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…
Issues in The Future of Ground Transportation
Enhancing the Reliability of Bulk Power Systems against the Threat of Extreme Weather: Lessons from the 2021 Texas Electricity Crisis
The February 2021 cold weather outages in Texas remain a subject of important investigation, and lessons learned from the crisis have broader relevance for bulk power systems around the world. This article focuses on the policy responses to what we view as the root causes of the extended blackouts: the insufficient preparation of electric generating…
Making Electricity Capacity Markets Resilient to Extreme Weather Events
The devastating 2021 blackout in Texas, among others, has highlighted the need to reform electricity markets to make them resilient to extreme weather events. We review related efforts by system planners and operators within electricity market contexts, focusing on Europe and the United States, and we analyze possible reforms to electricity capacity markets. To account…
Transmission Network Investment in a Time of Transition
New Transactions in Electricity: Peer-to-Peer and Peer-to-X
Peer-to-peer and peer-to-x open a new world of transactions in the electricity sector. This world is characterised by the active involvement of new players, both small in size and non-professional in nature, and by new combinations of the activities carried out behind and in front of the meter. Peer-to-peer refers to transactions in which both…
Policies and Institutions to Support Carbon Neutrality in China by 2060
China’s leadership has announced its aim to achieve carbon neutrality at the national level by 2060. Recent statements clarify that the country’s pledge applies to all greenhouse gases. This review examines the extent to which current policies and institutions would need to evolve to support deep decarbonization in the world’s largest emitting nation. First, we…
Aiming for Carbon Neutrality: Which Environmental Taxes Does Spain Need by 2030?
The Green Deal is a new European strategic plan aiming to achieve carbon neutrality in 2050 with a 55%-reduction in emissions by 2030 as an intermediate target. In the next three decades European policymakers will use a wide set of policy levers to achieve these targets, including taxes on fossil fuels and carbon prices. In…
The Environmental Footprint of Natural Gas Transportation: LNG vs. Pipeline
Emissions to air from the production and transportation of natural gas is an important aspect of the decision making regarding the new infrastructure development in the offshore natural gas sector. In this study, we estimate the emissions of CO2, NOx, nmVOC and CH4 from extraction, processing and transportation of a unit of dry natural gas…