It has been suggested that climate change impacts on the electric sector will account for the majority of global economic damages by the end of the current century and beyond Rose S, et al. (2014) ...Understanding the Social Cost of Carbon: A Technical Assessment. The empirical literature has shown significant increases in climate-driven impacts on overall consumption, yet has not focused on the cost implications of the increased intensity and frequency of extreme events driving peak demand, which is the highest load observed in a period. We use comprehensive, high-frequency data at the level of load balancing authorities to parameterize the relationship between average or peak electricity demand and temperature for a major economy. Using statistical models, we analyze multiyear data from 166 load balancing authorities in the United States. We couple the estimated temperature response functions for total daily consumption and daily peak load with 20 downscaled global climate models (GCMs) to simulate climate change-driven impacts on both outcomes. We show moderate and heterogeneous changes in consumption, with an average increase of 2.8% by end of century. The results of our peak load simulations, however, suggest significant increases in the intensity and frequency of peak events throughout the United States, assuming today’s technology and electricity market fundamentals. As the electricity grid is built to endure maximum load, our findings have significant implications for the construction of costly peak generating capacity, suggesting additional peak capacity costs of up to 180 billion dollars by the end of the century under business-as-usual.
The debate regarding whether fiscal decentralization can effectively mitigate carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions has gained increasing attention, although there is little empirical evidence to support ...this issue. To provide empirical evidence in support of the theoretical argument, this study investigates the impact of fiscal decentralization on CO2 emissions by using a balanced panel dataset of seven OECD countries between 1990 and 2018. Further, we explore the roles institutions and human capital play in the impact of fiscal decentralization on CO2 emissions. Hence, in addition to the direct impact, we assume fiscal decentralization could indirectly affect CO2 emissions through various channels, such as institutions and human capital. The empirical results indicate that fiscal decentralization improves environmental quality. Moreover, the relationship between fiscal decentralization and environmental quality is strengthened by improvements in the quality of institutions and the development of human capital. In addition, there are one-way effects from fiscal decentralization, GDP, human capital, eco-innovation, and institutional quality on CO2 emissions, but not the other way round. In terms of policy implications, this study suggests that by authorizing a lower unit of the state, countries could successfully implement policies related to improving environmental quality.
•The fiscal decentralization-CO2 nexus for seven OECD countries is examined.•Cross-sectional dependence and slope heterogeneity exist within the data.•Indirect impacts of fiscal decentralization on CO2 through institutional quality and human capital are found.•One-way causality runs from fiscal decentralization to CO2 emissions.
This paper reviews the market for electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure; it focuses on the types of existing charging, the main functions and actors in the market and the future policy ...actions required for widespread expansion. Electric vehicles represent a key technology in the mitigation of transportation greenhouse gas emissions and ambitious EV adoption targets have been set by many governments by 2030 and beyond. The rollout of EV charging infrastructure is vital in achieving this goal, as the uptake of EVs is linked to the level of coverage of EV chargers. To date, both the public and private sectors have been involved in the provision of charging stations and it is timely to consider the roles of the different actors in this market. We consider whether EV charging infrastructure is a public good or private asset and address the issues of the location of future chargers, the deployment models needed to develop, operate and own charging infrastructure, and finally the policy context for the development of charging infrastructure. We find that clear roles should be assigned to the individual public and private actors and funders, in order to achieve efficient development of the required infrastructure for large-scale EV deployment.
•A review of the market for electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure.•We focus on the types of existing charging, the main functions and actors in the market and the future policy actions required for widespread expansion.•The roles of the different actors (public and private) in the charging market should inform EV infrastructure policy.•The location of future chargers, the deployment models needed to develop, operate and own charging infrastructure, and the policy context are discussed.•Clear roles should be assigned to the public and private funders to develop the infrastructure for large-scale EV deployment.
Future energy demand is likely to increase due to climate change, but the magnitude depends on many interacting sources of uncertainty. We combine econometrically estimated responses of energy use to ...income, hot and cold days with future projections of spatial population and national income under five socioeconomic scenarios and temperature increases around 2050 for two emission scenarios simulated by 21 Earth System Models (ESMs). Here we show that, across 210 realizations of socioeconomic and climate scenarios, vigorous (moderate) warming increases global climate-exposed energy demand before adaptation around 2050 by 25-58% (11-27%), on top of a factor 1.7-2.8 increase above present-day due to socioeconomic developments. We find broad agreement among ESMs that energy demand rises by more than 25% in the tropics and southern regions of the USA, Europe and China. Socioeconomic scenarios vary widely in the number of people in low-income countries exposed to increases in energy demand.
While the literature has studied various factors affecting green productivity growth, there is a relative dearth of empirical studies quantitatively analyzing the linkage between green finance ...development and green productivity. Based on a comprehensive index of green finance development, this research thus employs panel data of 30 China's provinces for the period 2006–2018 to explore the influence of green finance on green total factor productivity, revealing estimation results that green finance development significantly improves the level of green productivity. This beneficial effect tends to be stronger in provinces with higher levels of economic and social conditions, less public participation in environmental protection, and high pollution levels. We also find that implementing a green finance policy can further enhance the impact of green finance development. The empirical results herein offer policy implications to China's green finance planning and environmental policy.
•Assess the impact of green finance on green total factor productivity.•Green finance development is measured by a multidimensional index system.•Green finance development significantly improves the level of green productivity.•Effects are stronger with high economic, social, and environmental conditions.•Green finance policy can further enhance the impact of green finance development.
Water and energy resources are intrinsically linked, yet they are managed separatelyeven in the water-scarce American southwest. This study develops a spatially explicit model of water-energy ...interdependencies in Arizona and assesses the potential for cobeneficial conservation programs. The interdependent benefits of investments in eight conservation strategies are assessed within the context of legislated renewable energy portfolio and energy efficiency standards. The cobenefits of conservation are found to be significant. Water conservation policies have the potential to reduce statewide electricity demand by 0.82–3.1%, satisfying 4.1–16% of the state’s mandated energy-efficiency standard. Adoption of energy-efficiency measures and renewable generation portfolios can reduce nonagricultural water demand by 1.9–15%. These conservation cobenefits are typically not included in conservation plans or benefit-cost analyses. Many cobenefits offer negative costs of saved water and energy, indicating that these measures provide water and energy savings at no net cost. Because ranges of costs and savings for water-energy conservation measures are somewhat uncertain, future studies should investigate the cobenefits of individual conservation strategies in detail. Although this study focuses on Arizona, the analysis can be extended elsewhere as renewable portfolio and energy efficiency standards become more common nationally and internationally.
What are the relationships among environmental performance, green finance, and green innovation in developing countries? Existing literatures support the impact of green finance or green innovation ...on environmental performance, but rare studies query the cointegration among such three variables. We thus utilize the yearly data of 57 developing countries from 2002 to 2016 to empirically examines the relationships among environmental performance, green finance, and green innovation, via panel covariate-augmented Dickey-Fuller unit root test and the Westerlund and Edgerton (2007) cointegration test. Overall, this study confirms the existence of cointegration relationships among these variables. Moreover, the results of pooled mean group estimation suggest that environmental performance can positively affect the green innovation in the long term in the non-emerging countries and countries with better green innovation or environmental performance. Furthermore, green finance positively affects green innovation in the emerging countries and countries with lower level of green finance, while green finance negatively affects green innovation in the countries with better green innovation or environmental performance. Our empirical findings offer important policy implications for the sample of developing countries to promote green innovation and improve environmental performance.
•Check long-run relationships among environmental performance, green finance and green innovation.•Investigating the long-run and short-run impacts.•The relationship varies among different countries.
Given the aging of greenhouse facility, there is a need for investigating the transformation of existing greenhouses to maximize solar energy utilization. In this study, Chinese solar greenhouse ...(CSG) in the Beijing area served as an optimized prototype. A mathematical model was established to determine the range of CSG vertex positions. Then, a 3D dynamic simulation model was developed to optimize greenhouse structure and determine the lighting roof shape that offers better light and temperature environments. The structural safety of CSG steel skeletons was assessed and designed using finite element software. The optimized greenhouse significantly improved the indoor climate, particularly in light environment. Compared to the original greenhouse, the average captured solar energy of the optimized CSG increased by 5.4 MJ m−2, and the average temperature increased by 3.1 °C. The maximum differences in solar radiation and temperature among various lighting roof shapes are 4.8 % and 6.1 %, respectively. Furthermore, the optimized CSG steel skeletons met the requirements for structural stability. The payback period of CSG optimization was about 1.6 years. These methods and findings provide valuable design strategies for upgrading old greenhouses and can be further applied in different regions.
•The greenhouse optimizing strategy combined lighting, heat storage and safety.•The average solar radiation and temperature increased by 5.4 MJ m−2 and 3.1 °C.•The cost of optimizing Chinese solar greenhouse can be repaid in 1.6 years.•The proposed framework can be applied to solar greenhouses at any latitude.
We examine the effect of research and development (R&D) intensity on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the Group of Seven (G7) countries since the nineteenth century using a non-parametric panel data ...model. Our estimates suggest that the relationship between R&D and CO2 emissions is time-varying. The estimated time-varying coefficient function of R&D was negative for three quarters of the period studied, but was positive for a 35-year period (1955–1990) during the second half of the twentieth century. Our non-parametric local linear estimates show that the common trend functions gradually increased for the first 110 years (1870–1980), but then flattened out and showed a slight decrease for the next three decades.
•We examine the effect of R&D intensity on CO2 emissions in the Group of Seven (G7) countries.•We adopt non-parametric panel data models on a sample that covers the period 1870–2014.•Our estimates suggest that the relationship between R&D and CO2 emissions is time-varying.•The relationship between R&D and CO2 emissions is negative for three quarters of the period studied.
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