• Energy Research
• 2021-2025close
• other engineering and technologies close
• Energy Policy close

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.

Abstract The European Union (EU) has the world's most extensive regional power trade, making it essential for the EU environmental energy policies. Understanding the nexus amongst water, power and CO2 emissions is essential for sustainable water and energy resource management. Although a number of related studies on the nexus have been conducted, integrating virtual water and CO2 emission footprints for the power sector requires further attention. The current study analyses the virtual water and CO2 emissions embodied in the power supply, demand and regional trade. A network model is developed to track the virtual water and CO2 emissions of the inter-regional power trade for the case of EU-27 countries in 2017. The total virtual CO2 emissions and the embodied virtual water in the EU inter-regional power trade are estimated as 7.0 × 104 t CO2 and 5.6 × 108 m3, with a hydropower contribution of 37.8%. The largest virtual water and CO2 emissions exporters are identified by France (8.8 × 107 m3) and Germany (2 × 104 t), whilst the largest virtual CO2 importer is Austria (1 × 104 t). The identified synergy of climate mitigation and water scarcity provides a benchmark for policymakers to develop strategies for sustainable power development considering the virtual footprint in trade flow simultaneously.

Abstract This paper takes Sichuan Province (China) as an example to improve the design of energy use rights trading policy (ERTP) with the goal of reducing regional energy vulnerability. The following contributions are made to improve the ERTP: (1) The first step in designing the ERTP is to set the total energy consumption target, and this paper formulates the total energy consumption of Sichuan Province in 2025 with reference to China's 14th Five-Year Plan. (2) This paper adopts the historical egalitarianism, economic egalitarianism, efficiency allocation model and the Game-Equity Fixed Cost Allocation Model (Game-EFCAM) to allocate energy use quotas at the sectoral level. Therein, Game-EFCAM is an allocation model which considers both equity and efficiency. (3) In designing the trading mechanism, this paper exogenizes the price of energy use rights within the quotas and endogenizes (determined by the market) the price of energy use rights outside the quotas. Moreover, this paper adopts a recursive dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to simulate the effects of different allocation schemes and economic development levels on energy vulnerability. The results show that regional energy vulnerability is minimized under the allocation results of Game-EFCAM. This paper not only improves the ERTP, but also provides a reference for other countries in energy dilemmas.

Abstract Nuclear energy is an important consideration for decarbonisation. However, for Singapore – a country at the nascent stage of nuclear energy development – the building of a nuclear research reactor could be a precursor to a full-fledged nuclear energy plan. Guided by the cognitive miser model and the knowledge deficit model, this study examines factors shaping public support for the use of a nuclear research reactor for medical purposes. In particular, we seek to understand how different types of knowledge could affect public support for the use of a nuclear research reactor in an island city-state. Based on the data from a nationally representative door-to-door survey of 1000 adult Singaporeans, we found that the public mainly depend on heuristics, such as religiosity, benefit perception, and trust in relevant authorities, to form attitudes towards the use of a nuclear research reactor, revealing a tendency to employ mental shortcuts for decision making. More importantly, we found that heuristics moderated the effect of contextual nuclear knowledge on public support for the use of a nuclear research reactor. This indicates that individuals might interpret the same information differently, depending on their firmly held beliefs or pre-existing perceptions.

Developing effective policy solutions to transition away from the use of solid fuels for residential heating purposes can be hindered by the lack of reliable data on its use. One such issue is the extent of informal solid fuel use, that is, consumption from sources outside of formal commercial channels. This is an area which has been largely ignored in previous empirical research. Using a survey of residential solid fuel users, the extent of solid fuel use in the residential sector in Ireland from informal sources for two fuels, sod peat and wood, is quantified. Sod peat is found to be almost exclusively sourced informally while just over half of wood use is estimated to be sourced by households in this way. Factors including location, household income, being a primary user of the fuel and having strong cost motivations all effect the probability of sourcing solid fuels informally relative to formal sources. The sizeable extent to which informal sources of solid fuels are used in Ireland arising from the analysis in this paper, highlights the potential for substitution to this unregulated alternative. This should be carefully monitored for effective implementation of new and existing solid fuel regulations.