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Winter Ends
There is a common assumption that all-electric automobiles, powered by lithium-ion batteries, are the future of vehicle transportation. It is argued here that this is not the likely outcome, especially in the less-developed countries. Use of photovoltaic (PV) cells, in conjunction with gasoline or hydrogen-hybrids, will be less expensive, and more likely to be adopted…
Inland Hard Coal Transportation Costs in the European Union—A Model Based Approach
Although some EU countries have already ceased coal-fired electricity generation, coal will still be a relevant topic within the European electricity mix in the medium term. A hard coal power plant competes in the merit order mainly with other hard coal power plants and also with gas power plants. One of the main cost drivers…
Energy Systems Integration: Economics of a New Paradigm
Energy Systems Integration (ESI) is an emerging paradigm emanating from a whole system perspective of the energy sector. It is based on a holistic view by which the main energy carriers are integrated to achieve horizontal synergies and efficiencies at all levels. The energy system may in turn integrate with other infrastructure sectors such as…
Book Reviews
Electricity Access: An Introduction
This EEEP symposium on electricity access introduces the readers to this topical field of research and policy, and brings together leading scholars from emerging and industrial countries that address a broad spectrum of related issues. After sketching out the challenge using standard targets and indicators, this introduction to the symposium provides a survey of the…
Levelized Cost of Consumed Electricity
Current calculations to evaluate the profitability of the various energy generating units ignore intermittency as well as complementary technologies, such as battery storage and smart meters. Therefore, we propose a new assessment of the cost of solar energy that takes into account smart grids. In doing this, we use data from a low energy dwelling…
The Future of Russian Gas Exports
Disputes between Russia and Ukraine over the terms for gas transit and deliveries prompted Russia to accelerate development of new gas pipelines to Europe circumventing Ukraine, as well as exploring the potential for gas export to additional markets like Turkey and China. The current paper examines implications of Russia increasing its gas exports capacity by…
How Incumbent Cultural and Cognitive Path Dependencies Constrain the ‘Scenario Cone’: Reliance on Carbon Dioxide Removal due to Techno-bias
Scenario analysis is widely used to assess long-term development necessary to reach climate targets. Mitigation measures in these scenarios concentrate on supply-side technology solutions, while little attention has been paid to demand side solutions. One suite of included technologies are carbon dioxide removal technologies (CDR). Most scenarios rely heavily on CDR to limit global warming…
Use and Abuse of Energy and Climate Scenarios—A Week of Controversy on Scenarios
Energy and climate scenarios, and all other scenarios, are controversial, because they touch strategic issues, and also affect very basic operational discussion, such as the choice of the fuel mix, or the degree of trading between companies and nations. This article documents a controversial exchange of ideas via email between the two opponents, about energy…