Effects of Increased Renewable Energy Consumption on Electricity Prices: Evidence for Six South American Countries

This research examines the relationship between renewable energy consumption and electricity prices in six South American countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador and Peru). The methodology used is a panel econometric model with annual data for the period 1990–2015. The results show that the consumption of renewable energies influences the price of electricity paid by households, although its influence is very moderate. On the other hand, it was observed that the consumption of renewable energies has no relationship with the energy prices of the industrial sector and the commercial and services sector. In the countries analyzed, an increase in GDP causes an increase in the price of energy in the industrial sector. With more CO2 emissions and a rise in the international price of oil, the annual average price of the industrial sector decreases.

DEPENDENCE OF THE COST OF ELECTRICITY ON THE VOLUME OF GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS

The strategy of low-carbon development of the economy and energy of Russia provides for the introduction of a fee (tax) for carbon dioxide emissions by power plants. This will seriously affect their prospective structure and lead to an increase in electricity prices. The expected neg-ative consequences for national and energy security are great. But serious and multilateral research is needed to properly assess these strategic threats

Practical and Thermodynamic Constraints on Electromicrobially-Accelerated CO2 Mineralization

By the end of the century tens of gigatonnes of CO2 will need to be removed from the atmosphere every year to maintain global temperatures. Natural weathering of ultramafic rocks and subsequent mineralization reactions can convert atmospheric CO2 into ultra-stable carbonates. But, while natural weathering will eventually draw down all excess CO2, this process will need hundreds of thousands of years to do it. The CO2 mineralization process could be accelerated by weathering ultramafic rocks with biodegradable lixiviants like organic acids. But, in this article we show that if these lixiviants are produced from cellulosic biomass, the demand created by CO2 mineralization could monopolize the world's supply of biomass even if CO2 mineralization performance is high. In this article we demonstrate that electromicrobial production technologies that (EMP) combine renewable electricity and microbial metabolism could produce lixiviants for as little as $200 to $400 per tonne at solar electricity prices achievable within the decade. Furthermore, this allows the lixiviants needed to sequester a tonne of CO2 to produced for less than $100, even with modest CO2 mineralization performance.

The Influence of the Properties of Thermal - Insulation Materials on the Thermomoist Indicators of a Building

One of the basic measures of energy efficiency in residential buildings is the reduction of heat and coolant pressure, when external structures - walls, ceilings - contain thermal insulation material, as a result of which heat and cold losses are reduced, as a result of air-and moisture permeability. Their number is largely determined by the climatic zone of the building, construction, sources of heat and cold, fuel and electricity prices in this region. In such practice, first of all, attention is paid to the problems of the optimal thickness of the thermal insulator, the installation location, since improper installation in the structure can cause water condensation, which will lead to partial wear of the structure, since the properties of reinforced-concrete layers will deteriorate. This concerns the peculiarities of carrying out thermal insulation works and their necessity both in under construction and in buildings in use. However, even in these conditions, when discussing the thermal effect of thermal insulation on structures, due attention is not paid to individual structures, especially walls, moisture problems. Consideration of insulators with more or less efficient energy and heat engineering characteristics, when it was found that there is a significant difference between their results and effects, aroused particular interest in the study of the problem. This is followed by a study of the influence of the presence of thermal insulation in the structure on the cold load required for cooling, revealed a pattern of cost changes in the case of insulating materials with more or less properties - foam.

Comparison of Support Programs for the Development of Photovoltaics in Poland: My Electricity Program and the RES Auction System

Poland has great potential for the development of renewable energy sources. The implementation of support systems dedicated to renewable sources has resulted in the installation of over 10,500 MW of installed capacity. At present, with high electricity prices, stimulated by the costs of CO2 emissions and the costs of fuel purchase, renewable energy sources are of particular importance in the transformation of the Polish power industry. The RES auction system and the My Electricity Program contributed to the growth of entrepreneurship and the development of the economy. Energy consumers, from passive ones, have become active market participants—prosumers. The RES auction system alone contributed to the creation of approx. 5 GWp of installed capacity of photovoltaics (PV) sources in 2016–2021, while the My Electricity Program contributed to the creation of approx. 2 GWp of installed capacity in PV installations in 2019–2021. The aim of the study is to compare the economic and social costs of two photovoltaic development programs, My Electricity and the RES auction system, from the point of view of the country (in support distribution costs—subsidies) and investors, renewable energy installations operators and prosumers to which these programs are targeted, namely, individuals and enterprises.

Omicron will slow but not weaken German recovery

Significance Bundesbank president Jens Weidmann stated that the “recovery has been somewhat pushed back” by the impact of supply chain restrictions, the rising costs of raw materials and energy and the spread of the more transmissible Omicron COVID-19 variant. Impacts Higher taxes on carbon emissions and elevated electricity prices will slow economic growth in the short term. Opening more paths for legal immigration will become a crucial policy for tackling labour shortages over the coming years. Education and infrastructures will be the main recipients of new investment under Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government.