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Abstract Numerous countries have set up strategic petroleum reserves (SPRs) in response to oil disruptions since 1970. While numerous studies model such programs, we found few that evaluate SPRs' historical performance. Thus, we evaluate the U.S. SPR's performance by comparing actual real costs with estimated real benefits. From 1976 to 2014, the real U.S. SPR cost was about $219 billion real (2014$) dollars, whereas the real benefit was only $122 billion. Sensitivity testing suggests such negative net benefits are qualitatively robust. However, if world oil demand is extremely inelastic to oil price or GDP is elastic enough to oil price shocks, the estimated U.S. SPR net benefit is positive. Sensitivity testing around total real costs and benefits range from $380 billion to $80 billion. Limited testing of IEA coordinated drawdowns suggests that total U.S. benefits jump from $122 billion to more than $400 billion putting the SPR strongly in the black. Limited testing of private sector inventory changes was more disappointing and tentatively suggests private activities may at times have offset some of the government drawdowns. With 20-20 hindsight, initial experimentation found that better management could have significantly enhanced the value of the U.S. SPR, especially for the 1990-91 disruption.

Abstract Technological progress is an effective way to improve electricity efficiency. Due to the existence of the rebound effect, it is of great significance to optimize the technical power saving policy by examining the rebound effect caused by different technological progress paths.Based on the panel data of electricity industry in 30 provinces of China from 1997 to 2013, this paper systematically examines the rebound effects of electricity consumption under the two sources of technological progress, namely independent innovation and technology import. Then, it discusses the impact of coal-electricity linkage policy. The empirical results are as follows: (1) without considering rebound effect, independent innovation significantly promotes electricity conservation, while the effects of technology import is not obvious; (2) when considering the rebound effect, electricity price declining driven by independent innovation is not conducive to electricity saving, while electricity price declining driven by technology import has an electricity-saving effect; (3)The coal-electricity linkage policy that began in 2004 not only reduced the rebound effect by increasing the flexibility of electricity prices to a certain extent and improved the electricity-saving effect of independent innovation, but also reduced the electricity-saving effect of technology import.

Abstract An overview for energy use in Chinese economy is presented in this study by means of a systems cross-scale input-output analysis. To concretely reflect the cross-scale effect between China and the rest of the world, embodied energy intensity of foreign imports is provided on the basis of our recent work on the world economy, in contrast to the conventional assumption of the same intensity for both the foreign and domestic trade. In 2012, the energy embodied in gross fixed capital formation is found to constitute nearly half of the total energy use in China, three-quarters larger than the total household consumption. Approximately 40% of energy resources embodied in final use turn out to be imported from foreign regions, twice the share of the direct energy imports in total energy consumption recorded by traditional direct accounting. The trade imbalance in energy use is illustrated with the support of the law of comparative advantage. In addition to economic benefits, hidden social impacts, including indirect external dependence and health costs associated with non-energy trade, should also be considered by the government in industrial structure adjustment. The present embodiment study is expected to be remarkably supportive for sustainable energy policy making in China.

This paper analyses the impact of postponing global mitigation action on abatement costs and energy systems changes in China and India. It compares energy-system changes and mitigation costs from a global and two national energy-system models under two global emission pathways with medium likelihood of meeting the 2 °C target: a least-cost pathway and a pathway that postpones ambitious mitigation action, starting from the Copenhagen Accord pledges. Both pathways have similar 2010–2050 cumulative greenhouse gas emissions. The analysis shows that postponing mitigation action increases the lock-in in less energy efficient technologies and results in much higher cumulative mitigation costs. The models agree that carbon capture and storage (CCS) and nuclear energy are important mitigation technologies, while the shares of biofuels and other renewables vary largely over the models. Differences between India and China with respect to the timing of emission reductions and the choice of mitigation measures relate to differences in projections of rapid economic change, capital stock turnover and technological development. Furthermore, depending on the way it is implemented, climate policy could increase indoor air pollution, but it is likely to provide synergies for energy security. These relations should be taken into account when designing national climate policies.

This paper aims to fill a research gap in the area of consumer-citizen attitudes to business models for decentralized energy storage, at the level of households and buildings. The study focuses on the interaction of such attitudes and their underlying motivation factors with socio-cultural, contextual factors. Self-determination theory (SDT) is used as a theoretical framework, to connect interpersonal and contextual factors, addressing the question of how contexts influence the motivation to support energy storage. Drawing on SDT, this study examines the role of autarky (independence from the energy system), autonomy (control over energy management) and relatedness (degree of sharing required) in this regard, embedded and interpreted in the socio-cultural local context of two demonstration sites in Sweden and Portugal. A mixed method approach is used. Quantitative survey data provides information on local social and cultural dimensions, followed by stakeholder consultation workshops that elicit participants’ views on different models of decentralized energy storage. The findings raise questions of how to improve autarky and autonomy for prosumers, while keeping the need for time investment low and provide flexibility regarding the required degree of interaction between prosumers. Implications for business models and policy support for citizen-centered sustainable urban energy systems are derived.

Abstract Energy efficiency improvement will reduce the effective price of energy services, and hence at least partially mitigate original expected energy conservation. Therefore, the magnitude of rebound effect is important for the design and timing of an effective energy conservation policy. Under the framework of translog cost share equations, we estimates the direct rebound effect for heavy industry in China for the first time by conducting an empirical research on the relationship between the direct rebound effect and the ease with which energy services can substitute for other inputs. Additionally, asymmetric price responses are specified in the model for the rebound effect estimation. Empirical results in our paper indicate that the rebound effect for heavy industry in China is about 74.3%. This reveals that energy efficiency improvement can save energy to a certain degree since the rebound effect is less than 100% (“back-fire”), but most of the expected reduction in heavy industry energy consumption is mitigated. These findings prove that energy pricing reforms and energy taxes should be further implemented to achieve effective energy conservation in China’s 12th Five Years Plan.

Decarbonisation of energy systems requires deep structural change. The purpose of this research was to analyse the rates of change taking place in the energy systems of each Member State of the European Union (EU), and the EU in aggregate, in the light of the EU's climate change mitigation objectives. Trends on indicators such as sectoral activity levels and composition, energy intensity, and carbon intensity of energy were compared with decadal benchmarks derived from deep decarbonisation scenarios. The methodology applied provides a useful and informative approach to tracking decarbonisation of energy systems. The results show that while the EU has made significant progress in decarbonising its energy system. On a number of indicators assessed the results show that a significant acceleration from historical levels is required in order to reach the rates of change seen on the future benchmarks for deep decarbonisation. The methodology applied provides an example of how the research community and international organisations could complement the transparency mechanism developed by the Paris Agreement on climate change, to improve understanding of progress toward low-carbon energy systems.

Resilience is receiving increasing scientific attention, albeit its notion is still in progress and not univocal, especially when it comes to specific sectors such as energy. Energy and resilience policy is detected as a dominant strategy to achieve international development objectives throughout long-term sustainability and wellbeing goals. Energy resilience also crosses major energy policy issues – namely energy vulnerability, security, poverty, and justice. Making use of the Web Of Science 2018 release, this work aims at contributing to a clarification of the concept of energy resilience, proposing a taxonomy. The bibliometric outputs show a sharp increase in scientific publications on the issue. The bibliometric analysis suggests a taxonomy of energy resilience based on 7 approaches or strategies. The results suggest an evolution of the conceptual contributions, that enlarge resilience early use, merely applied to technical and hard sciences. Resilience is today used in different disciplines, including social sciences and sustainability studies, as part of a holistic approach centered on sustainable development.