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El objetivo de este trabajo es evaluar el nivel de eficiencia en la generación de electricidad de los parques eólicos gallegos en el año 2004 mediante técnicas no paramétricas DEA como método principal, y de un modo complementario mediante técnicas paramétricas tanto determinísticas como estocásticas. Los resultados muestran que el nivel de eficiencia medio es bastante elevado aunque existen unidades que teniendo en cuenta las condiciones en que operan no alcanzan niveles adecuados de eficiencia. Esta información puede ser relevante para los promotores de los parques eólicos, el regulador del sector y la sociedad en general.

This paper investigates the effect of voluntary eco-certification on the rental and sale prices of US commercial office properties. Hedonic and logistic regressions are used to test whether there are rental and sale price premiums for LEED and Energy Star certified buildings. The results of the hedonic analysis suggest that there is a rental premium of approximately 6% for LEED and Energy Star certification. A sale price premium of approximately 35% was found for 127 price observations involving LEED rated buildings and 31% for 662 buildings involving Energy Star rated buildings. When compared to samples of similar buildings identified by a binomial logistic regression for LEED-certified buildings, the existence of a rent and sales price premium is confirmed albeit with differences regarding the magnitude of the premium. Overall, the results of this study confirm that LEED and Energy Star buildings exhibit higher rental rates and sales prices per square foot controlling for a large number of location- and property-specific factors.

With a view to determine the effectiveness of the policies aimed at boosting natural gas consumption, this paper examines the unit root properties of natural gas in 44 countries, for the period 1965 to 2010. Applying the LM unit root tests, which allow for a maximum of two structural breaks, we are able to reject the null hypothesis of unit root in the natural gas consumption series in 57% of the countries. A key policy implication of this finding is that initiatives designed to have permanent positive effects on natural gas, such as construction of large natural gas pipeline network, are likely to be effective in increasing the share of natural gas consumption in only 43% of the total sample.

Economic and policy problems plague Ontario’s electricity sector six years after the government’s initial attempt at market liberalization in 2002. Several changes of direction later, the electricity sector has a hybrid structure of regulation and market forces, with a central procurement role assigned to the Ontario Power Authority (OPA). This paper questions whether a central procurement approach represents the best means of achieving a well-functioning electricity sector and, if not, what better approach exists.

This paper analyzes 18 scenarios surrounding the benefits and costs of a policy to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOX) from electricity generation in the 19 eastern states. Under each scenario, an annual policy would yield net benefits that are at least as great as those expected under the Environmental Protection Agency’ s (EPA) currently planned seasonal policy, and additional benefits of $724 million per year under the midpoint values (1997 dollars). The 11 northeastern states benefit the most from an annual policy, but relative net benefits are also positive in the remaining states in the region.

In Turkey, natural gas consumption started at 0.5 bcm (billion cubic meters) in 1987 and reached approximately 35 bcm in 2007. Turkish natural gas usage is projected to further increase remarkably in coming years. In 2001, a reform process was started to create and strengthen a competitive natural gas market. However, the reform has not worked out as expected so far. The present article discusses the application of auctions in Turkish natural gas distribution zones. After presenting a short summary of current literature, natural gas utilization and recent developments in Turkish natural gas market, we draw attention to our main focus, namely city natural gas tenders. Having described the tenders, we present problems associated with them. In the end, we touch upon some regulatory issues and provide some suggestions for improvement.

Over the past decade or so, the electricity industry of the Republic of Turkey (and indeed the world) has undergone profound reform in its structure, ownership and mindset. Increasing public concern about efficiency in the sector has led Turkey to discard the traditional model of a vertically integrated industry subject to cost-based regulation in favor of the unbundling of activities and the introduction of competition where it is possible. The industry has been structurally separated into generation, transmission, distribution and retail segments. The competitive segments of the industry (generation and retail) are planed to progressively expose to competition; the monopoly segments (especially, distribution) are to be reoriented to foster competition. Further, the ownership of the industry is under increasing pressure to move away from the public domain into the private one. The present article not only presents an analysis of the Turkish distribution sector and proposed privatization process but also provides some guidelines for policy makers.

This study assesses the oil prices-macaroeconomy relationship by means of multivariate VAR using both linear and non-linear specifications. Scaled oil prices model outperforms other models used in the study. It studies the impacts of oil price shocks on the growth of industrial production for Indian economy over the period 1975Q1-2004Q3. It is found that oil prices Granger cause macroeconomic activities. Evidence of asymmetric impact of oil price shocks on industrial growth is found. Oil price shocks negatively affects the growth of industrial production and we find that an hundred percent increase in oil prices lowers the growth of industrial production by one percent. Moreover, the variance decomposition analysis while putting the study in perspective finds that the oil price shocks combined with the monetary shocks are the largest source of variation in industrial production growth other than the variable itself.

The Republic of Turkey has initiated an ambitious reform program in the most important segments of her energy market; which requires privatization, liberalization as well as a radical restructuring of these industries. However, there is no consensus that the measures introduced are optimal. The present article attempts, first, to evaluate the regulatory framework created by the laws of 2001 in terms of economic efficiency considerations; and second, to determine what still needs to be done to improve the current situation. The paper not only provides an analysis of these reforms but also lists some policy suggestions. The study concludes that despite relatively good legislative framework, in practice, the reforms in Turkey are far from ideal as they are mainly in the form of “textbook reforms”; and therefore a significant amount of work still lies ahead of Turkey to set up a fully fledged energy market.