• Energy Research
• 7. Clean energy close
• 8. Economic growth close
• 6. Clean water close
• DE close
• Research Papers in Economics close

Abstract In this paper, we analyze the rationale for an energy policy mix when the European Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) is considered from a public choice perspective. That is, we argue that the economic textbook model of the ETS implausibly assumes (1) efficient policy design and (2) climate protection as the single objective of policy intervention. Contrary to these assumptions, we propose that the ETS originates from a political bargaining game within a context of multiple policy objectives. In particular, the emissions cap is negotiated between regulators and emitters with the emitters' abatement costs as crucial bargaining variable. This public choice view yields striking implications for an optimal policy mix comprising RES supporting policies. Whereas the textbook model implies that the ETS alone provides sufficient climate protection, our analysis suggests that support for renewable energies (1) contributes to a more effective ETS-design and (2) may even increase the overall efficiency of climate and energy policy if other externalities and policy objectives besides climate protection are considered. Thus, our analysis also shows that a public choice view not necessarily entails negative evaluations concerning efficiency and effectiveness of a policy mix.

So far, various studies assessed global biomass potentials and came up with widely varying results. Existing potential estimates range from 0 EJ/a up to more than 1,550 EJ/a which corresponds to about three times the current global primary energy consumption. This paper provides an overview of the available research on bioenergy potentials and reviews the different assessments qualitative way with the objective to interpret previous research in an integrated way. In the context of this paper we understand bioenergy as energy from biomass sources including energy crops, residues, byproducts and wastes from agriculture, forestry, food production and waste management. In this review special attention was paid to the difference between residue and energy potentials, land availability estimates, and the geographical resolution of existing potential estimates. The majority of studies concentrate on energy crop potentials retrieved from surplus agricultural land and only few publications assess global potentials separated by different world regions. It results that land allocated to the exclusive production of energy crops varies from 0 to 7,000 ha, depending on land category and scenario assumptions. Only a small number of available potential assessments consider residue potentials as well as energy crop potentials from degraded land. Future energy crop potentials are assumed to vary in the mean from 200 to 600 EJ/yr. In contrast residue potentials are expected to contribute between 62 and 325 EJ/yr. The highest potentials are assigned to Asia, Africa and South America while Europe, North America and the Pacific region contribute minor parts to the global potential.

In this paper the German congestion management regime is analyzed and future congestion management costs are assessed given a higher share of intermittent renewable generation. In this context, cost-based re-dispatching of power plants and technical flexibility through topology optimization are considered as market-based and technical congestion management methods. To replicate the current market regime in Germany a two-step procedure is chosen consisting of a transactional spot market model and a congestion management model. This uniform pricing model is compared to a nodal pricing regime. The results show that currently congestion can mainly be managed by re-dispatching power plants and optimizing the network topology. However, congestion management costs tend to increase significantly in future years if the developments of transmission as well as generation infrastructure diverge. It is concluded that there is a need for improving the current congestion management regime to achieve an efficient longterm development of the German electricity system.

We develop a semi-analytical model for polarization curve of a polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell with distributed (aged) along the oxygen channel MEA transport and kinetic parameters of the membrane–electrode assembly (MEA). We show that the curve corresponding to varying along the channel parameter, in general, does not reduce to the curve for a certain constant value of this parameter. A possibility to determine the shape of the deteriorated MEA parameter along the oxygen channel by fitting the model equation to the cell polarization data is demonstrated.

In recent years, the literature in the field of general equilibrium modeling has increased. For long-term energy projections, general equilibrium models are more adequate than standard econometrics in evaluating alternative economic policies in a theoretically consistent framework. The well-known structure and economic mechanism of those models makes it easier to analyze structural changes of prices and quantities demanded or supplied for a given data set of an economy, national income accounts figures, and trade balance effects. The dynamic formulation of these models via investment decisions and capital formation also enables an intertemporal interpretation of structural adjustment and growth processes.

This paper assesses the economic impacts of linking the EU emissions trading scheme (ETS) to emerging schemes beyond Europe in the presence of a post-Kyoto agreement in 2020. Numerical simulations with a multi-country equilibrium model of the global carbon market show that linking the European ETS induces only minor economic benefits. As trading is restricted to energy-intensive companies that are assigned high initial emissions, the major compliance burden is carried by the non-trading industries excluded from the linked ETS. In the presence of parallel government trading under a post-Kyoto Protocol, the burden of the excluded sectors can be substantially alleviated by international permit trade at the country level. However, the parallel carbon markets of linked ETS companies and post-Kyoto governments are still separated here. From an efficiency perspective, the most desirable future climate policy regime is thus represented by a joint trading system facilitating international emissions trading between ETS companies and post-Kyoto governments. While the Clean Development Mechanism is not able to attenuate the inefficiencies within linked ETS, in a parallel or joint trading regime the economy-wide access to project-based abatement options in developing countries induces large additional cost-savings.

In this paper, an experimental fuel cell/battery/supercapacitor hybrid system is investigated in terms of modeling and power management design and optimization. The power management strategy is designed based on the role that should be played by each component of the hybrid power source. The supercapacitor is responsible for the peak power demands. The battery assists the supercapacitor in fulfilling the transient power demand by controlling its state-of-energy, whereas the fuel cell system, with its slow dynamics, controls the state-of-charge of the battery. The parameters of the power management strategy are optimized by a genetic algorithm and Pareto front analysis in a framework of multi-objective optimization, taking into account the hydrogen consumption, the battery loading and the acceleration performance. The optimization results are validated on a test bench composed of a fuel cell system (1.2 kW, 26 V), lithium polymer battery (30 Ah, 37 V), and a supercapacitor (167 F, 48 V).