• Energy Research
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PurposeThis research investigated the economic feasibility of using maize as feedstock to produce bioethanol in South Africa. The purpose of the study was to generate economic data from a maize-fed bioethanol plant and use it to perform a comparative analysis between the profitability that is generated by the maize exports to Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries and the profitability generated by the bioethanol plant in South Africa.Design/methodology/approachThis study used a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to gather data. The mixed method approach was chosen owing to the nature of the study which required an analysis of qualitative and quantitative data in order to achieve its objectives.FindingsThe findings from a qualitative instrument indicated that a majority of respondents were in favour of the decision of excluding maize for bioethanol production made by the South African Government. Findings from quantitative analysis revealed that the profitability of the bioethanol plant was largely influenced by the prices of feedstock and bioethanol.Research limitations/implicationsThis research was a deterministic feasibility study which ignores the risk associated with price fluctuation of raw materials and products. A probabilistic feasibility study was recommended (Monte Carlo simulation). Such economic data can also help policymakers and investors to make informed decisions.Originality/valueThe study recommended the need to produce bioethanol from the maize cultivated in available arable soils in South Africa, thus alleviating the cost burden of importing oil and obnoxious environmental effects.

We analyze how countries with different institutional settings use natural resources for economic growth. For a panel of 159 countries over the period 1992–2010, we estimate how the effect of a permanent increase in the growth rate of GDP on the growth rate of resource use depends on political institutional quality. We study this relationship for total resource use and for its subclasses fossil fuels, biomass, non-metallic minerals, and metal ores. Our results show that the effect of an increase of economic growth on total resource use growth is higher for countries with higher political institutional quality. This result holds for the subclasses biomass and non-metallic minerals and in most specifications for metal ores. In contrast, we find no positive association for fossil fuels. We reconcile our results with endogenous growth theory and suggest technology and input prices as transmission channels. In this interpretation, our results highlight that institutions provide important framework conditions, but they are no general panacea to further decrease the resource dependency of economic growth.

Under the “new normal”, China is facing more severe carbon emissions reduction targets. This paper estimates the carbon emission data of various provinces in China from 2008 to 2014, constructs a revised gravity model, and analyzes the network structure and effects of carbon emissions in various provinces by using social network analysis (SNA) and quadratic assignment procedure (QAP) analysis methods. The conclusions show that there are obvious spatial correlations between China’s provinces and regions in terms of carbon emissions: Tianjin, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Guangdong are in the center of the carbon emission network, and play the role of “bridges”. Carbon emissions can be divided into four blocks: “bidirectional spillover block”, “net beneficial block”, “net spillover block” and “broker block”. The differences in the energy consumption, economic level and geographical location of the provinces have a significant impact on the spatial correlation relationship of carbon emissions. Finally, the improvement of the robustness of the overall network structure and the promotion of individual network centrality can significantly reduce the intensity of carbon emissions.

The title of my talk today is Bringing Home the Right to Housing to Advance Urban Sustainability. You may ask what is the right to housing? Why do we need to bring it home? And what does it have to do with the broader topic of today’s symposium, urban sustainability? The human right to housing, although not a formal American federal or constitutional right, provides an important legal and normative framework that can help American cities and states better balance the needs of owners and non-owners in local housing and development struggles. If American cities and states want to create sustainable urban communities that will flourish for generations, they will need the human right to housing as one legal tool in their sustainability toolkit. If we understand the term urban sustainability to include not just the sustainability of the land, air, water, and spaces that humans occupy, but also the sustainability of the inhabitants and positive social relationships in urban spaces, then the human right to housing must become a part of cities’ urban sustainability arsenal.

The Visegrád countries (Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia) faced a sharp decline in fertility rates after the regime change in 1989. Since then, total fertility rates have largely remained below the EU average, although they have increased during the past decade. Family policies (support for the parental caregivingmodel) and the conditions of women’s employment might be shaping these trends. Besides the pronatalist rhetoric, there is another reason why people might alter their fertility plans: climate change‐related worries. Our analysis in this article examines whether such concerns exist in these four countries, pointing out that the efficacy of pronatalist measures depends on the widespread adoption of such attitudes among young people of childbearing age. Pronatalist pressure is strong in the V4 countries but may be diluted by strengthening environmentalist norms. Scholarship about the relationship between climate change‐related concerns and fertility in these pronatalist countries is scarce. I examine this potential relationship by analysing respondents’ ideas about the generally and personally ideal number of children using Eurobarometer data from 2011 through logistic regression analysis. The results are contradictory: Climate change concerns seem to be positively associated with a smaller ideal family size in Hungary, but only from a general perspective (i.e., not for respondents personally). A positive relationship can be found in the Czech Republic regarding climate concerns and personal ideal family size. In Slovakia, a strong negative association was observed between climate change‐related concerns and smaller general and personal ideal family sizes.

Abstract Energy utilization of crop straw is of high economic, social and ecological benefit. In this paper, based on the beneficiary pays principle, we use biogas production from crop straw as an example and analyze households' willingness to pay (WTP) for the local government-led project on energy utilization of crop straw. “Interpersonal trust” and “institutional trust” variables are introduced to improve the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model, on the basis of which, Probit and Interval Regression Models are employed to explore the determinants of households' WTP. Results show that: 1) Most households are willing to pay for biogas utilization of crop straw, and the average expected value of households' WTP is about 20.72 RMB per household monthly; 2) Crop straw program cost and benefit trade-offs, convenience of logistics and technology, and trust factors all play an important role in households’ WTP; 3) If the cultivation of trust is neglected, even if households have high expectations for the ecological performance of biogas production from crop straw, their WTP will not be improved. Conclusions are summarized to provide an important reference for the formulation of policies to improve energy utilization of crop straw in developing countries or regions.

Abstract Using country level panel data from East Asia over the period 1998–2011, this paper examines the implications of international production fragmentation-induced intermediate goods trade on the link between energy consumption and carbon pollution. The paper focuses on the interaction effect between energy consumption and trade in intermediate goods on carbon emission. The empirical results presented suggest that international trade in intermediate goods decreases the positive impact on carbon emission of energy consumption. When compared with the trade in final goods, intermediate goods trade contributes to a greater decrease in carbon pollution resulting from energy consumption. These results confirm that the link between energy consumption and carbon pollution in East Asia is significantly affected by international production fragmentation-induced trade in intermediate goods. The results presented in this paper have some important policy implications.

Abstract The need to understand and proffer sustainable solutions to the persistent energy crises and energy starvation in Nigeria even in the face of abundant endowment of both renewable and fossil energy resources motivated this study. This study justified why solar energy should be accorded the highest priority as energy source in not only Nigeria but globally. A detailed review of the past, current and future status of solar integration in Nigeria is presented; it is seen that for grid-connected solar power integration the past status is nil, the current status is nil and future status may not be completely bleak as a number of Memoranda of Understanding have been signed. The existing supportive solar energy policies are highlighted and discussed; the chasm between the commendable Nigeria policy landscape and near-to-zero status of solar integration is blamed on poor implementation of the existing provisions by the Government. Recommendations were made on the basis of the existing policies and proposed policies. Additional provisions to some of existing laws of the Federation to accommodate support for solar energy integration are suggested. It is recommended that the poor and incipient status of solar integration in the vastly populated Nigeria should be viewed in a positive light by potential foreign investors as such status is a guarantee that solar power and thermal industry is a firsthand investment opportunity.

Abstract Do energy efficient buildings save energy or spare it for other uses? Cost-effective energy efficiency improvements increase the available income of a household, or business. The increase of household income may be re-spent on the same energy service or elsewhere in the economy, or invested. This problematic, termed “rebound effect”, receives renewed attention. Its micro- and macroeconomic implications can in part explain why governmental energy efficiency programmes failed to reduce total energy needs in our societies. This paper identifies zero energy buildings (ZEBs) as both a solution and a contributor to this energy efficiency paradox. The E2 (economy–environment) vector is used to qualitatively illustrate the rebound effect link to energy efficient and zero energy buildings. The paper argues that a robust energy balance, one that shall ensure ZEBs effectively contribute to the global mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, needs to address this paradox of energy efficiency. The paper proposes ways to do so.