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Abstract This paper contributes to the existing literature as well as policy debates by examining energy intensity and its determinants in China's regional economies. The analysis is based on a comprehensive database of China's regional energy balance constructed for this project. Through its focus on regional China, this study extends the existing literature, which mainly covers nationwide studies. It is found in this paper that energy intensity declined substantially in China. The main contributing factor is the improvement in energy efficiency. Changes in the economic structure have so far affected energy intensity modestly. Thus there is considerable scope to reduce energy intensity through the structural transformation of the Chinese economy in the future.

Abstract The housing growth programme could offer an opportunity for accelerating the deployment of decentralised renewable energy systems (DRES) in the UK. The Government hopes to leverage private sector investment into DRES as part of new housing projects. The aim of this paper is to assess whether current regulatory and funding frameworks are sufficient to achieve this. The question is explored by drawing on the experience of developers, local authorities, energy utilities and service companies operating in the largest housing growth region in the UK–Thames Gateway. Their experience suggests that the current low intervention approach will be insufficient to generate the shift required in both industries. In order to be more successful economic and regulatory instruments should focus on producers (house-builders and energy providers) rather than consumers (households). Tighter regulation is needed to ensure that producers have a responsibility to install DRES as part of new developments, to enable connection to the grid, to ensure a sustained financial return from investment and revenue is spent on the expansion of new renewable energy infrastructure. This regulatory framework must be under-pinned by substantial funds focused on producers. Greater intervention is needed if DRES is to be included in new housing development.

The global drive towards sustainability has ushered in a new era of transportation, prominently featuring the rise of Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs). The rapid rise of BEVs has been widely hailed as a crucial milestone in promoting sustainable transportation and combating climate change. The existing empirical evidence provides undeniable support for the essential role of BEVs to support net zero targets. However, like any disruptive technology, BEVs are not without their hidden effects. This paper seeks to explore and analyse these lesser-known repercussions (i.e., externalities) of BEV adoption. In doing so, it sheds light on the environmental, infrastructure, socio-economic and safety externalities of BEVs, aiming to foster a holistic understanding of their impact and facilitate informed decision-making. Furthermore, it highlights the critical role of public awareness and user education in maximising the benefits of BEVs and the importance of maintaining a balance of information in developing such campaigns. Empowering individuals, communities, and policymakers with accurate information, dispelling misconceptions, and fostering responsible BEV practices are essential for realising maximal environmental impacts of BEVs. The discussion emphasises the need for moving beyond climate-change targets that are merely based on tailpipe emissions, towards life-cycle-based approaches.

Deregulated energy markets were founded on the Merchant Power Producer, a stand-alone generator that sold its production to the spot and short-term forward markets, underpinned by long-dated project finance. The initial enthusiasm that existed for investment in existing and new merchant power plant capacity shortly after power system deregulation has progressively dissipated, following an excess entry result. In this article, we demonstrate why this has become a global trend. Using debt-sizing parameters typically used by project banks, we model a benchmark plant, then re-simulate its performance using live energy market price data and find that such financings are no longer feasible in the absence of long-term Power Purchase Agreements.

A brisk building boom of hydropower mega-dams is underway from China to Brazil. Whether benefits of new dams will outweigh costs remains unresolved despite contentious debates. We investigate this question with the "outside view" or "reference class forecasting" based on literature on decision-making under uncertainty in psychology. We find overwhelming evidence that budgets are systematically biased below actual costs of large hydropower dams - excluding inflation, substantial debt servicing, environmental, and social costs. Using the largest and most reliable reference data of its kind and multilevel statistical techniques applied to large dams for the first time, we were successful in fitting parsimonious models to predict cost and schedule overruns. The outside view suggests that in most countries large hydropower dams will be too costly in absolute terms and take too long to build to deliver a positive risk-adjusted return unless suitable risk management measures outlined in this paper can be affordably provided. Policymakers, particularly in developing countries, are advised to prefer agile energy alternatives that can be built over shorter time horizons to energy megaprojects.

Abstract The industry in China has been developing extensively in the last few decades. Large investments in China's industry may cause congestion because congestion is a widely observed economic phenomenon in such a scenario. In order to know the performance and allocate resources well, it is necessary for the Chinese government to measure congestion of the industry. Many scholars have studied this topic by means of data envelopment analysis (DEA). However, previous studies only pay attention to the framework of desirable outputs. In fact, undesirable outputs often accompany desirable outputs in production. Thus, in this study, a new approach for measuring congestion with undesirable outputs is proposed and applied to analyzing congestion of the industry in 31 administrative regions of China. The results show that five regions have congestion in their industry in 2010. Besides, the regions located in the east of the country perform the best in ecological efficiency, followed by regions in central and west China. Based on these findings, this paper proposes some political schemes to improve regional industrial efficiency.

Abstract Since 2009, the subsidy for large-scale photovoltaic (PV) power plants had been launched, which effectively promoted the development of PV industry. At the same time, negative effects, like serious oversupply of PV industry, were brought about by these large scale governmental subsidies. Although governmental subsidy strongly supports the China PV companies, few of them have competitiveness in the global market. This dramatically conflictive phenomenon attracted many researchers’ attentions in recent years. However, investigations on the best entry and exit occasions of governmental subsidies for the PV industry were rarely reported in previous studies. Therefore, based on the existing division method of enterprise development model, classification of 72 PV companies listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges in China was firstly carried out in this paper. This is followed by studying the influence of governmental subsidies on the indexes of different stages of enterprise development. Finally, a conclusion was drawn that the governmental subsidies at Early Exploratory Stage can maximize the social and economic effects, suggesting the best entry occasion, and subsidies at Intermediate Stage and Mature Stage have little effects on its turnover and aggravate the overcapacity of PV supply, suggesting a suitable exit occasion.