scholarly journals Universal access to electricity: actions to avoid locking-in unsustainable technology choices

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Puig ◽  
Magda Moner-Girona ◽  
Sandor Szabo ◽  
Irene Pinedo Pascua
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Interest Rates ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Electricity Generation ◽  
Universal Access ◽  
Gas Emissions ◽  
Policy Goals ◽  
Alternative Approaches ◽  
Electricity Access

Abstract Traditional rural-electrification planning relies on centralised, fossil-fuelled electricity generation and grid extension. High-interest rates on renewable energy-powered electricity-generation projects, coupled with low oil prices, favour traditional models and put renewable energy-powered technologies at a disadvantage. Nonetheless, over the past decades alternative approaches have emerged, based on renewable energy-powered, decentralised electricity-generation systems, notably mini-grids. This article makes the case for these alternative approaches. It does so by quantifying the magnitude to which regulating the price of diesel – through subsidies and taxes – affects two sets of parameters: the extent and cost of electrification programmes, and the greenhouse-gas emissions associated with the implementation of these programmes. The analysis, based on high-resolution geo-referenced modelling, covers 71 countries in Africa, South Asia and developing East Asia, representing 85 percent of the world’s un-electrified population. The results highlight that, compared to decentralised fossil-fuelled electricity generation, renewable energy-powered mini-grids perform better with regard to achieving two long-standing policy goals: increasing electricity-access rates and reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.

scholarly journals Residential Consumers’ Willingness to Pay Price Premium for Renewable Heat in South Korea

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 1234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hee-Hoon Kim ◽  
Seul-Ye Lim ◽  
Seung-Hoon Yoo
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Willingness To Pay ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Price Premium ◽  
Gas Emissions ◽  
Residential Heating ◽  
The Cost

Heat accounts for about one-third of the final energy use and it is mostly produced using fossil fuels in South Korea. Thus, heat production is an important source of greenhouse gas emissions. However, using renewable heat that is directly produced from renewable energy, such as bioenergy, geothermal, or solar heat can save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, rather than transforming conventional fuel into heat. Therefore, an energy policy for renewable heat urgently needs to be established. It is such situations that this paper attempts to assess the consumers’ additional willingness to pay (WTP) or the price premium for renewable heat over heat that is produced from fossil fuels for residential heating. To that end, a nationwide contingent valuation survey of 1000 households was conducted during August 2018. Employing the model allowing for zero WTP values, the mean of the additional WTP or premium for one Gcal of heat produced using renewable energy rather than fossil fuels was estimated to be KRW 3636 (USD 3.2), which is statistically meaningful at the 1% level. This value represents the price premium for renewable heat over heat that is based on fossil fuels. Given that the heat price for residential heating was approximately KRW 73,000 (USD 65.1) per Gcal at the time of the survey, the additional WTP or the price premium corresponds to about 5% of that. When considering that the cost of producing renewable heat is still significantly higher than the cost of producing fossil fuels-based heat, more efforts to lower the production costs of renewable heat as well as financial support of the government for producing and supplying renewable heat are needed to ensure residential consumers’ acceptance of renewable heat.

scholarly journals Rolling coal: The greenhouse gas emissions of coal rail transport for electricity generation

2020 ◽  
Vol 259 ◽  
pp. 120770 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Sherwood ◽  
Robert Bickhart ◽  
Emily Murawski ◽  
Zemin Dhanani ◽  
Blake Lytle ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Electricity Generation ◽  
Rail Transport ◽  
Gas Emissions

scholarly journals Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Electricity Generation

2012 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. S122-S135 ◽  
Author(s):  
David D. Hsu ◽  
Patrick O’Donoughue ◽  
Vasilis Fthenakis ◽  
Garvin A. Heath ◽  
Hyung Chul Kim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Electricity Generation ◽  
Crystalline Silicon ◽  
Gas Emissions

scholarly journals The impact of agriculture and renewable energy on climate change in Central and East European Countries

2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (No. 10) ◽  
pp. 447-457
Author(s):  
Nicoleta Mihaela Florea ◽  
Roxana Maria Badircea ◽  
Ramona Costina Pirvu ◽  
Alina Georgiana Manta ◽  
Marius Dalian Doran ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Granger Causality ◽  
Granger Causality Test ◽  
Causality Test ◽  
Gas Emissions ◽  
The Impact

According to the objectives of the European Union concerning the climate changes, Member States should take all the necessary measures in order to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions. The aim of this study is to identify the causality relations between greenhouse gases emissions, added value from agriculture, renewable energy consumption, and economic growth based on a panel consisting of 11 states from the Central and Eastern Europe (CEECs) in the period between 2000 and 2017. The Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) method was used to estimate the long-term relationships among the variables. Also a Granger causality test based on the ARDL – Error Correction Model (ECM) and a Pairwise Granger causality test were used to identify the causality relationship and to detect the direction of causality among the variables. The results obtained reveal, in the long term, two bidirectional relationships between agriculture and economic growth and two unidirectional relationships from agriculture to greenhouse gas emissions and renewable energy. In the short term, four unidirectional relationships were found from agriculture to all the variables in the model and one unidirectional relationship from renewable energy to greenhouse gas emissions.

scholarly journals Special Issue on Cutting-Edge Technologies for Renewable Energy Production and Storage

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 837
Author(s):  
Matteo Prussi
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Energy Production ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Energy Sources ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Gas Emissions ◽  
Renewable Energy Production ◽  
And Storage

Anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are dramatically influencing the environment, and research is strongly committed in proposing alternatives, mainly based on renewable energy sources [...]

scholarly journals Smart Solutions for Sustainable Cities—The Re-Coding Experience for Harnessing the Potential of Urban Rooftops

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (20) ◽  
pp. 7112
Author(s):  
Valeria Todeschi ◽  
Guglielmina Mutani ◽  
Lucia Baima ◽  
Marianna Nigra ◽  
Matteo Robiglio
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Geographical Information Systems ◽  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Geographical Information ◽  
Renewable Energy Resources ◽  
Gas Emissions ◽  
The City

Urban rooftops are a potential source of water, energy, and food that contribute to make cities more resilient and sustainable. The use of smart technologies such as solar panels or cool roofs helps to reach energy and climate targets. This work presents a flexible methodology based on the use of geographical information systems that allow evaluating the potential use of roofs in a densely built-up context, estimating the roof areas that can be renovated or used to produce renewable energy. The methodology was applied to the case study of the city of Turin in Italy, a 3D roof model was designed, some scenarios were investigated, and priorities of interventions were established, taking into account the conditions of the urban landscape. The applicability of smart solutions was conducted as a support to the review of the Building Annex Energy Code of Turin, within the project ‘Re-Coding’, which aimed to update the current building code of the city. In addition, environmental, economic, and social impacts were assessed to identify the more effective energy efficiency measures. In the Turin context, using an insulated green roof, there was energy saving in consumption for heating up to 88 kWh/m2/year and for cooling of 10 kWh/m2/year, with a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 193 tCO2eq/MWh/year and 14 tCO2eq/MWh/year, respectively. This approach could be a significant support in the identification and promotion of energy efficiency solutions to exploit also renewable energy resources with low greenhouse gas emissions.

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