Despite efforts and advocacy in favour of transitioning to cleaner cooking fuels, traditional, highly polluting fuels remain dominant in many developing countries. This has prompted the need for further research and evidence to support policies to increase clean energy adoption and accelerate the energy transition agenda in these countries. This study investigates the role of social origin, proxied by parental education, in the choice of cooking fuel in Ghana. Parental education is treated exogenously; hence, linear probability estimation is employed to examine the relationship between parental education and energy choice. The study finds that parental education significantly positively affects clean cooking fuel adoption, with more potent effects found in fathers’ education than in mothers’ education. Heterogeneity analyses show the impact of dampening among lower-income groups and rural residents. With a noticeable shift in educational attainment trends in recent times, as more persons attain higher education, the findings suggest that policies that infuse the socialisation of children with clean energy and sustainability issues will accelerate the clean energy transition.
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Analyzing the Mechanism of Decentralized Energy Governance Strategy to Reduce Carbon Emissions: Evidence from China
The transition to new energy sources is critical for addressing global carbon emissions. However, there is limited study on how decentralized energy governance (DEG) strategies can effectively promote this transition and mitigate carbon emissions. This study investigates the impact and mechanism of China’s New Energy Demonstration City (NEDC) policy, a prominent DEG strategy, on reducing carbon emissions. Using city-level data from 283 Chinese cities spanning 2006 to 2021, we employ the difference-in-differences method to analyze the policy’s effects. The results suggest that the DEG strategy significantly reduces carbon emissions, primarily through renewable energy innovation and energy transitions. Heterogeneity analysis further highlights that the policy’s effectiveness is more pronounced in non-resource- based cities, R&D-intensive cities, and those with strong environmental regulations. These findings underline the importance of expanding DEG strategies and investing in resources to foster innovation and accelerate energy transitions, providing valuable policy recommendations for achieving carbon neutrality.
Low-Carbon Governmental Policies and Cost of Debt: Evidence from China
This paper uses the staggered difference-in-differences design to investigate the effects of the low-carbon city pilot (LCCP) policy on the cost and underlying mechanisms of debt financing for enterprises. Our findings show that the LCCP significantly decreases the debt cost of enterprises through enhancements in Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance and the reduction of information asymmetry. Additional analysis indicates that the LCCP’s ability to reduce the cost of debt is particularly pronounced for firms with higher agency costs and those located in China’s eastern regions. This study offers evidence for assessing the effectiveness of low-carbon policies and suggests recommendations to policymakers seeking to enhance the design and implementation of LCCP, thereby contributing to the green development of enterprises and regions.
Abate or Exit? The Impact of Mercury Regulation on Coal Generator Retirements
Between 2001 and 2019, coal-fired electricity generation fell by more than half due to generator retirements and reduced usage of remaining generators. Concurrently, technological advancements made previously unrecoverable shale gas reserves economically viable, thus causing downward pressure on natural gas prices. This made them competitive to coal-fired generators that were aging and becoming less efficient. Moreover, states and the federal government began regulating mercury emissions from the electric power sector, since such pollution harms human health. Little is known about how environmental regulation affects firm exit decisions, or in this case, coal generator retirements. Employing a staggered adoption difference-in- differences identification strategy in a two-way fixed effects model as well as a stacked model, I find that state-level mercury regulation that occurred before compliance of the federal-level Mercury and Air Toxics Standards had an insignificant impact on coal-fired generator retirement. Instead, generator-level abatement
investments, power plant efficiency, and state-level natural gas capacity growth help to account for the impressive departure of coal-fired generators from the grid.
Regulation and Standards for a Resilient European Energy System
Increasing climate-related hazards demand a more resilient system that can withstand, adapt, and quickly recover from such shocks. Simultaneously, the drive towards a cleaner energy system, a rapid rise in renewables, and increased sector integration have led to a less stable system that is more volatile than before and more vulnerable to shocks. This development calls for more and better energy-network system services. EU energy legislation addresses specific sides of resilience. Grid planning involves specific resilience assessment requirements for regulators as part of the network development plans. However, resilience must be better integrated and defined as a mandatory assessment requirement. Some national regulatory authorities have already incorporated resilience in their frameworks, but we argue that a targeted regulatory and legislative approach at the EU level is also needed. The benefits of resilience investments must be measured and monetised to be adequately incentivised and included in CBA analyses. In particular, due to the increased coupling between the gas and electricity sectors, new resilience metrics that reflect the growing interdependence and feedback between the two sectors are needed. We examine several approaches to measuring resilience and suggest an approach to monetisation.
Still a Petroleum Tanker of a Different Color: Enduring Obstacles to an LNG-based Global Natural Gas Spot Market
Unconventional natural gas production has driven North American prices down
to a fraction of those in Europe for many years, separating the two largest natural
gas markets. The entry of the United States as a major LNG exporter and the energy
crisis in Europe invites the question of whether LNG can eliminate those price
differences in a global natural gas market, as oceangoing trade does for oil markets.
The relative degree of asset specificity in the infrastructure to trade natural
gas or oil between regions separated by oceans provides insight into why, despite
increased liquefaction capacity in the United States and soaring exports to Europe
in 2022, regional price differences remain likely to persist. The fixed capital cost of
LNG infrastructure is an order of magnitude greater than for crude oil. Additionally,
the regulation of the natural gas industry in major markets outside of North
America effectively precludes competitive entry of LNG, driving a wedge between
regional gas prices. Given these constraints, LNG trade will likely remain dominated
by long-term
contracts instead of the spot markets that typify world oil markets.
Navigating Industrial Energy Vulnerability Effects on Export Competitiveness –Evidence of Small Open Economies
The low-carbon transition and the energy crisis pose new challenges for sustainableeconomic growth in the European Union. The high import dependency and the still insufficient share of renewable energy sources threaten the competitiveness of the European economy, especially in small open economies. The article aims to introduce the term “industrial energy vulnerability” to investigate impact…
Investigation of Mechanisms for Grid-Serving Utilization of Prosumer Household Flexibility
As part of the energy transition, private households become prosumer households
with modern devices like photovoltaic systems, battery storage systems, and electric
vehicles. This research tries to reduce the prosumers’ negative impact on the
local power grid by assessing the impact of different incentivation and control
mechanisms in a simulative, interactive scheduling scheme for households and a
central grid instance. Results show a positive impact on grid operation by iterative
mechanisms adding incentives or limitations for time steps with congestions in an
iterative procedure. Although no single mechanism stands out in the investigation,
the conditional power and daily peak pricing seem to offer a trade-off
between grid
relief and added costs for households without a need for communication. Further
research on prosumer integration is needed for them to contribute to a resilient
grid operation.
Energy Transition Pathways to a low-carbon Europe in 2050: the degree of cooperation and the level of decentralization
In the framework of the Paris Agreement, the European Union (EU) will have to firmly set decarbonization targets to 2050. However, the viability on these targets is an ongoing discussion. The European Commission has made several propositions for energy and climate “roadmaps”. In this regard, this paper contributes by analyzing alternative pathways derived in a unique modelling process. As part of the SET-Nav project, we defined four pathways to a clean, secure and efficient energy system—taking different routes. Two key uncertainties shape the SET-Nav pathways: the level of cooperation (i.e. cooperation versus entrenchment) and the level of decentralization (i.e. decentralization versus path dependency). All four pathways achieve an 85-95% emissions reduction by 2050. We include a broad portfolio of options under distinct framework conditions by comprehensively analyzing all energy-consuming and energy-providing sectors as well as the general economic conditions. We do this by applying a unique suite of linked models developed in the SET-Nav project. By linking more than ten models, we overcome the traditional limitation of models that cover one single sector while at the same time having access to detail sectoral data and expertise. In this paper, we focus on the implications for the energy demand sectors (buildings, transport, and industry) and the electricity supply mix in Europe and compare our insights of the electricity sector to the scenarios of the recent European Commission (2018a) report “A clean Planet for all”.
Facing the Energy Transition: An Introduction
To reconcile sustainable economic growth and climate change mitigation, it is necessary to re-think the current energy model. The commitments of the Paris Climate
Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals will not be achieved unless
energy systems around the world are fundamentally transformed. The energy architecture of the future requires an appropriate framework to cope with different
strategies of how this transformation might be approached. The special issue aims
to shed light on the role of markets and networks for the energy transition and
analyses the appropriate economic, regulatory and policy framework to enable
highly integrated, flexible, clean, and efficient energy systems. It is related to the VI
International Academic Symposium “Facing the Energy Transition: Markets and
Networks” organized in February 2018 by the Chair of Energy Sustainability at
the University of Barcelona