the policy s legitimacy with the public due to higher costs third there is an unacknowledged tension that governments must navigate between policy stability to spur investment and adaptive policymaking to improve policy design fourth when multiple jurisdictions pursue the same policies simultaneously international political conflict over jobs and innovation may occur these implementation tensions result from political choices during policy design and present underappreciated challenges to transforming the electricity system governments need to critically recognize the political dimension of renewable energy policies to secure sustained political support