• Energy Research
• 11. Sustainability close

In the present study explored the effects were obtained for two passive measures: improved thermal insulation and general tightness of the building. Were quantified comparative energy performance for building real reference building, energy efficient building and rehabilitation variants I and II.

The long-run relationship between carbon dioxide emissions from energy use and economic activity level is estimated for Uruguay between 1882 and 2010. We apply cointegration techniques and estimate a Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) for testing whether these variables are endogenous over the long-rung while also considering the short-run dynamics. The economic productive structure, the degree of openness, and the share of clean sources on total energy supply are also considered as explanatory variables. The results show that there exists a linear relationship between carbon dioxide emissions and per capita economic activity level. Moreover, emissions increase jointly with the industrial sector participation in total output, as a consequence of the intensity of this activity in the consumption of energy from fossil fuels sources. The degree of openness is inversely related with carbon dioxide emissions. This is so because the periods of major opening were based on primary inputs exports, lower in energy intensity than industrial products. The changes in carbon dioxide emission are inversely related to the variation in the share of clean sources on total energy supply. Finally, all the variables included in the cointegration vector are endogenous, adjusting together to the deviations from the long-run relationship. As a consequence of the above, economic growth appears to be not enough for diminishing Uruguayan emissions in the long-run. Changes in the energy matrix should be encouraged, and emissions reduction should come not by energy constraints but by the development of clean sources or energy use efficiency improvements, given the impact of energy on economic activity level.

Under reasonable assumptions, China could achieve parity in living standard with Western Europe by 2100, and India by 2150. Climate change, however, may be a key obstacle preventing such a convergence. The business-as-usual (BAU) growth path of the world might increase concentration of atmospheric to unsafe levels and cause significant negative environmental feedback before China achieves parity in living standards with the OECD countries. We use a dynamic multi-country general equilibrium model (the G-Cubed Model) to project a realistic BAU trajectory of CO2 emissions, and we find it to be even above the CO2 emissions from the high-growth scenario estimated by the Energy Information Agency in 2007. This outcome is a reminder that it has been usual so far to underestimate the growth in China energy consumption. We compare the merits of the different market-based CO2 reduction mechanisms like a carbon tax, a cap-and-trade scheme, and the McKibbin-Wilcoxen Hybrid (MWH) approach. Unexpected developments cause the different CO2 reduction mechanisms to create very different costs. Both the international carbon tax and the MWH approach are more economically efficient responses to uncertainty than the cap-and-trade scheme of the Kyoto Protocol. We use the G-Cubed Model to study the economic outcomes under each CO2 reduction mechanism, and under the deployment of advanced green energy. The reduction of CO2 emissions would only delay, not stop, the increase in CO2 concentrations toward the “danger level”. As the only long-term solution is likely to be shifting to non-fossil emitting energy, it is important to combine a market-based CO2 reduction mechanism with an ambitious program to accelerate the development of green technology. Such a program would probably have a higher chance of success if some important parts of it were based on international collaboration. We conclude the paper with recommendations about the form of future international climate agreements and how China could be encouraged to participate.

According to this study, residential real estate markets assign to energy-efficient homes an incremental value that reflects the discounted value of annual fuel savings. The capitalization rate used by homeowners was expected to be 4%-10%, reflecting the range of after-tax mortgage interest rates during the 1990s and resulting in an incremental home value of $10 to around $25 for every $1 reduction in annual fuel bills. Regression analysis of American Housing Survey data confirms this hypothesis for national and metropolitan area samples, attached and detached housing, and detached housing subsamples using a specific fuel type as the main heating fuel.

Climate change has become a critical issue in the international policy making agenda. At the UNFCC conference in Bali 2007, countries decided on a roadmap to achieve a ‘secure climate future’. Given the commitment to limit the temperature increase to 2° Celsius relative to the preindustrial levels, the EU decided in March 2007, as a first step, a 20% reduction of its GHG emissions by 2020, going to 30% if a comprehensive international agreement can be reached. This study uses the multi-sector multi-region world model GEM-E3 in order to identify the world economic implications of different participation schemes for post Kyoto. The scenarios reported in this paper have contributed to the EU communication on ‘Limiting Global Change to 2° Celsius the way ahead to 2020 and beyond’.

We conduct a benefit-cost analysis of a relicensing agreement for two hydroelectric dams in Michigan. The agreement changed daily conditions from peaking to run-of-river flows. We consider three categories of costs and benefits: producer costs of adapting electricity production to the new time profile of hydroelectric output; benefits of reductions in air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions; and benefits of improved recreational fishing. The best estimates suggest that the aggregate benefits are more than twice as large as the producer costs. The conceptual and empirical methods provide a template for investigating the effects of an environmental constraint on hydroelectric dams.

This paper analyses costs and benefits of three different post-Kyoto policy options: On the one hand there is PARETO which is the nickname for the pareto-efficient internationalization of the external effects of global climate change through trading carbon emission rights on open global markets. And there is QCAP as well as ICAP on the other. Both are unilateral climate policies. QCAP denotes a scenario where regions aim for reducing domestic carbon emissions by a certain percentage annually. ICAP is a short cut for intensity targeting which is the US’ most preferred climate policy option. In a world without uncertainty about future GDP and carbon dioxide emissions it refers to the same abatement policy, however by means of technological progress only.

Despite a bourgeoning literature on the existence of a long-run relationship between energy consumption and economic growth, the findings have failed to establish clearly the direction of causation. A growing economy needs more energy, which is exacerbated by growing population. Evidence suggests that financial development can reduce overall energy consumption by achieving energy efficiency. Economic growth and energy consumption in Malaysia have been rising in tandem over the past several years. The three public policy objectives of Malaysia are: economic progress, population growth and financial development. It is of interest to the policymakers to understand the dynamic interrelation among the stated objectives. The paper implements Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach to cointegration to examine the existence of a long-run relationship among the series: energy consumption, population, aggregate production, and financial development for Malaysia; and tests for Granger causality within the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM). The results suggest that energy consumption is influenced by economic growth and financial development, both in the short and the long-run, but the population-energy relation holds only in the long run. The findings have important policy implications for balancing economic growth vis-à-vis energy consumption for Malaysia, as well as other emerging nations.

We explore conditions determining which anti-leakage policies might be more effective complements to domestic greenhouse gas emissions regulation. We consider four policies that could be combined with unilateral emissions pricing to counter effects on international competitiveness: a border tax on imports, a border rebate for exports, full border adjustment, and a domestic production rebate (as might be implemented with output-based allocation of emissions allowances). Each option faces different potential legal hurdles in international trade law; each also has different economic impacts. While all have the potential to support domestic production, none is necessarily effective at reducing global emissions. Nor is it possible to rank order the options. In each case, the effectiveness depends on the relative emissions rates, elasticities of substitution, and consumption volumes. We illustrate these results with simulations for the energy-intensive sectors of two different economies, the United States and Canada.